Is East Lincoln’s Jaxon Dollar the best 2-sport athlete in North Carolina?
A couple of weeks ago, when East Lincoln High School was playing a conference basketball game at Maiden, Jaxon Dollar stole a pass on the left side of the court. He sped down the sideline, and then he veered towards the basket, like a hungry Cane Corso running for his dinner bowl.
A Maiden player, trying to chase him down, watched Dollar collect himself and go up for what was going to be an Instagram-ready one-handed dunk.
The Maiden player, however, decided to not contest Dollar, who was now airborne — ball cocked back way behind his head in his right hand — in what looked a bit like a high school version of LeBron James’ signature move.
As he went up, the Maiden player’s shoulder made contact with Dollar’s feet. (Read that again).
Next, the referees whistle blew as Dollar dunked the ball so hard that it went through and came back up and out of the basket.
“He does freakish things,” East Lincoln coach Jon Hancock said. “Some games, he’ll have six or seven dunks. It’s crazy. And it’s not just the dunks. When I coached at Mallard Creek, we had (former Hough High and UNC star) Luke Maye and (former Chambers High and NC State star Torin) Dorn in the league, and he’s as good as any of those guys. He’s just physically off the charts with the stuff he can do.”
In that same Maiden game — when Dollar had that “almost-dunk” that took his coaches’ breath away — he also made 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range, brought the ball up like a point guard and defended multiple positions.
“He’s had several triple-doubles this year,” Hancock said of Dollar, “and passing may be the best thing he does. It’s the old Force Multiplier effect. He makes everybody better.”
So, by now, you might think we’re about to tell you that Dollar is one of America’s most sought-after basketball recruits, with his freakish athleticism and major college measurements. He’s 6-foot-6, nearly 230 pounds, moves like a much smaller player and has another year to play high school ball.
Well, so far, Dollar has offers from Division II Lees McRae and University of Illinois-Chicago.
But here’s why.
“I think he’s one of the best basketball players in the state,” Hancock said, “but (college basketball coaches) see that the whole nation has offered in football and go, ‘What’s the use?’ I mean, Alabama and Ole Miss didn’t make his final 10. It’s crazy.”
The little kid on the baseline has become the star
Jaxon Dollar is the youngest of three Dollar brothers who were all stars at East Lincoln.
Cameron Dollar, 6-2, who played football for the Charlotte 49ers, is the oldest. In high school, he had a then state-record seven touchdown catches, in a half, and was a two-time all-conference pick in football. Like his brothers, he was a basketball star, too.
Sidney Dollar, the 6-5 middle brother, was a conference player of the year in basketball at East Lincoln. Hancock, the Mustangs’ coach, remembers a game against Statesville High where Sidney had eight dunks. Sidney later played at Lees-McRae.
Hancock has a photo of Jaxon, then a young guy who was his brother’s biggest fan, standing under the rim as Sidney detonated on a dunk.
“That’s my favorite picture ever,” Hancock said. “It’s Sidney dunking in a playoff game and his feet are outstretched and there’s this little kid on the baseline going crazy, and it’s Jaxon. And now he’s the star.”
Jaxon Dollar said that was always the plan.
“Growing up,” Jaxon Dollar said, “I always told (my brothers that) I would be better than them, and they pushed me to be better.”
But even though he was physically gifted at a young age, Jaxon didn’t dominate sports early on. He liked going to Carowinds, a Charlotte-area amusement park, or to fishing, often, with his friends. But late in his freshman year, he said, everything changed when he met the guy who trains Stephen Curry.
How Stephen Curry’s trainer changed his life
Jaxon Dollar said “his whole life flipped” after he went to a basketball tryout, near the end of his freshman year. He tried out for a travel basketball team based in Indian Land, S.C., called Team Accelerate.
Some of the players there told Dollar that the guy running the tryouts and coaching the team, Brandon Payne, was Curry’s primary basketball trainer. Dollar didn’t believe them.
“He walked up to me,” Dollar said, “and he was like, ‘You feel out of shape right now.’ He was like, ‘We’ll get you in shape. I’ve done that with Stephen Curry and a bunch of other guys.’”
