Rechon Malik "Leaky" Black (born June 14, 1999) is an American

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

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

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 S ...

(NBA), on 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

Greensboro Swarm The Greensboro Swarm are an American basketball team of the NBA G League based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and are affiliated with the Charlotte Hornets. The Swarm play their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Fieldhouse. The team became ...

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 collegiately for the

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to individuals from the state of North Carolina, the ''Tar Heel ...

of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC).

College career

Black, raised in

Concord, North Carolina Concord is the county seat and largest city in Cabarrus County, in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 105,186, with an estimated population in 2021 of 107,697. In terms of population, the cit ...

, committed to coach Roy Williams and North Carolina as a high school sophomore. After a shortened freshman campaign due to an ankle injury, Black entered the starting lineup in his sophomore season for the Tar Heels. As a senior, Black became one of the top defensive players in the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

, earning conference all-defensive team honors at the close of the regular season. Black was a part of a Tar Heel starting lineup that each averaged big minutes and led the eighth-seeded Tar Heels to an unexpected Final Four berth in the 2022 NCAA tournament. In the semifinal against rival

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 ...

, Black held Duke freshman

AJ Griffin Adrian Darnell "AJ" Griffin Jr. (born August 25, 2003) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. High school career Gr ...

to 1–7 shooting for 6 points to help secure the win.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA draft, Black signed a

with the

on July 19, 2023.

Career statistics

College

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

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, 23 , , 0 , , 10.3 , , .469 , , .417 , , .857 , , 2.1 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .2 , , 2.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 31 , , 29.7 , , .359 , , .254 , , .696 , , 5.0 , , 2.6 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , 6.5 , - , 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 b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 27 , , 27.6 , , .367 , , .222 , , .692 , , 4.9 , , 2.4 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 5.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 38 , , 38 , , 29.7 , , .466 , , .333 , , .868 , , 4.3 , , 2.7 , , .9 , , .7 , , 4.9 , - , 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;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 32.1 , , .411 , , .326 , , .702 , , 4.8 , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , 7.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , , 155 , , 129 , , 26.9 , , .401 , , .296 , , .735 , , 4.7 , , 2.2 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , 5.5

Personal life

Black has been open about his struggles with anxiety and his coping strategies that have helped him control it. He earned his nickname, which comes from his middle name "Malik," from his grandmother.

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Leaky 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from North Carolina Montverde Academy alumni North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Sportspeople from Concord, North Carolina Small forwards