Joseph Alexander Ragland (born November 11, 1989) is an American-Liberian 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

Hapoel Holon Hapoel Holon Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל הפועל חולון), known for sponsorship reasons as Hapoel Atsmon Playgrounds Holon (), is a professional basketball club based in Holon, Israel. The team plays in the Israeli B ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional sports, professional competition in Israeli sports club, club basketball, making ...

. He played college basketball for North Platte Community College and

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Early life

Ragland was born in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...

. He played basketball for West Springfield High School, where he earned the Lahovich Award as a senior.

College career

Ragland then committed to North Platte Community College in the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

. Ragland was named a first team

all-American in 2010, as he led his team to an NJCAA tournament appearance, averaging 18.4 points per game on 56% from the field. Ragland, finished his career at North Platte as the college's all-time leading scorer with 1,286 points, having averages of 19.5 points and 3.1 assists per game. His performances at North Platte caught the eye of

Gregg Marshall Michael Gregg Marshall (born February 27, 1963) is an American college basketball coach whose most recent position was head coach at Wichita State University. Marshall has coached his teams to appearances in the NCAA Division I men's basketball ...

who offered him a scholarship at

. As a junior with the Shockers, he started 19 games, led the team in assists helping it win the 2011 NIT. Ragland had a career-high scoring performance 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 the S ...

with 31 points with another career high of 8 three-pointers made. In his senior season he averaged 13.4 points per game, ranking first nationally in

true shooting percentage In basketball, true shooting percentage is an advanced statistic that measures a player's efficiency at shooting the ball. It is intended to more accurately calculate a player's shooting than field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and thre ...

with 70.4%. For his performances in the 2011–12 season, he was voted in the first team of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

. Totally in his two seasons with the Shockers, Ragland appeared in 69 games and had averages of 10 points, 3 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Professional career

Following two solid years as starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

for

he entered the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball Asso ...

however he went undrafted. He next played in the

2012 NBA Summer League The 2012 NBA Summer League was a pro basketball league run by the NBA just after the 2012 NBA Draft. It took place in Orlando, Florida from July 9 to 13 and in Las Vegas, Nevada from July 13 to 22, 2012. Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers) an ...

for 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 ...

; although he played all 5 games for the undefeated Warriors he was not able to secure a contract. Moving to Europe to start his professional career, he signed his first contract in August with

UCAM Murcia UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Baloncesto, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as UCAM Murcia, is a professional basketball team based in Murcia, Spain. It plays their home games at Palacio de Deportes. History Founded in 1985 u ...

of the Spanish

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

, signing a two-year contract. After accounting himself well for the Murcia, who were not in playoff contention or relegation danger, he was loaned near the end of the season in April 2013 to Italian side

Pallacanestro Cantù Pallacanestro Cantù, known for sponsorship reasons as Acqua S.Bernardo Cantù, is an Italian professional basketball club that is based in Cantù, Lombardy. On the European-wide club competition scene, Cantù is second to Real Madrid – again ...

to play in the Serie A playoffs. He proved to be an instant hit in Italy, playing in all their games and contributing greatly to their run to the semi-finals. Cantù then moved to secure him for the next season, signing him on a one-year deal in July. It proved to be wise move for the club as he became an indisputable starter, contributing greatly in both the league and European second-tier Eurocup where he was respectively called up for the All-Star game and MVP of Round 4. These performances caught the eye of

Emporio Armani Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

, especially after he scored a season-high 27 points against them in April 2014, he signed a two-year contract in July with the EuroLeague side. Ragland and Milano agreed to rescind the player's contract in July 2015. On July 29, 2015, Ragland signed a one-year deal with the Turkish club

Pınar Karşıyaka Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name. In Turkish, "Pınar" means "Spring" (of water), and/or "Fountain". Notable people called Pınar include: Given name * Pinar Heggernes (born 1969), Turkish-born Norwegian computer scientist * Pına ...

. On December 9, 2015, he left Karşıyaka and signed with the Italian club

Sidigas Avellino S.S. Felice Scandone was an Italian professional basketball club based in Avellino, Campania. Founded in 1948, the team has been a regular in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the first tier of basketball in Italy, for 19 years (2000/01 to 2018/19). ...

for the rest of the season. On June 15, 2016, he re-signed with Avellino for one more season. On July 21, 2017, Ragland signed a two-year deal with Russian club

Lokomotiv Kuban PBC Lokomotiv Kuban (russian: ПБК «Локомотив Кубань») is a Russian professional basketball team based in Krasnodar. The club participates in the VTB United League. The team is one of the top tier basketball teams in Russia. T ...

. On August 10, 2018, Ragland moved to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

and signed with

KK Crvena zvezda Košarkaški klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Црвена звезда, ), commonly referred to as KK Crvena zvezda mts for sponsorship reasons or simply Crvena zvezda, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, ...

for the 2018–19 season, with additional option for one more year. On July 19, 2019, Ragland signed a one-year deal with Turkish club Darüşşafaka Tekfen, but never appeared in any games because of an injury. On 12 December of the same year, he returned to Italy in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, signing again with

. On July 31, 2020, Ragland signed in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

with Hapoel Eilat. In 2020-21 he was second in the Israel Basketball Premier League in assists per game (7.5). On July 21, 2021, he signed with

of the

Personal

He obtained Liberian citizenship in November 2012. Under the

Cotonou Agreement The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States ("ACP countries"). It was signed in June 2000 in Cotonou, Benin's largest city, by 78 ACP countries (Cuba did not sign) and the ...

it allows him to be counted as an EU player in most European leagues such as the

Italian League The Italic League or Most Holy League was an international agreement concluded in Venice on 30 August 1454, between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples, following the Tr ...

and the Spanish League.

Career statistics

Euroleague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

Milano Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has ...

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Early life

College career

Professional career

Personal

Career statistics

Euroleague

Domestic leagues

References

External links