Alex James Murphy (born June 3, 1993) is an American-Finnish 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

Levanga Hokkaido Levanga Hokkaido is a Japanese professional basketball team based in the city of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. The club was founded in 2006 as ''Rera Kamuy Hokkaido'', this name comes from the language of the Ainu, an ethnic group indigenou ...

of the Japan B.League. He played college basketball for

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

and

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in ...

. He is the son of former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) player

Jay Murphy Jay Dennis Murphy (born June 26, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player. He played four seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Los Angeles Clippers and Washington Bullets. College career He attended high ...

, and the brother of former NBA forward

Erik Murphy Erik Murphy (born October 26, 1990) is a French-born Finnish-American professional basketball player for the Fukushima Firebonds of the Japanese B.League. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 2013, he also represents the Finnish national team. High s ...

. He plays for the Finnish national team.

High school career

Murphy was ranked as the No. 41 player in the

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...

100, the No. 45 player by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, and the No. 41 player by

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

. He attended St. Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, where he played alongside

Kaleb Tarczewski Kaleb Tarczewski (born February 26, 1993) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for Arizona. He is a 2.13 m (7'0") tal ...

and

Nik Stauskas Nikolas Tomas Stauskas (born October 7, 1993) is a Canadian professional basketball player who last played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A shooting guard, Stauskas played two seasons of college basketball f ...

. Murphy led St. Mark's School to a 27–3 record as a junior. Murphy was also named NEPSAC ISL Player of the Year in 2011. In April 2011, he decided to forgo his senior year of high school and join the class of 2011. This allowed Murphy to graduate in the spring of 2011 and attend Duke University in the fall of that year. Murphy left St. Mark's School and attended

South Kingstown High School South Kingstown High School (SKHS), originally known as the Wakefield High School is a public high school located in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Approximately 931 students attend South Kingstown High School in grades 9–12. South Kingstown Hi ...

for the remaining months in order to graduate and enroll at Duke that summer.

AAU

Murphy played for the Adidas sponsored New England Playaz Basketball Club.

College recruitment

Murphy committed to play basketball at

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

on February 7, 2011. Recruiting columnists speculated that he would commit to the

because his older brother, Erik Murphy, was a four-year player under coach

Billy Donovan William John Donovan Jr. (born May 30, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He has served as head coach of the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since September 2020 after previously coa ...

. Murphy chose

over Florida, Arizona, Boston College, North Carolina, Villanova and West Virginia.

Reclassification

On April 19, 2011, Murphy announced that he would be graduating a year early from St. Mark's School and would enroll at

a year earlier than expected.Alex Murphy becomes part of Duke's 2011 class. – ESPN
Sports.espn.go.com (April 19, 2011). Retrieved on 2012-06-29. Having met all academic requirements necessary to do this, Murphy was able to enroll at Duke in the summer of 2011, and was the fifth member of Duke's 2011 recruiting class. Murphy on why he reclassified: "It was a very difficult decision but at the end of the day, I thought this was the best thing for my future," Murphy said. "It's a great opportunity."

College

Redshirt (2011-2012)

In December 2011, Murphy decided to

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 ...

his freshman season with fellow recruit

Marshall Plumlee Marshall Harrison Plumlee (born July 14, 1992) is an American former professional basketball player and is an active-duty United States Army Ranger School, Ranger-Qualified officer. He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils men's baske ...

. Murphy said, "It's still to be determined, but a redshirt year is most likely what I'm going to do. That's the plan right now." after No. 5 Duke beat Washington, 86–80, at Madison Square Garden.Duke’s Alex Murphy Ready for Redshirt
ZagsBlog.com (December 10, 2011). Retrieved on 2012-06-29.

Professional career

On August 4, 2017, Murphy signed his first professional contract with Joensuun Kataja of the Finnish

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

. On July 13, 2018, Murphy signed a one-year deal with Szolnoki Olaj KK of the

Hungarian League Hungarian may refer to: * Hungary, a country in Central Europe * Kingdom of Hungary, state of Hungary, existing between 1000 and 1946 * Hungarians, ethnic groups in Hungary * Hungarian algorithm, a polynomial time algorithm for solving the assignme ...

. On August 5, 2019, he signed with Delteco Gipuzkoa Basket.

International

Murphy played for Finland at the FIBA U20 European Championships in the summer of 2012.Murphy Makes a Name for Himself at FIBA U20
/ref> Murphy is now a member of the Finnish men's national team.

References

External links

Florida Gators bioDuke Blue Devils bioESPN.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Alex 1993 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Hungary American men's basketball players American people of Finnish descent Basketball players from Rhode Island Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Finnish men's basketball players Florida Gators men's basketball players Kataja BC players Northeastern Huskies men's basketball players People from Washington County, Rhode Island Small forwards Szolnoki Olaj KK players