Fresh off basketball and football season, Dollar thought he was in decent condition, but working with Payne not only improved his conditioning, he helped Dollar develop his dribbling ability, his shooting. By the end of the summer, he had the body of a power forward and the game of a shooting guard.
“It translated to football as well,” Dollar said. “My hand-eye coordination, my footwork, my timing. Everything got a lot better.”
Payne — whose client list includes Curry, Trae Young, Davion Mitchell and Sabrina Ionescu — said the first time he saw Dollar run up and down the court, that he knew he was working with a special talent.
“He’s a pro in whatever he wants,” Payne said. “It was clear that he had some body composition work to do and was in the middle of growing from a young person’s body to a young man’s body, but he had skill. He had to understand how to apply his skill on the court during game situations. We did a lot of work of emotional maturity-type things, a little bit different approach with the mental confidence. We knew the physical part would come with time.”
Dollar, infused with new physical and mental confidence, had a big sophomore season at East Lincoln. In football, he caught 13 passes for 224 yards and six touchdowns on offense and had 32 tackles and three sacks on defense. After averaging 3.2 points as a freshman, he led the basketball team in scoring at 15.8 points per game, plus a team-best 7.8 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game.
College football coaches really began taking notice.
How do you go from 38 to 1?
If you ask Jaxon Dollar who has offered him football scholarships, he has a one word answer.
Everybody.
With his newfound conditioning and confidence, Dollar has swiftly risen up the recruiting ranks in football. 247 Sports ranks him as the nation’s No. 3 recruit at tight end in the class of 2027 and No. 58 overall.
His final 10 schools, in the order Dollar said them, are Texas, Oregon, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Florida, Miami, Georgia, LSU, Clemson and Texas A&M. Georgia coach Kirby Smart flew to campus on a helicopter to visit Dollar on Wednesday.
Last season, Dollar was among the finalists for N.C. Mr. Football, an award annually given to the state’s top player. Dollar caught 54 passes for 1,190 yards and 20 touchdowns. Only one junior in the nation had more receiving yards than that.
On defense, he had 38 tackles and 13 tackles for a loss, plus five sacks.
“He’s got great size,” said Providence coach Weslee Ward, whose team played East Lincoln last season. “But the thing that stuck out was his athleticism for that size. You can just tell he’s just a blessed and God-given talented kid. And he can punt, too. I’m walking down the sideline in pregame and the ball just booms off his leg. I said, ‘So you can’t punt, too?’ He just started laughing.”
Dollar has matched his football success on the basketball court.
Right now, he’s averaging 21.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, 6.7 assists, 3.4 steals and 1.7 blocks, leading his 16-3 team in every category.
Hancock believes there is no better athlete in North Carolina, with an asterisk.
“He started school early,” Hancock said. “He really should be a sophomore.”
So what’s next for Lincoln County’s biggest star?
Dollar really wants to play football and basketball in college, and has thought long and hard about what could happen.
“If I’m not able to get an offer for basketball to a college I really want to go to,” he said, “then I’ll probably go and walk on for basketball. I know it’s a lot of work, but everybody tells me I can do whatever I put my mind to.”
Unlike a lot of elite high school football players, Dollar doesn’t plan to graduate early in December, jump to college and start collecting a six- or seven-figure NIL salary.
“My family doesn’t come from a lot of money,” he said, “so even if I do get a lot of money, I won’t be trying to go buy the biggest cars. I would be lying if I said I don’t think about it a little bit, but my brother brought to my attention that even when you get this money, people will try to get it from you.”
Dollar is soft-spoken and thoughtful off the court. He talks often about his relationship with his mother, Paulanne.
And that’s a big reason why he plans to stay in school for his entire senior year.
“Most colleges I’ve talked to about me playing basketball my senior year,” Dollar said, “they have said, ‘If you do stay and play, we’re not going to punish you for it.’ And I really want to finish what I’ve started. And I want to walk across that (graduation) stage. I watched both my brothers do it, even though they could’ve left early, and I know my mom would probably start crying. That would mean so much to her, and I would want to do anything to make her happy.”
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 5:30 AM.
