Devonta Pollard (born July 7, 1994) 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 (appro ...

player who plays for Ensenada Lobos of the Circuito de Baloncesto del Pacífico (CIBAPAC). A 6'8

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

, Pollard played college basketball for

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, East Mississippi Community College and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Early life

Pollard grew up in the small town of

Porterville, Mississippi Porterville (also Maryville) is a census-designated place and unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Kemper County, Mississippi, Kemper County, Mississippi. It lies a slight distance away from U.S. Route 45 southeast of the city of De Ka ...

. His mother, Jessie Mae, played one season in the

Women's Professional Basketball League The Women's Professional Basketball League (abbreviated WBL) was a professional women's basketball league in the United States. The league played three seasons from the fall of 1978 to the spring of 1981. The league was the first professional w ...

before it folded in 1981, at which point she returned to Porterville and became a high school history teacher. His father, Ervin, was a forklift driver at a paper plant before he died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

when Pollard was in high school. Since his only sibling, Lewis, lived alone, he grew closer to his mother. However, their home burned down after getting struck by lightning in 2011. Pollard played high school basketball at Kemper County. As a senior, he led his team to the Mississippi 3A state championship, recording 28 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocks in the 75–65 title game victory over Booneville. He averaged 23.8 points, 15.7 rebounds and 5.1 blocks per game to earn the Mississippi Mr. Basketball and

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea. Brothers ...

honors. Pollard was a five-star prospect by Rivals.com and was ranked as the seventh-best small forward in his class and the 22nd best prospect in the nation by the organization. On June 1, 2012, he committed to Alabama, citing his wish to remain close to his mother.

College career

As a freshman at Alabama, Pollard was a role player, averaging 3.9 points per game. The following year, he transferred to East Mississippi Community College in order to be closer to his family. As a sophomore, Pollard averaged 12 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, being the third best scorer of the team. As a junior, he decided to join

, being coached by Kelvin Sampson. Pollard became one of the top big men in the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (AAC), also known as The American, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States, featuring 13 full member universities and 6 affiliate member universities that compete in t ...

, averaging 11.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Pollard finished his senior season averaging 14 points and 5.7 rebounds per game being the second scoring and rebounding leader for the Cougars.

Professional career

Following the close of his college career, Pollard was not drafted in the

2016 NBA draft The 2016 NBA draft was held on June 23, 2016, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was televised nationally in the U.S. by ESPN, and was live streamed for the first time in NBA draft history by The Vertical. National Basketball Association (NBA) ...

. On October 5, 2016, he signed with Liepājas Lauvas of the Latvian Basket League. In November 2016, he left Liepājas and signed with Koroivos Amaliadas for the rest of the season. On October 30, 2017, he moved to Al Sadd Doha of the Qatari Basketball League. Pollard signed with the Pioneros de Los Mochis of the

Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico The Pacific Coast Basketball Circuit ( or CIBACOPA), officially known as the Liga Chevron CIBACOPA for sponsorship reasons, is a ten team basketball league based in Northwestern Mexico. The matches take place from March to June. History A leag ...

(CIBACOPA) ahead of the 2019 CIBACOPA season. He earned league All-Star honors. In 2021, Pollard joined the Ensenada Lobos of the Circuito de Baloncesto del Pacífico (CIBAPAC). He was named a CIBAPAC Region 2 All-Star and won the dunk contest. However, Pollard left the team later that month. He subsequently joined the Centauros de Durango of the same league. Pollard returned to the Ensenada Lobos in 2023.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 7 , , 17.9 , , .371 , , .125 , , .614 , , 3.1 , , 0.6 , , .7 , , .6 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 26 , , 30.5 , , .457 , , .000 , , .725 , , 6.4 , , 1.2 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , 11.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 25 , , 29.7 , , .479 , , .500 , , .747 , , 5.7 , , 1.6 , , .9 , , .6 , , 14.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 100 , , 58 , , 25.7 , , .450 , , .158 , , .719 , , 5.0 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , .2 , , 9.5

References

External links

Eurobasket.com
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, Devonta 1994 births Living people Alabama Crimson Tide men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Latvia American expatriate basketball people in Qatar American men's basketball players Basketball players from Mississippi BK Liepājas Lauvas players East Mississippi Community College alumni Houston Cougars men's basketball players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Koroivos B.C. players McDonald's High School All-Americans Niagara River Lions players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Kemper County, Mississippi Pioneros de Los Mochis players Power forwards 21st-century American sportsmen