Gregory "GG" Jackson II (born December 17, 2004) 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 Memphis Grizzlies of the

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). 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 South Carolina Gamecocks of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC).

Early life and high school

Jackson grew up in

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

and attended

Ridge View High School Ridge View High School (commonly abbreviated as RVHS) is a comprehensive public high school in Columbia, South Carolina. It currently holds approximately 1700 students. It is one of five high schools in Richland School District 2 along Spring V ...

. As a sophomore, he averaged 15.8 points and 10 rebounds as Ridge View won the South Carolina Class 5A State Championship. Jackson was named the South Carolina Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year after averaging 22.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game and leading the Blazers to a second straight state title in his junior season.

Recruitment

Jackson was rated a five-star recruit and was the consensus best collegiate prospect for the 2023 recruiting class. He initially committed to play college basketball at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

(UNC) shortly after the conclusion of his junior season after considering offers from

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

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 ...

, Georgetown, and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Jackson later decommitted from UNC, becoming the first player to do so since

J. R. Smith Earl Joseph "J. R." Smith III (born September 9, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Smith played high school basketball at New Jers ...

in 2003. He ultimately

reclassified ''Reclassified'' is the reissue of Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's debut studio album, ''The New Classic'' (2014). It was released internationally on 21 November 2014 by Virgin EMI Records, and in the United States on 24 November 2014 by Def ...

to the class of 2022 and enrolled at South Carolina. Jackson's commitment made him the highest-ranked recruit in school history.

College career

Jackson entered his freshman season at South Carolina as the Gamecocks' starting power forward. He was named the

(SEC) Freshman of the Week for the first week of the season after averaging 15 points and nine rebounds in his first two career games. Jackson was benched after shooting 0-for-8 and scoring no points in an 85–42 loss to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. In the following game he scored 16 points off the bench in a 71–68 win over

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. Jackson finished the season as the Gamecocks' leading scorer with 15.4 points per game and also led the team with 26 blocks and 24 steals. Following the end of the season he entered the 2023 NBA draft.

Professional career

Jackson was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 45th overall pick in the second round of the 2023 NBA draft, subsequently joining the team for the

2023 NBA Summer League The 2023 NBA Summer League (branded as '' NBA 2K24'' Summer League 2023 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, ...

. On August 31, 2023, he signed a two-way contract with the Grizzlies, splitting time with their

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

affiliate, the Memphis Hustle. Extensive injuries to the Grizzlies roster during the 2023-24 season led to the team recalling Jackson from the Hustle. On February 8, 2024, Jackson scored a then-career-high 27 points during a 118–110 loss to the Chicago Bulls, which led to the Grizzlies signing Jackson to a four-year contract the following day. On March 10, Jackson made his starting debut for the Grizzlies against the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he would score 30 points in a 124-93 loss. On March 20, Jackson scored 35 points with seven three-point shots made in a 137-116 loss to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to make seven threes in a game. In the regular season finale on April 14th, Jackson scored a career-high 44 points and recorded 12 rebounds in a 111-126 loss to the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to record 40 points and 10 rebounds in a game. His 44 points also set the record for the most points by a rookie in Grizzlies franchise history.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Memphis , 48 , , 18 , , 25.7 , , .428 , , .357 , , .752 , , 4.1 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .5 , , 14.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 48 , , 18 , , 25.7 , , .428 , , .357 , , .752 , , 4.1 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .5 , , 14.6

College

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

2022–23 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;",

, 32 , , 29 , , 31.9 , , .384 , , .324 , , .667 , , 5.9 , , .8, , .8 , , .8 , , 15.4

National team

Jackson played for the United States under-18 basketball team at the

2022 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship The 2022 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship was an international under-18 basketball tournament that was held from 6 to 12 June 2022 in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The twelfth edition of the biennial competition, this is also the qualifyin ...

References

External links

South Carolina Gamecocks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, GG 2004 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from South Carolina Memphis Grizzlies draft picks Memphis Grizzlies players Memphis Hustle players Power forwards South Carolina Gamecocks men's basketball players Sportspeople from Columbia, South Carolina