Joseph William Baker (born September 9, 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 Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL). 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

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

and the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

. Baker was 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'' (En ...

in high school and the number 3 player in North Carolina according to

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

High school career

Baker attended Trinity Christian School in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

Recruiting

Baker was a four-star

and one of the top players in the 2019 class, before reclassifying to the 2018 class.

College career

Duke (2018–2022)

On October 29, 2017, Baker committed to playing

for the

over offers from

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

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 ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. Baker would join a recruiting class that featured future NBA players

RJ Barrett Rowan Alexander "RJ" Barrett Jr. (born June 14, 2000) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected third overall in the 2019 NBA draft by the New York Knicks ...

Cam Reddish Cameron Elijah Reddish (born September 1, 1999) is an American basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. He was selected 10th overall by t ...

, and

Zion Williamson Zion Lateef Williamson (born July 6, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the power forward position. Following a freshman-year stint with the ...

, as well as

Tre Jones Tre Isiah Jones (born January 8, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. High school career Jones played h ...

for the

2018–19 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team The 2018–19 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team represented Duke University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. They were coached by 39th-year head coach, Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils played their home games at ...

. During his freshman year, Baker was set to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

for the entire season, until

Coach K Michael William Krzyzewski ( ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980 to 2022, during which he led the Blue Devils to five nation ...

put him into the game against

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

on February 23, 2019. In his sophomore season, Baker put up a career high in points scored with 22 against the Wofford Terriers on December 19, 2019. On May 8, 2022, Baker completed his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and graduated from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

Michigan (2022–2023)

On June 18, 2022, Baker transferred to the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

as a graduate transfer for his final year of

eligibility. During the offseason Baker had offseason hip surgery. Baker didn't celebrate Senior night with the 2021-22 Duke Blue Devils, because he anticipated playing his fifth year there, but he did celebrate it with the 2022–23 Michigan Wolverines on February 26 against

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In the opening round of the

2023 National Invitation Tournament The 2023 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2023 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 14 and ended on March 30. Th ...

, against

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Orur ...

on March 14, 2023, Baker posted season-highs in points (21), field goals made (eight), and three-pointers made (five) on 8–11 shooting. Following the game, he announced that he was pursuing a retroactive redshirt from his freshman season for the 2018-19 Duke Blue Devils. Baker later decided to hire an agent and pursue professional opportunities.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA draft, Baker signed his first professional contract with Pieno žvaigždės Pasvalys of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) on September 14, 2023.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, 4 , , 0 , , 4.5 , , .250 , , .500 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.3 , , 0.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 3 , , 12.1 , , .410 , , .394 , , .917 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 5.0 , - , 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;",

, 23 , , 1 , , 11.5 , , .310 , , .314 , , .750 , , 1.2 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 2.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 0 , , 11.9 , , .432 , , .405 , , .778 , , 1.2 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 0.0 , , 4.5 , - , 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;",

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, 34 , , 5 , , 16.4 , , .393 , , .391 , , .686 , , 2.2 , , 0.4 , , 0.4, , 0.2 , , 5.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 123 , , 9 , , 12.9 , , .393 , , .383 , , .756 , , 1.4 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 4.5

Personal life

His father, Michael Baker, served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

References

External links

Duke Blue Devils bioMichigan Wolverines bioESPN profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Joey 2000 births Living people American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Lithuania Basketball players from North Carolina BC Pieno žvaigždės players Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Michigan Wolverines men's basketball players Small forwards Sportspeople from Fayetteville, North Carolina