Lester Quiñones (born November 16, 2000) is a Dominican-American 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 Santa Cruz Warriors of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. He attended St. Benedict's Preparatory School and played a postgraduate season at

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a boar ...

. He then 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

Memphis Tigers The Memphis Tigers are the athletic teams that represent the University of Memphis, located in Memphis, Tennessee. The teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the American Athletic C ...

Early life and high school career

Quiñones grew up in Brentwood, New York and started playing

in sixth grade. In his first two years of high school, he attended Brentwood High School. As a junior, Quiñones transferred to Upper Room Christian School in Dix Hills, New York and averaged 19.3 points per game. He was named to the 2017 Long Island Basketball honor roll. For his senior season, Quiñones moved to St. Benedict's Preparatory School in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...

. He joined a nationally ranked basketball program and became teammates with five-star recruit Precious Achiuwa. On January 7, 2018, Quiñones scored a game-high 23 points in a win over

Hudson Catholic Regional High School Hudson Catholic Regional High School is a regional four-year co-educational University-preparatory Catholic high school in Jersey City, in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The school was established in 1964 by the Roman Catholic Ar ...

, the number one team in the NJ.com Top 20 poll. He helped his team to a 28–2 record and a top 10 national ranking by MaxPreps. In the summer, Quiñones played for New Heights alongside Achiuwa, averaging 15.2 points and 4.7 rebounds on the Under Armour Association (UAA) circuit. Entering the 2018–19 season, he transferred to

, a prep school in

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

with a successful basketball program, joining the

postgraduate Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate ( bachelor's) degree. The organization and str ...

team. Quiñones averaged 24 points, nine rebounds, and six assists per game, shooting 38 percent on three-pointers.

Recruiting

Quiñones finished his high school and postgraduate career as a consensus four-star recruit. On May 10, 2019, he committed to play

for Memphis under head coach Penny Hardaway. He had also strongly considered playing for

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

College career

With James Wiseman sitting out due to eligibility issues, Quiñones had his first double-double on November 16, 2019, recording 21 points and 10 rebounds in a 102–56 win over

Alcorn State Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. On ...

. As a result, he was named

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

freshman of the week on November 18. Quiñones broke his right hand during a November 23 game against Ole Miss and missed three weeks. At the conclusion of the regular season, Quiñones was named to the

All-Freshman Team. He averaged 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. After his junior season, Quiñones announced his intentions to leave Memphis and enter the 2022 NBA Draft.

Professional career

Santa Cruz Warriors (2022–present)

After going undrafted in 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. T ...

, Quiñones signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with 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 ...

. Quiñones debuted for the Warriors' 2022 NBA Summer League team in the NBA California Classic, scoring seven points, five rebounds, and two steals in a 68–86 loss to the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

. On October 24, 2022, Quiñones joined the Santa Cruz Warriors training camp roster.

National team career

Quiñones is

Dominican American Dominican Americans ( es, domínico-americanos, ) are Americans who trace their ancestry to the Dominican Republic. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Dominican descent or to someone who has migrated to the United Stat ...

and plays for the Dominican Republic national team. He joined the under-18 team at the

2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship The 2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship was an international under-18 basketball tournament that was held from 10 to 16 June 2018 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The eleventh edition of the biennial competition, this is also the qualifyi ...

St. Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontari ...

. In six games, Quiñones averaged 17.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, leading his team to sixth place. His best performance came in a loss to

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

, in which he recorded 31 points and seven three-pointers.

Personal life

Quiñones is of Dominican descent.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Memphis , 26 , , 23 , , 29.4 , , .402 , , .313 , , .804 , , 3.8 , , 2.2 , , .8 , , .1 , , 10.7 , - , 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 ...

, style="text-align:left;", Memphis , 28 , , 28 , , 26.3 , , .432 , , .400 , , .672 , , 5.8 , , 1.9 , , .9 , , .2 , , 9.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Memphis , 33 , , 30 , , 27.2 , , .449 , , .390 , , .750 , , 3.5 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 10.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 87 , , 81 , , 27.6 , , .429 , , .369 , , .752 , , 4.3 , , 1.8 , , .9 , , .1 , , 10.1

References

External links

Memphis Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinones, Lester 2000 births Living people American sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent Basketball players from New York (state) Dominican Republic men's basketball players Memphis Tigers men's basketball players People from Brentwood, New York Shooting guards St. Benedict's Preparatory School alumni