Lionel Jr. "L. J." Figueroa Mercado (born March 28, 1998) is a Dominican and American professional basketball player for Ratiopharm Ulm of the German

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

(BBL) and the EuroCup. He played college basketball for the Odessa Wranglers, the

St. John's Red Storm The St. John's Red Storm is the nickname used for the 17 varsity athletic programs of St. John's University, in the U.S. state of New York. St. John's 17 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fenci ...

, and the Oregon Ducks.

High school career

As a freshman, Figueroa played basketball for

Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School Notre Dame Cristo Rey High School is a Roman Catholic high school in Methuen, Massachusetts, United States, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston. Founded in 2004 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, it follows the Cristo Rey Network work-s ...

Lawrence, Massachusetts Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...

. For his sophomore season, he transferred to Lawrence High School in Lawrence to seek better competition but was relegated to junior varsity. He then transferred to Oldsmar Christian School in Oldsmar, Florida, where he repeated his sophomore year and grew four inches (10 cm). Figueroa was drawn there by coach Alex Arias. For his senior season, he moved to West Oaks Academy in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. Figueroa was a four-star recruit and committed to play college basketball for New Mexico State over offers from Florida,

Miami (Florida) Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at the ...

and Louisville, among others.

College career

Before playing a game for New Mexico State, Figueroa left the program due to a coaching change. He played for Odessa College during his freshman season. Figueroa averaged 21.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game, while shooting 48.2 percent from three-point range, and earned First Team National Junior College Athletic Association Division I All-American honors. He was also named Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. For his sophomore season, Figueroa transferred to St. John's. On November 27, 2018, he scored a sophomore season-high 25 points and collected 13 rebounds in an 85–64 win against Maryland Eastern Shore. As a sophomore, Figueroa averaged 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He entered the transfer portal following the departure of coach Chris Mullin before returning to St. John's. On January 25, 2020, Figueroa scored a junior season-high 28 points with seven three-pointers in a 79–66 win over DePaul. As a junior, he averaged 14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists and a Big East-leading 1.9 steals per game. However, Figueroa struggled with his shooting under new coach Mike Anderson, making 37.9 percent of his attempts from the floor. After initially declaring for 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 ...

, Figueroa decided to return to college and transfer to Oregon for his senior season. He was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility on December 3. As a senior, Figueroa averaged 12.3 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game, while finishing third on the team with 41 steals. Following the season, he opted to turn professional rather than take advantage of the additional season of eligibility the NCAA granted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

, Figueroa joined the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

for

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

play.

Leones de Santo Domingo (2021)

In August, he signed with

Leones de Santo Domingo Leones de Santo Domingo is a professional basketball team based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The team currently plays in Dominican top division Liga Nacional de Baloncesto. Championships Liga Nacional de Baloncesto The Liga Nacional de B ...

of the Dominican Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, helping them win the LNB Championship.

Santa Cruz Warriors (2021–2022)

On October 13, 2021, Figueroa signed 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 ...

. However, he was waived three days later. In October 2021, Figueroa joined the Santa Cruz Warriors as an affiliate player. On January 10, 2022, he had 17 points and 13 rebounds and hit the game-winning basket at the buzzer in a 132–130 overtime win over the Memphis Hustle.

South Bay Lakers (2022–2023)

On October 8, 2022, Figueroa signed with the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

. He was waived two days later. On October 22, 2022, Figueroa joined the South Bay Lakers training camp roster.

Grises de Humacao (2023)

On April 2, 2023, Figueroa signed with

Grises de Humacao Grises de Humacao (lit. "Humacao Greys") is a basketball team based in Humacao, Puerto Rico, which competes in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) professional league. History The team was originally created in 2005, when the Toritos de Cayey ...

of the Puerto Rican league.

ratiopharm Ulm (2023–present)

On July 27, 2023, Figueroa signed with ratiopharm Ulm of the

National team career

Figueroa represented the Dominican Republic at the

2016 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship The 2016 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship for Men was an international basketball competition that was held in Valdivia, Chile from July 19–23, 2016. It was the tenth edition of the championship, and was the FIBA Americas qualifying tournamen ...

, averaging 14.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He played for the Dominican Republic at the

2019 Pan American Games The 2019 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2019, links=no), officially the XVIII Pan American Games and commonly known as the Lima 2019 Pan-Am Games or Lima 2019 ( qu, Limaq 2019), were a multi-sport event governed by the Panam Spo ...

Career statistics

College

NCAA Division I

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", St. John's , 34 , , 32 , , 32.0 , , .513 , , .383 , , .627 , , 6.4 , , 1.7 , , 1.8 , , .2 , , 14.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", St. John's , 32 , , 32 , , 28.3 , , .379 , , .365 , , .663 , , 4.5 , , 2.1 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , 14.5 , - , 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;", Oregon , 26 , , 21 , , 31.3 , , .467 , , .377 , , .667 , , 6.1 , , 1.4 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , 12.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 92 , , 85 , , 30.5 , , .449 , , .374 , , .651 , , 5.6 , , 1.8 , , 1.8 , , .3 , , 13.9

JUCO

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, 33 , , 32 , , 24.2 , , .555 , , .482 , , .726 , , 5.5 , , 3.7 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , 21.4

Personal life

Figueroa is the son of Leo Figueroa and Gleny Mercado. His mother played volleyball for

Florida Memorial College Florida Memorial University is a private historically black university in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is a member of the United Negro College Fund and historically related to Baptists although it claims a focus on broader Christianity. History ...

References

External links

Oregon Ducks bioSt. John's Red Storm bioOdessa Wranglers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figueroa, L. J. 1998 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent Basketball players from Massachusetts Dominican Republic men's basketball players Grises de Humacao players Odessa Wranglers men's basketball players Oregon Ducks men's basketball players Ratiopharm Ulm players Santa Cruz Warriors players Shooting guards Small forwards South Bay Lakers players Sportspeople from Lawrence, Massachusetts St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players Leones de Santo Domingo players