Jaemyn Mikal Brakefield was born December 19, 2000 in Menasha, Wisconsin, the third of seven children of Pamela Root and James Brakefield. The family eventually settled in Jackson, Mississippi, where Jaemyn grew up. He has four brothers — Jake Root, Andrew Knaack, Jamal Brakefield, and Daimen Brakefield — and two sisters, Kristen Nickole and Jennifer Fleming. Seven kids, three last names, one tall lefty in the middle who could play.
The basketball journey took him out of Mississippi for high school. He enrolled at Huntington Prep School in Huntington, West Virginia — the same prep program that has sent Andrew Wiggins, Patrick McCaw, and a generation of NBA-caliber wings to top college programs. At Huntington Prep, Brakefield stayed for four years and built a résumé that no one in the state of West Virginia had ever built before. He was named West Virginia Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore, junior, AND senior — the first player to win the award three times in its 35-year history. As a senior he averaged 19.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.0 assists. He played for Phenom University on the Nike EYBL circuit alongside fellow 2020 Duke commit Jalen Johnson, averaging 15.9/6.1/2.8 with two double-doubles. He earned MVP honors at the ARS/Rescue Rooter National Hoopfest in Tampa in January 2020. He was selected to the 2020 Jordan Brand Classic before the event was canceled by the pandemic.
By the fall of 2019 he was a consensus four-star recruit, ranked No. 31 overall and the No. 4 power forward in the 2020 class by the major services, and the No. 1 player out of the state of Mississippi by ESPN's 100. He had taken official visits to Auburn and Louisville and was scheduled to visit Ole Miss and Michigan when, on Wednesday October 2, 2019, Mike Krzyzewski called him directly to express Duke's interest. The Blue Devils extended the scholarship offer Thursday. Forty-eight hours later, on Friday October 4, 2019, Brakefield committed to Duke on Twitter with a one-line message that captured the whole arc: "110% Committed! Look what God can do🙏🏽."
He was joining a 2020 class headlined by DJ Steward, Mark Williams, Henry Coleman, Jalen Johnson, and himself — Duke's third-ranked recruiting class in the country. The pieces were in place for a one-and-done jump. The expectation was the next NBA draft.