((about||the American football defensive end|Jalen Harris (American football)

Jalen Harris
Harris with Louisiana Tech in 2017
No. 2 – Windy City Bulls
PositionShooting guard
LeagueNBA G League
Personal information
Born (1998-08-14) August 14, 1998 (age 25)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High schoolDuncanville
(Duncanville, Texas)
College
NBA draft2020: 2nd round, 59th overall pick
Selected by the Toronto Raptors
Playing career2020–present
Career history
2020–2021Toronto Raptors
2021→Raptors 905
2021–2022Vanoli Cremona
2022Scarborough Shooting Stars
2022–2023Westchester Knicks
2023Scarborough Shooting Stars
2023–presentWindy City Bulls
Career highlights and awards
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Jalen Harris (born August 14, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Windy City Bulls of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and the Nevada Wolf Pack.[1] Harris was suspended from the National Basketball Association for the 2021–22 season due to a drug violation.

Early life and high school career

Harris was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Karlin Kennedy and Erion Harris, both of whom played basketball at SMU, and has two younger brothers and a sister. His mother gave birth to him at the age of 19 but returned to the floor at SMU for her junior season and graduated as the Mustangs' all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks and field-goal percentage. Harris grew up in Duncanville and played basketball, football and baseball. He gave up football after an injury in middle school, after which he trained with his father to become a high-level basketball player. His father formed the travel team Dallas Heroes around his son in middle school.[1]

He attended Duncanville High School and grew to 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) as a sophomore.[1] As a junior, he averaged 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists per game and was named the District 8-6A Offensive Player of the Year.[2][3] He suffered a broken vertebrae during an AAU event, forcing him to miss half of his senior season.[1] Nevertheless, Harris was again named District 8-6A Offensive Player of the Year as a senior.[4] He averaged 23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals per game as a senior and shot 55 percent from the field and 45 percent on three-point attempts. In a game against Cedar Hill High School, Harris scored a career-high 44 points. He was rated as the 16th-best player and the ninth-best guard in Texas in his class by Rivals.[5] Harris spurned offers from Indiana and Kansas State to sign with Louisiana Tech.[1]

College career

Harris began his collegiate career at Louisiana Tech. As a true freshman, he averaged 10.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team.[5] As a sophomore, Harris led the Bulldogs in scoring with 15.3 points per game while also averaging 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game, shooting 44.4 percent from behind the arc. He decided to transfer after 11 games. In January 2018, he signed with Nevada over offers from Oklahoma State, Tulsa and Stephen F. Austin.[6] Harris chose the Wolf Pack after attending a game against Boise State after being impressed by coach Eric Musselman and welcoming fans and sat out the 2018–19 season as a redshirt, during which Nevada finished 29–5.[1]

After his redshirt season, coach Musselman left for Arkansas, and Harris entered the transfer portal again the day before the school hired Steve Alford. Despite receiving interest from Gonzaga and SMU, Harris decided to stay at Nevada. He missed his second game with his new team with a foot injury and struggled in a game against USC, finishing 3-of-19 with nine points. During an eight-game stretch in January 2020, Harris averaged 27 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.[1] On February 11, he was named Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association after scoring a career-high 38 points against Air Force and 32 points against San Diego State.[7] He had 29 points, a career-high 14 rebounds, five assists and two steals in a 82–79 overtime win against UNLV on February 12, becoming the 11th Nevada player to tally at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game.[8] Harris is the first Nevada player since Nick Fazekas in 2006 to have four or more 30-point games in a season.[9] At the conclusion of the regular season, Harris was named to the First Team All-Mountain West Conference and conference newcomer of the year.[10] He averaged 21.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.[11] Following the season, Harris declared for the 2020 NBA draft.[12]

Professional career

Toronto Raptors (2020–2021)

On November 18, 2020, Harris was drafted in the second round, 59th overall, in the 2020 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors.[13] On January 29, 2021, Harris was assigned to the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League.[14] On May 14, Harris scored a career-high 31 points against the Dallas Mavericks in his hometown of Dallas.[15] On July 1, Harris was dismissed and suspended from the NBA for violating terms of the NBA/NBPA (National Basketball Players Association) anti-drug program. Harris was banned for the 2021–22 season.[16]

Vanoli Cremona (2021–2022)

Harris signed with Vanoli Cremona of the Lega Basket Serie A on August 14, 2021.[17]

Scarborough Shooting Stars (2022)

On May 24, 2022, Harris signed with the Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL).[18] In his first game with Scarborough, Harris recorded 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, shooting 40 percent from the field (6-of-15), in an 80–70 loss against the Montreal Alliance.[19]

Westchester Knicks (2022–2023)

On September 25, 2022, Harris secured a contract with the New York Knicks of the NBA, officially ending his season-long ban in the process,[20] but was waived at the end of training camp.[21] On October 24, 2022, Harris joined the Knicks' G League affiliate Westchester Knicks' training camp roster.[22]

Return to Scarborough (2023)

On April 17, 2023, Harris re-signed with the Scarborough Shooting Stars.[23] However, he was waived on July 19.

