Damien Jefferson (born October 3, 1997) 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

Filou Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in the Baske ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

. He 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 the New Mexico Lobos and the Creighton Bluejays.

High school career

Jefferson attended Central High School in East Chicago, Indiana. As a senior, he averaged 26.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per game and was named '' The Times of Northwest Indiana'' Player of the Year. Jefferson led his team to a Class 4A sectional title and was named an Indiana All-Star. He committed to playing college basketball for

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, his father's alma mater.

College career

Jefferson averaged 5.3 points and 2.3 rebounds as a freshman at New Mexico. For his sophomore season, he transferred to Creighton and sat out for one year due to transfer rules. As a sophomore, Jefferson averaged 6.2 points and four rebounds per game. In his junior season, he averaged 9.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Jefferson declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

before withdrawing and returning to college. On December 17, 2020, he flirted with a triple-double, recording 10 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in a 94–76 win over St. John's. As a senior, Jefferson earned Second Team All- Big East honors. He averaged 11.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. Jefferson declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

, forgoing an additional season of eligibility the NCAA granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional career

Jefferson joined the Sacramento Kings for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league cons ...

, winning a summer league championship. He joined the

Stockton Kings The Stockton Kings are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Stockton, California, and are affiliated with the Sacramento Kings. The Kings play their home games at the Stockton Arena and compete in the G League' ...

as an affiliate player on October 25, 2021, but was later waived on January 29, 2022. He was acquired by the Memphis Hustle on February 14. On July 31, 2023, Jefferson signed with

of the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 6 , , 15.1 , , .438 , , .214 , , .490 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .1 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Creighton , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Creighton , 26 , , 16 , , 18.0 , , .535 , , .412 , , .634 , , 4.0 , , .8 , , .4 , , .1 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Creighton , 30 , , 29 , , 27.1 , , .533 , , .217 , , .635 , , 5.5 , , 1.4 , , .6 , , .2 , , 9.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Creighton , 31 , , 31 , , 30.9 , , .512 , , .348 , , .605 , , 5.4 , , 2.4 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 11.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 116 , , 82 , , 23.0 , , .509 , , .304 , , .592 , , 4.4 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , .2 , , 8.3

Personal life

Jefferson's father, Everette, played college basketball at New Mexico.

References

External links

Creighton Bluejays bioNew Mexico Lobos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferson, Damien 1997 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana BC Oostende players Creighton Bluejays men's basketball players Memphis Hustle players New Mexico Lobos men's basketball players Small forwards Sportspeople from East Chicago, Indiana Stockton Kings players