Jalen Harris (born August 14, 1998) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

Westchester Knicks The Westchester Knicks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in White Plains, New York, and are affiliated with the New York Knicks. The Knicks typically play their home games at Westchester County Center in Whit ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. 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

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Lady Techsters, commonly abbreviated La. Tech and Dawgs, refer to the sports teams of Louisiana Tech University, in Ruston, Louisiana. The teams compete in Division I of NCAA sports. Since 2013, Louisiana Tech has bee ...

and the

Nevada Wolf Pack The Nevada Wolf Pack are the athletic teams that represent the University of Nevada, Reno. They are part of NCAA's Division I's Mountain West Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1896 with football as the Sagebrushers in Reno, Nevada. Hi ...

. Harris was suspended from the NBA for the 2021–22 season due to a drug violation.

Early life and high school career

Harris was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, the son of Karlin Kennedy and Erion Harris, both of whom played basketball at SMU, and has two younger brothers and a sister. His mother gave birth to him at the age of 19 but returned to the floor at SMU for her junior season and graduated as the Mustangs' all-time leader in points, rebounds, blocks, and field-goal percentage. Harris grew up in Duncanville and played basketball, football, and baseball. He gave up football after an injury in middle school, after which he trained with his father to become a high-level basketball player. His father formed the travel team Dallas Heroes around his son in middle school. He attended

Duncanville High School Duncanville High School is a secondary school located in Duncanville, Texas, United States, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The school is a part of Duncanville Independent School District. The school includes grades 9 through 12. The high schoo ...

and grew to 6'3 as a sophomore. As a junior, he averaged 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists per game and was named the District 8-6A Offensive Player of the Year. He suffered a broken vertebrae during an AAU event, forcing him to miss half of his senior season. Nevertheless, Harris was again named District 8-6A Offensive Player of the Year as a senior. He averaged 23 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals per game as a senior and shot 55 percent from the field and 45 percent on three-point attempts. In a game against Cedar Hill High School, Harris scored a career-high 44 points. He was rated as the 16th best player and the ninth-best guard in Texas in his class by

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

. Harris spurned offers from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

to sign with Louisiana Tech.

College career

Harris began his collegiate career at

Louisiana Tech Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activi ...

. As a true freshman, he averaged 10.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman team. As a sophomore, Harris led the Bulldogs in scoring with 15.3 points per game while also averaging 4.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game, shooting 44.4 percent from behind the arc. He decided to transfer after 11 games. In January 2018, he signed with

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

over offers from

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

and

Stephen F. Austin Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas,Hatch (1999), p. 43. he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization ...

. Harris chose the Wolf Pack after attending a game against Boise State after being impressed by coach

Eric Musselman Eric Musselman (born November 19, 1964) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. He is the former head coach of the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors of the ...

and welcoming fans and sat out the 2018–19 season as a redshirt, during which Nevada finished 29–5. After his redshirt season, coach Musselman left for

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

, and Harris entered the transfer portal again the day before the school hired

Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). Born and raised in Indiana, he was a ...

. Despite receiving interest from Gonzaga and SMU, Harris decided to stay at Nevada. He missed his second game with his new team with a foot injury and struggled in a game against USC, finishing 3-of-19 with nine points. During an eight-game stretch in January 2020, Harris averaged 27 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. On February 11, he was named Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association after scoring a career-high 38 points against

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

and 32 points against

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. He had 29 points, a career-high 14 rebounds, five assists, and two steals in a 82–79 overtime win against

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes th ...

on February 12, becoming the 11th Nevada player to tally at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a game. Harris is the first Nevada player since

Nick Fazekas Nicholas Ryan Fazekas (born June 17, 1985) is an American-born Japanese professional basketball player for the Kawasaki Brave Thunders of the B.League in Japan. Early career Fazekas attended Ralston Valley High School in Arvada, Colorado where h ...

in 2006 to have four or more 30-point games in a season. At the conclusion of the regular season, Harris was named to the First Team All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

and conference newcomer of the year. He averaged 21.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Following the season, Harris 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 ...

Professional career

Toronto Raptors (2020–2021)

On November 18, 2020, Harris was drafted in the second round, 59th overall, in the

by the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

. On January 29, 2021, Harris was assigned to the

Raptors 905 The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fi ...

of the

. On May 14, Harris scored a career-high 31 points against the Dallas Mavericks in his hometown of Dallas. On July 1, Harris was dismissed and suspended from the NBA for violating terms of anti-drug program. Harris was banned for the 2021–22 season.

Vanoli Cremona (2021–2022)

Harris signed with

Vanoli Cremona Guerino Vanoli Basket, also known as Vanoli Cremona, is a professional basketball team of the city of Cremona. The team played in the LBA, the top Italian basketball league, for 12 years until 2021. From 1999 to 2011 the society had the name of ...

of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier ...

on August 14, 2021.

Scarborough Shooting Stars (2022)

On May 24, 2022, Harris signed with the Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). In his first game with Scarborough, Harris recorded 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, shooting 40 percent from the field (6-out-of-15), in a 80–70 loss against the

Montreal Alliance The Montreal Alliance are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada founded in 2021. They compete in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) and play their home games at the Verdun Auditorium The Verdun Audi ...

Westchester Knicks (2022–present)

On September 25, 2022, Harris secured a contract with the New York Knicks 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 St ...

(NBA), officially ending his season-long ban in the process, but was waived at the end of training camp. On October 24, 2022, Harris joined the

training camp roster.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, 13 , , 2 , , 13.2 , , .500 , , .472 , , .778 , , 1.4 , , 1.3 , , .6 , , .0 , , 7.4 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 13, , 2 , , 13.2 , , .500 , , .472 , , .778 , , 1.4 , , 1.3 , , .6 , , .0 , , 7.4

College

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

, 27 , , 2 , , 22.9 , , .447 , , .319 , , .883 , , 3.1 , , 1.6 , , .8 , , .3 , , 10.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 11 , , 11 , , 25.1 , , .478 , , .444 , , .830 , , 4.4 , , 2.4 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 33.0 , , .446 , , .362 , , .823 , , 6.5 , , 3.9 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 21.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 68 , , 43 , , 27.7 , , .451 , , .359 , , .838 , , 4.8 , , 2.7 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 16.4

References

External links

Louisiana Tech Bulldogs bio

Nevada Wolf Pack bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Jalen 1998 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from Dallas Doping cases in basketball Duncanville High School alumni Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball players National Basketball Association players banned for drug offenses Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball players Point guards Raptors 905 players Scarborough Shooting Stars players Shooting guards Toronto Raptors draft picks Toronto Raptors players Vanoli Cremona players