Earl Antoine Boykins (born June 2, 1976) is a former American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. Standing at in height, he is the second-shortest player in NBA history behind

Muggsy Bogues Tyrone Curtis "Muggsy" Bogues (born January 9, 1965) is a former American basketball player. The shortest player ever to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Bogues played point guard for four teams during his 14-season caree ...

, who is tall. He was the head coach for the Douglas County High School boys varsity basketball team. He is now serving as an assistant coach for the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners.

Early life

Boykins was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1976. As a child his 5' 8" father, Willie Williams, would sneak Boykins into a gym in his gym bag. Boykins grew up playing in recreational leagues with his father and other grown men. Boykins played high school basketball at Cleveland Central Catholic High School where he averaged 24.6 points per game and led the school to a 23–2 record as a senior. In 2015, ''

The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In fall 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily and 15th on Sunday. As of Ma ...

'' ranked him the best Cleveland-area high school basketball player of the 1990s.

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

were the only two Division I basketball programs to offer Boykins an athletic scholarship, though Iowa later withdrew its offer.

College

Boykins 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 ...

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern), is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School, the school was the fourth normal school established in the United Sta ...

from 1994 to 1998. Eastern Michigan won the MAC tournament in 1996 and 1998. He earned All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

first-team honors in his junior and senior year. Also, during his senior season, Boykins was second in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in scoring, with an average of 26.8 points per game. He holds the career record for total assists (624) at Eastern Michigan University. In his last game he scored 18 points in a losing effort to

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. On February 27, 2011, Boykins' No. 11 jersey was retired and raised to the rafters in a ceremony at Eastern Michigan University's Convocation Center.

Pro career

First NBA Stint

Boykins was never drafted by an NBA team, but he was signed to short-term contracts by five different NBA teams before signing a five-year, $13.7 million contract with the Denver Nuggets prior to the 2003–2004 season. On November 11, 2004, Boykins scored 32 points in a 117–109 Nuggets' home win over the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

, making him the shortest player in NBA history to score 30 or more points during a game. After spending three full seasons and a portion of a fourth season with Denver, Boykins was traded to the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

in January 2007. After finishing the season in Milwaukee, Boykins opted out of his contract; he later signed with the Charlotte Bobcats partway through the 2007–2008 season and finished the season there.

Italy

Following the 2007–08 NBA season, Boykins was an unrestricted

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. Instead of signing with an NBA team, he decided to play basketball in Europe and signed a one-year, $3.5 million net income contract with

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

of the Italian A League. The one-year deal made Boykins the highest-paid basketball player in the Italian League and included income from Bologna's sponsorship and marketing arms, which is not an option for NBA players because of salary-cap restrictions. On December 26, 2008, it was announced by Virtus

owner Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

Claudio Sabatini that Boykins was cut from the club due to behavioral issues after Boykins flew home to the United States in order to see his sick son. However, a few days later, thanks to the intervention of Virtus general manager Andrea Luchi, it was announced that Boykins was staying with the club. On April 26, 2009, his team won the EuroChallenge Cup by defeating

Cholet Basket Cholet Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Cholet, France. The club plays in the French League. Their home arena is La Meilleraie. Established in 1975, Cholet won its first French championship in the 2009–10 season. In 1 ...

. In June 2009, he was released by Virtus.

Return to NBA

160px, Boykins playing for the Wizards in 2009 Boykins signed with the Washington Wizards in November 2009, making his return to the National Basketball Association. Boykins was a much-needed addition to the Wizards, after guards

Gilbert Arenas Gilbert Jay Arenas Jr. (; born January 6, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Arenas attended Grant High School in the Valley Glen district of Los Angeles, and accepted a scholarship offer to the University of Arizona lat ...

and

Javaris Crittenton Javaris Cortez Crittenton (born December 31, 1987) is an American former professional basketball player. During his four year career, Crittenton played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Washington Wizards of the National Basketb ...

were suspended for the remainder of the current season after a misdemeanor gun possession charge stemming from a locker room incident. In the December 2, 2009, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Boykins sank two free throws to clinch the Wizards' victory. On August 19, 2010, the Bucks signed him to a one-year deal. Boykins signed a 10-day contract with the Houston Rockets on March 26, 2012. Boykins has not played in the NBA since.

