James Akinjo (born November 27, 2000) 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

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 White ...

of the

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 ...

. 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

Georgetown Hoyas The Georgetown Hoyas are the collegiate athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C. Georgetown's athletics department fields 23 men's and women's varsity level teams and competes at the National C ...

, the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

and the

Baylor Bears The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only two private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to j ...

Early life and high school career

Akinjo grew up in the crime-ridden Las Deltas Housing projects in

North Richmond, California North Richmond is an unincorporated area in Contra Costa County, California, a census-designated place (CDP) with a population of 3,717 adjacent to and nearly surrounded by the city of Richmond.

. He was raised by his grandmother, Roberta Stevenson, because his mother, Monique Divers, died from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

when he was a toddler. When Akinjo was 13 years old, his brother died. Many of his friends were also murdered. His father, who is only 16 years older than him, and his uncle were imprisoned or jailed during his childhood. From a young age, Akinjo aspired to become a basketball player and drew inspiration from

Chris Paul Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3" and “The Point God”, is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Paul is widely regarded as one o ...

. At age 11, he was featured in the ''

East Bay Times The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa and Alameda counties, in the East Bay ...

'', who touted him as a "basketball prodigy." Akinjo played for

Salesian College Preparatory Salesian College Preparatory (formerly Salesian High School and Salesian House of Studies) is a private, Roman Catholic, co-educational, college-preparatory high school in Richmond, California, United States. Established in 1927, it is part of t ...

Richmond, California Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was municipal corporation, incorporated on August 7, 1905, and has a Richmond, California City Council, city council.

, where he was coached by Bill Mellis. As a freshman, he stood 5'8 but had a growth spurt. At the 2017 MLK Classic, Akinjo scored 29 points in a 45–36 win over St. John Bosco-Bellflower. As a senior, he averaged 20.7 points and 5.2 assists per game, leading his team to a 30–2 record and the

CIF North Coast Section The North Coast Section (NCS) is a part of the California Interscholastic Federation, governing the eastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area, up along the northern coast of the state of California, from Fremont in the south to Crescent C ...

Division III title.

Recruiting

A four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

, he originally committed to

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

but after the firing of head coach

Kevin Ollie Kevin Jermaine Ollie (born December 27, 1972) is an American basketball coach and former player. Kevin is the head coach for Overtime Elite, a professional basketball league co-founded by Dan Porter and Zack Weiner for top players between 16 and ...

switched his commitment to Georgetown.

College career

On November 19, 2018, Akinjo earned his first

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

Freshman of the Week honors after averaging 14.3 points and 4.7 assists per game in three games. He made a three-pointer with 4.9 seconds left in regulation to force overtime in a 76–73 win over

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

. On December 22, Akinjo scored a season-high 25 points in a 102–94 victory over Arkansas–Little Rock. He matched his career-high on March 9, 2019, scoring 25 points with five three-pointers in an 86–84 win over 16th-ranked Marquette. At the end of the regular season, Akinjo was named Big East Freshman of the Year and was a unanimous pick for the Big East All-Freshman Team. As a freshman, he averaged 13.4 points, 5.2 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. Akinjo made his sophomore debut on November 6, 2019, scoring 20 points, including 17 in the second half, in an 81–68 win over Mount St. Mary's. On December 2, it was announced that Akinjo had left Georgetown and was entering the transfer portal along with several other Georgetown players. In seven games, he averaged 13.4 points, 4.4 assists and three rebounds per game. On January 1, 2020, Akinjo committed to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. He was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility on September 1. As a junior, he averaged 15.6 points and 5.4 assists per game, earning First Team All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

honors. On March 31, 2021, Akinjo 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 ...

with the possibility of returning to school. He transferred to Baylor. On December 28, 2021, Akinjo scored a career-high 27 points and had nine assists in a 104-68 win against

Northwestern State Northwestern State University of Louisiana (NSU) is a public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the Univer ...

. He missed a game against

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

on January 18, 2022, due to an injured tailbone. Akinjo was named to the First Team All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

Professional career

Westchester Knicks (2022–present)

After going undrafted in the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...

, Akinjo was signed by the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, 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, Nevada on the campus ...

. On October 14, 2022, Akinjo signed with the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

, but was waived on October 15. On October 23, 2022, Akinjo joined the

training camp roster.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Georgetown , 33 , , 32 , , 31.6 , , .365 , , .391 , , .812 , , 2.9 , , 5.2 , , 1.1 , , .0 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Georgetown , 7 , , 7 , , 30.7 , , .337 , , .242 , , .813 , , 3.0 , , 4.4 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 13.4 , - , 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;",

, 26 , , 26 , , 34.9 , , .379 , , .408 , , .819 , , 2.3 , , 5.4 , , 1.4 , , .0 , , 15.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Baylor , 32 , , 32 , , 33.1 , , .383 , , .295 , , .835 , , 2.8 , , 5.8 , , 2.0 , , .0 , , 13.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 98 , , 97 , , 32.9 , , .373 , , .354 , , .820 , , 2.7 , , 5.4 , , 1.6 , , .0 , , 14.0

Personal life

Akinjo's father played basketball for

McClymonds High School McClymonds High School is a public high school in the West Oakland neighborhood of Oakland, California, United States. In addition to being the third oldest high school in Oakland, it is the only comprehensive high school in West Oakland, operat ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in the late 1990s.

References

External links

Georgetown Hoyas bio

Arizona Wildcats bio

Baylor Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akinjo, James 2000 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players Basketball players from Oakland, California Baylor Bears men's basketball players Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball players Point guards Westchester Knicks players