Windy City Bulls (2023–present)

On November 9, 2023, Harris was named to the opening night roster for the Windy City Bulls.[24]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2020–21 Toronto 13 2 13.2 .500 .472 .778 1.4 1.3 .6 .0 7.4
Career 13 2 13.2 .500 .472 .778 1.4 1.3 .6 .0 7.4

College

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2016–17 Louisiana Tech 27 2 22.9 .447 .319 .883 3.1 1.6 .8 .3 10.9
2017–18 Louisiana Tech 11 11 25.1 .478 .444 .830 4.4 2.4 1.1 .3 15.3
2018–19 Nevada Redshirt Redshirt
2019–20 Nevada 30 30 33.0 .446 .362 .823 6.5 3.9 1.1 .1 21.7
Career 68 43 27.7 .451 .359 .838 4.8 2.7 1.0 .2 16.4

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Murray, Chris (February 7, 2020). "Born for this: Jalen Harris' path to stardom started early but wasn't easy". Nevada Sports Net. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  2. ^ Jennings, Randy (November 14, 2015). "Boys basketball preview: 6A state champion Plano West returns no full-time starters but still boasts experience". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  3. ^ "Class 6A Dallas-area all-district boys basketball teams". The Dallas Morning News. March 27, 2015. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  4. ^ "Dallas-area boys all-district teams: Find your star player here". The Dallas Morning News. March 25, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  5. ^ a b "La Tech transfer Harris signs with Nevada". KOLOTV.com. February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  6. ^ Murray, Chris (January 24, 2018). "Wolf Pack lands high-scoring guard from LaTech". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
  7. ^ Ritenhouse, Duke (February 11, 2020). "Best in the land: Wolf Pack's Jalen Harris named national player of the week". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  8. ^ Murray, Chris (February 14, 2020). "The game that turned Nevada's Jalen Harris into a scoring monster". Nevada Sports Net. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  9. ^ Ritenhouse, Duke (February 3, 2020). "Nevada basketball: Wolf Pack's Jalen Harris is on a scoring tear". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  10. ^ "Mountain West Announces 2019-20 Men's Basketball All-Conference Team" (Press release). Mountain West Conference. March 3, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  11. ^ "Nevada looks for home win vs No. 5 San Diego St". Lancaster Online. Associated Press. February 28, 2020. Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  12. ^ Murray, Chris (July 28, 2020). "Nevada's Jalen Harris makes initial cut for NBA draft combine invitation". Nevada Sports Net. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  13. ^ Murray, Chris (November 19, 2020). "Jalen Harris, selected by Raptors, the 16th draft pick in Wolf Pack history". Nevada Sports Net. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  14. ^ "Raptors' Jalen Harris: Shifting to G League". CBSSports.com. January 29, 2021. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
  15. ^ "Jalen Harris". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  16. ^ "Toronto Raptors' Jalen Harris dismissed from NBA for violating Anti-Drug Program" (Press release). National Basketball Association. July 1, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  17. ^ Borghesan, Ennio Terrasi (August 14, 2021). "Vanoli Cremona signs former Raptors Jalen Harris". Sportando. Retrieved August 14, 2021.
  18. ^ "Scarborough Shooting Stars Sign Jalen Harris". scarboroughshootingstars.ca. May 24, 2022. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
  19. ^ "Event".
  20. ^ "Knicks Sign Jalen Harris". NBA.com. September 25, 2022. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  21. ^ @NY_KnicksPR (October 15, 2022). "Knicks waive Akinjo, Harris, and Jeffries" (Tweet). Retrieved October 16, 2022 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ "Westchester Knicks Announce 2022-23 Training Camp Roster". oursportscentral.com. October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  23. ^ "Shooting Stars Re-Sign 2020 NBA Draft Pick Jalen Harris". CEBL.ca. April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  24. ^ "Windy City Bulls Announce 2023 Training Camp Roster". gleague.nba.com. November 9, 2023. Retrieved November 9, 2023.

External links

Windy City Bulls current roster
2020 NBA draft
Categories