Ahmad Starks (born September 11, 1992) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Pelister Baba ( mk, Баба; or Baba Mountain, mk, Баба Планина, Baba Planina), or also known by the name of its highest peak, Pelister ( mk, Пелистер), is a mountain in North Macedonia. The Pelister peak (2601 metres, or 8533 feet) ov ...

of the

Macedonian First League The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competiti ...

. Starks played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for both

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

and the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

High school career

As a junior, Starks helped lead Whitney M. Young Magnet High School to a 4A

Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship The Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring in the United States. It is organized by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). From 1908 to 1971, it was a single tournament contested ...

with a 69-66 victory over

Waukegan High School Waukegan High School, or WHS, is a public four-year high school located in Waukegan, Illinois, USA, a city to the north of Chicago, Illinois. It is part of Waukegan Community Unit School District 60. Students attend classes at the Washington Cam ...

. After his

official visit A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter also acting as the Hospitality, official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking ...

to Oregon State, Starks verbally committed to the program and former head coach Craig Robinson in August 2008. During his recruitment, Starks considered offers from Northwestern, Valparaiso and Illinois-Chicago and received interest from Marquette, Purdue, Stanford, Virginia and Xavier. During his senior season, Starks averaged 16.1 points, 6.1 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 3.1 steals, leading Whitney Young to another Illinois Class 4A State Championship appearance, only to fall to

Simeon Career Academy Neal F. Simeon Career Academy (formerly known as Westcott Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, Neal F. Simeon Career Technical Academy), locally known simply as Simeon, is a public four-year vocational high school locate ...

College career

After three seasons at Oregon State, Starks finished as the all-time career leader in

three-pointers A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a Field goal (basketball), field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, i ...

and single season three-pointers. Starks started in 73 career games at Oregon State and averaged 10.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steal as a junior. After his junior season, Starks announced his decision to transfer to aid his ailing grandmother. In May 2013, Starks committed to transfer to play at the

. Starks was relegated to take a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

year during the 2013–14 season as his hardship waiver request was denied by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. As a redshirt senior, Starks started in 20 games for Illinois during the 2014–15 season and averaged 7.7 points a game.

Professional career

Starks played with

Eco Örebro Eco Örebro was a Swedish professional basketball club in Örebro. They played in the Basketligan Svenska Basketligan, or the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), is the premier league for professional basketball in Sweden. The league was originally ...

of the

Basketligan Svenska Basketligan, or the Swedish Basketball League (SBL), is the premier league for professional basketball in Sweden. The league was originally established in 1992 as Basketligan and was known as that prior to the season of 2006–07, but whe ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

during the 2015–2016 season and averaged 15.6 points per game. In April 2017, Starks signed with North-West Tasmania Thunder of the

South East Australian Basketball League The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was an Australian semi-professional basketball league. The league comprised both a men's and women's competition and was run by the country's governing body, Basketball Australia. The league wa ...

. In December 2017 Starks signed with the

KW Titans KW Titans (formally known as Kitchener-Waterloo Titans Basketball Club) are a professional basketball team based in Regional Municipality of Waterloo and competing the National Basketball League of Canada. The team plays its home games at Kitche ...

of the

National Basketball League of Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; french: Ligue nationale de basketball du Canada) is a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketb ...

References

External links

Real GM ProfileIllinois Fighting Illini ProfileOregon State Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starks, Ahmad 1992 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Australia American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Sweden American men's basketball players Basketball players from Chicago Guards (basketball) Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Oregon State Beavers men's basketball players Whitney M. Young Magnet High School alumni 21st-century African-American sportspeople