The Basketball Tournament (TBT)

In the summer of 2017, Boykins competed in

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 20 ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

for Paul Champions. Competing for the $2 million grand prize, Boykins helped lead his team to two victories in the TBT Jamboree which secured Paul Champions' spot as one of the 64 teams in the tournament. During the Jamboree, Boykins averaged 24.5 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game. In their first-round match up, Boykins scored a game-high 25 points, helping the Champions to a 78–74 victory over the Talladega Knights; a team led by former NBA players Josh Boone and

Gary Forbes Gary Orlando Forbes (born February 25, 1985) is a Panamanian former professional basketball player for the Saigon Heat of the ASEAN Basketball League. He played college basketball initially at the University of Virginia, then transferred to the Un ...

. Boykins and the Champions would eventually fall in the second-round to the number one seeded Untouchables.

Career statistics

Regular season

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New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

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Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, 17 , , 0 , , 10.0 , , .345 , , .154 , , .667 , , .8 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

, 1 , , 0 , , 8.0 , , .750 , , .000 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , 3.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 0 , , 10.1 , , .473 , , .400 , , .783 , , 1.0 , , 1.8 , , .5 , , .0 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A. Clippers , 10 , , 0 , , 14.9 , , .397 , , .125 , , .824 , , 1.1 , , 3.2 , , .5 , , .0 , , 6.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A. Clippers , 68 , , 2 , , 11.2 , , .400 , , .310 , , .770 , , .8 , , 2.1 , , .3 , , .0 , , 4.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 68 , , 0 , , 19.4 , , .429 , , .377 , , .865 , , 1.3 , , 3.3 , , .6 , , .1 , , 8.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 82 , , 3 , , 22.5 , , .419 , , .322 , , .877 , , 1.7 , , 3.6 , , .6 , , .0 , , 10.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 5 , , 26.4 , , .413 , , .337 , , .921 , , 1.7 , , 4.5 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 60 , , 0 , , 25.7 , , .410 , , .346 , , .874 , , 1.4 , , 3.8 , , .8 , , .1 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 4 , , 28.3 , , .413 , , .373 , , .908 , , 2.0 , , 4.3 , , .8 , , .1 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, 35 , , 19 , , 33.0 , , .427 , , .419 , , .886 , , 2.2 , , 4.5 , , .9 , , .0 , , 14.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

, 36 , , 0 , , 16.0 , , .355 , , .318 , , .831 , , .9 , , 2.7 , , .4 , , .0 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

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, 57 , , 0 , , 15.1 , , .443 , , .380 , , .841 , , 1.0 , , 2.5 , , .7 , , .1 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, 8 , , 0 , , 13.9 , , .333 , , .222 , , .867 , , 1.4 , , 2.1 , , .1 , , .0 , , 4.9 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 652 , , 34 , , 19.9 , , .417 , , .348 , , .876 , , 1.3 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , .1 , , 8.9

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2004 , style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 0 , , 24.2 , , .444 , , .357 , , .857 , , 2.4 , , 3.8 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005 , style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 1 , , 30.4 , , .397 , , .000 , , .895 , , 1.0 , , 3.8 , , .8 , , .2 , , 14.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006 , style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 0 , , 28.0 , , .322 , , .211 , , .795 , , 1.4 , , 4.0 , , .8 , , .0 , , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 15 , , 1 , , 27.5 , , .389 , , .225 , , .837 , , 1.6 , , 3.9 , , .9 , , .1 , , 12.9

Coaching career

In 2014, Boykins was hired as the head coach of the Douglas County High School boys varsity team in

Castle Rock, Colorado Castle Rock is a home rule town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 73,158 at the 2020 United States Census, a 51.68% increase since the 2010 United St ...

. In 2021, Boykins was hired as an assistant coach with the

UTEP Miners The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, ...

References

External links

NBA.com Player ProfileItalian A League Player ProfileMy Life as a Little Man at SportsIllustrated.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boykins, Earl 1976 births Living people 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from Cleveland Charlotte Bobcats players Cleveland Cavaliers players Denver Nuggets players Eastern Michigan Eagles men's basketball players Golden State Warriors players High school basketball coaches in Colorado Houston Rockets players Los Angeles Clippers players Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade Milwaukee Bucks players New Jersey Nets players Orlando Magic players Point guards Rockford Lightning players Undrafted National Basketball Association players Universiade gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in basketball UTEP Miners men's basketball coaches Virtus Bologna players