Kylor Kelley (born August 26, 1997) 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

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 ...

. 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

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

Early life and high school career

Kelley grew up playing basketball under the coaching of his mother, a former high school player. At age six or seven, he moved with his mother and brother from Utah to Oregon, after his parents split. Kelley played three years of varsity basketball for

Gervais High School Gervais High School (formerly Gervais Union High School) is a public high school in Gervais, Oregon, United States. It is a part of the Gervais School District. Academics In 2022 100% of the school's seniors received a high school diploma Athle ...

Gervais, Oregon Gervais is a city in Marion County, Oregon, Marion County, Oregon, United States. The population was 2,464 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The city is named for settler ...

. While attending Gervais, he grew from 6'1 to 7'0 but did not weigh more than 185 pounds. As a senior, Kelley averaged 15.9 points, 12.4 rebounds, 7.8 blocks and 2.4 assists per game and was named PacWest Player of the Year. He set the school's career, single-season and single-game records for blocks. Kelley did not qualify to play for most four-year colleges. As a result, he had no

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

offers out of high school.

College career

Kelley began playing college basketball for

Bushnell University Bushnell University is a private Christian university in Eugene, Oregon. It is historically affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the Christian churches and churches of Christ. The institution was renamed from North ...

. As a freshman, Kelley averaged 8.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.6 blocks per game and set a school single-game record with 10 blocks against

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oreg ...

. After 10 games, he was dismissed from Bushnell. Kelley transferred to

Lane Community College Lane Community College is a public community college in Eugene, Oregon, with additional facilities in downtown Eugene, Florence, Cottage Grove, and the Lane Aviation Academy at Eugene Airport. Lane serves more than 26,000 credit and non-credit ...

, where he received more Division I interest as a result. In his sophomore season, he averaged 9.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.6 blocks per game and was a

Northwest Athletic Conference The Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC), formerly the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC), is a sports association for community colleges in the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho, along with the Canadian prov ...

All-Defensive Team selection. At Lane CC, Kelley was recruited by multiple

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 ...

programs and chose to continue his career at

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

because he wanted to stay close to home. On December 17, 2018, as a junior at Oregon State, Kelley tallied a school-record nine blocks, to go with 10 points and nine rebounds, in an 82–67 victory over

Pepperdine Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

. By the end of the season, he ranked second in the nation, led the Pac-12 and set a school record with 3.35 blocks per game. He also averaged 7.7 points and five rebounds per game and was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team. On December 18, 2019, as a senior, Kelley posted a season-high 23 points, six rebounds and three blocks in an 88–78 win over UTSA. He became Oregon State's all-time leader in blocks in a January 30, 2020 victory over

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, during which he posted 10 points, seven blocks and six rebounds. Kelley finished his senior season averaging 11.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.45 blocks per game, earning Pac-12 All-Defensive Team honors for a second time. He averaged the second-most blocks per game in the nation and led the Pac-12 in that category. Despite the Pac-12 Tournament being cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Kelley finished with 211 blocks in two years at Oregon State.

Professional career

Austin Spurs (2021)

After going undrafted in 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 ...

, on December 11, 2020, Kelley was reported to had signed with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

and subsequently waived by the

. Kelley was included in the roster of

London Lions (2021–2022)

On July 21, 2021, Kelley signed with the London Lions for the 2021–22 BBL season.

Bakken Bears (2022)

Since 2022, he has been with

Bakken Bears Bakken Bears is a Denmark, Danish professional basketball club based in Aarhus. The club plays in the Basketligaen, the top tier basketball league in Denmark. Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 20 times and holds the record for t ...

of the Champions League and the Danish

Basketligaen The Basketligaen ( en, The Basketball League) is the highest professional basketball league in Denmark. The original men's first division was founded in 1957 and the current league was founded in 1998. All-time record holder in league titles is B ...

Return to Austin (2022–present)

On December 20, 2022, Kelley was reacquired by the

Personal life

Kelley's father, Jeff, played college basketball for

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

. His mother, Shandel Howell, had intended to play the same sport for

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

before its women's program was cut by the university.

References

External links

Oregon State Beavers bioNorthwest Christian Beacons bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelley, Kylor 1997 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Denmark American men's basketball players Austin Spurs players Bakken Bears players Basketball players from Utah Bushnell University alumni Centers (basketball) Lane Titans men's basketball players London Lions (basketball) players Oregon State Beavers men's basketball players Sportspeople from Logan, Utah