Julian Lee Strawther-Cordero (born April 18, 2002) is a Puerto Rican 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 Denver Nuggets 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). 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 Gonzaga Bulldogs.

High school career

Strawther played basketball for Liberty High School in Henderson, Nevada. As a junior, he averaged 27.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. In his senior season, he averaged 31.5 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, earning Southeast League co-MVP honors. Strawther scored 51 points against Apollo High School at the HoopHall West Invitational, setting an event record. He left as his school's all-time leader in points and rebounds. A consensus four-star recruit, he committed to playing college basketball for Gonzaga over offers from Marquette,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

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 ...

College career

As a freshman at Gonzaga, Strawther averaged 3.4 points per game, serving as the backup to Corey Kispert. His team reached the national championship game. On November 15, 2021, he scored 18 points in an 84–57 win over Alcorn State. As a sophomore, Strawther averaged 11.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He declared for 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 ...

following the season before ultimately returning to Gonzaga. On January 28, 2023, Strawther scored a career-high 40 points in an 82–67 victory over Portland. In the 2023 NCAA tournament against

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 ...

, he made a basket for the lead with six seconds remaining, and Gonzaga held on for the win to advance to the quarterfinals.

National team career

Although a native of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Strawther represents Puerto Rico at the international level due to his mother's Puerto Rican ancestry. At the 2019 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, he averaged 22 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, helping his team finish in sixth place. He recorded 40 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in a loss to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in the fifth-place game.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , 25 , , 0 , , 7.4 , , .517 , , .321 , , .696 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , 32 , , 31 , , 26.8 , , .498 , , .365 , , .705 , , 5.4 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .2 , , 11.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;", Gonzaga , 37 , , 37 , , 31.2 , , .469 , , .408 , , .776 , , 6.2 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , .4 , , 15.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 94 , , 68 , , 23.4 , , .484 , , .384 , , .745 , , 4.6 , , .9 , , .6 , , .2 , , 10.9

Personal life

Strawther was nine years old when his mother, Lourdes, died from

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

. His older sister, Paris, played college basketball for

. Strawther's paternal grandfather, Edward, was a lieutenant colonel who served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and formed the ''Las Vegas Sentinel'', one of two African-American newspapers in Nevada.

References

External links

Gonzaga Bulldogs bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strawther, Julian 2002 births Living people American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Puerto Rican descent Basketball players from Las Vegas Denver Nuggets players Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball players Grand Rapids Gold players Indiana Pacers draft picks Puerto Rican men's basketball players Shooting guards