Jayvon Donnell Graves (born December 29, 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who last played for

MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg Riesen Ludwigsburg ( en, Giants Ludwigsburg), for sponsorship reasons MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, is a professional basketball club that is based in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The club currently plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the first tier of ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

. 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

Buffalo Bulls The Buffalo Bulls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University at Buffalo (UB) in Buffalo, New York. The Bulls compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level as a member of Mid-Am ...

High school career

Graves was born in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

but grew up in

Malvern, Ohio Malvern is a village in northwestern Carroll County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,110 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Canton–Massillon metropolitan area. History Malvern was laid out in 1834. The village was named after M ...

. He began playing basketball at the age of six and was also a star player in baseball and football. He attended St. Vincent–St. Mary High School where he was coached by Dru Joyce II. As a senior, he helped St. Vincent-St. Mary to its first state title since 2011 and 25–5 record. He scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the title game. Graves averaged 21.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. He shared All-Ohio Player of the Year honors in Division II with Trotwood High School's Torrey Patton, and Graves was named cleveland.com Boys Basketball Player of the Year. In AAU play, he competed for the King James Shooting Stars. Graves was a three-star recruit with offers from 13 schools, including MAC schools Toledo and

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in Ash ...

, but signed with Buffalo. He said he was drawn to the Bulls because of "the style of play, the atmosphere, closeness to home and the coaching staff," particularly

Nate Oats Nathanael Justin Oats (born October 13, 1974) is an American basketball coach, currently the head basketball coach at the University of Alabama. Prior to Alabama he was the head coach at the University at Buffalo. Education and playing career Oa ...

College career

As a freshman, Graves played in all 36 games and averaged 5.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per-game. He helped the team finish 27–9 and defeat

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 ...

in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. As a sophomore, he became a starter, contributing 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Graves helped the Bulls finish a school-record 32–4 and defeat

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national runner-up

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. His best game as a sophomore came on February 19, 2019, when he tallied 26 points in a 114–67 blowout win over

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Coming into his junior season, Graves was the leading returning scorer on a team that lost

C. J. Massinburg Christian Jalon Massinburg (born April 14, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Brescia of Lega Basket Serie A. He played college basketball for the Buffalo Bulls. He was named the 2019 Mid-American Conference Pl ...

, Nick Perkins and Jeremy Harris to graduation. On February 21, 2020, Graves scored a career-high 33 points in a 104–98 double overtime win at

. As a junior, Graves led Buffalo in scoring at 17.1 points per game in addition to averaging 5.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in 32 games, all starts. He set the program record for field goals attempted in a season with 479, and his 204 made field goals are third highest in a season at Buffalo. He was named to the First Team All- MAC. Following the season, he 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 ...

but did not hire an agent. On June 6, Graves announced he was withdrawing from the draft and returning to Buffalo. On March 2, 2021, he posted a triple-double with 13 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds in an 80–78 win over

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

. As a senior, Graves averaged 14.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. He was named to the Second Team All-MAC.

Professional career

Austin Spurs (2021–2022)

After going undrafted in 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 ...

, Graves signed with the

Austin Spurs The Austin Spurs are an American basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cedar Park, Texas, and are affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs. The team plays their home games at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The team has made the postseason in ...

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 ...

on October 27, 2021.

Limoges CSP (2022–2023)

He signed with

Limoges CSP Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges. History The club was founded in 1929, but its peak was during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became t ...

of the

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

on July 30, 2022. On December 22, 2022, Graves'

rights were traded from the

to the

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirte ...

Riesen Ludwigsburg (2023–2024)

On July 3, 2023, he signed with

of the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 36 , , 1 , , 16.3 , , .380 , , .325 , , .600 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .8 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 36 , , 35 , , 24.9 , , .457 , , .372 , , .625 , , 4.2 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , .8 , , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Buffalo , 32 , , 32 , , 34.4 , , .426 , , .360 , , .647 , , 5.4 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , , .7 , , 17.1 , - , 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;", Buffalo , 25 , , 25 , , 34.4 , , .409 , , .281 , , .575 , , 6.1 , , 3.8 , , 1.4 , , .9 , , 14.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 129 , , 93 , , 26.7 , , .422 , , .340 , , .615 , , 4.3 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , .8 , , 11.1

Personal life

Graves is the son of Brandy Prior and Aaron Graves, and he has an older brother Jalen. His grandfather, James Pryor Jr., was an Ohio state player of the year in high school. Graves is a Christian. He majored in communication with a minor in sociology at Buffalo. He cites

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

as his favorite athlete.

References

External links

Buffalo Bulls bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Jayvon 1998 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American men's basketball players Austin Spurs players Basketball players from Canton, Ohio Buffalo Bulls men's basketball players Limoges CSP players Point guards Riesen Ludwigsburg players St. Vincent–St. Mary High School alumni