Marcus Jerome Capers (born December 21, 1989) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

London Lightning The London Lightning is a Canadian professional basketball team based in London, Ontario, Canada, with home games at the Budweiser Gardens. The team is a charter member of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBLC) that began play for the 201 ...

of the

National Basketball League of Canada The National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada; french: Ligue nationale de basketball du Canada) is a Canadian professional men's minor league basketball organization. The NBL Canada was founded in 2011, when three existing Premier Basketb ...

(NBL Canada). He played college basketball for

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

Early life

Capers was born and raised in

Winter Haven, Florida Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is fifty-one miles east of Tampa. The population was 49,219 at the 2020 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2019 estimates, this city had a population of 44,955, making ...

, a city in the central area of the state. His parents are Frankie and Gaynell Capers. In his childhood, he had hoped to become a basketball player and then a high school coach. Capers said, "Having played the game brings a different level of respect."

High school career

Capers attended Lake Region High School in Eagle Lake, Florida and played high school basketball under head coach David Saltman. As a freshman with Lake Region, Capers led the junior varsity team with 18 points per game. He also led them to a second-place finish at the

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

JV championship. In his sophomore season Capers moved up to the varsity team, and averaged the second-most points and most rebounds on the team. Lake Region became district champions and regional runners-up that year, earning Capers All-Polk County honors. He was named a captain as a junior and averaged 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. His team made yet another appearance at the district championship for the second straight season. At the end of the season, some of the honors he earned were 2007 Polk County News Chief All-Area Player of the Year, Lakeland Ledger First Team, and class 5A honorable mention. Before his senior season, Capers transferred to Montverde Academy in

Montverde, Florida Montverde is a town in Lake County, Florida, United States. The population was 1,655 at the 2020 census and an estimated 1,675 in 2018. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Montverde wa ...

. By the end of the year, he was averaging 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists per contest. He garnered class 2A third-team All-State accolades and was named to the Vince Carter Shootout and Montverde Academy Invitational all-tournament teams. Montverde, as a team, finished the season with an undefeated 30–0 record and were ranked No. 4 nationally by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

''. Montverde coach Kevin Sutton praised Capers by saying, "He’s a tremendous athlete who can slash and finish at the rim."

Recruiting profile

Capers was rated a three-star recruit, the 10th best in Florida, and the 30th best in the Class of 2008 for his position by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

. He was interested in

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 ...

programs such as Clemson,

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

, Ole Miss, Penn State, VCU, and

. He received offers and visited the latter two schools but committed to Washington State on October 5, 2007. Junior Taylor Rochestie intentionally gave up his

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the United ...

, allowing the incoming freshman, Capers to join.

College

While attending

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

, Capers played in 135 games, the most contests a player from that school had appeared in since George Hamilton about sixty years prior.

The Basketball Tournament

Marcus Capers played for Team Tampa 20/20 in the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

edition of

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 20 ...

. He scored five points and had a game-high 11 rebounds in the team's first-round loss to Ram Nation.

Personal life

His brother,

Kevin Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant '' Kevan'' is anglicized from , a ...

, is also a professional basketball player who played

for

Florida Southern College Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. The college offers 50 undergradu ...

and later professionally in Mexico, Romania, Iceland and Israel.

References

External links

Marcus Capers
on

RealGM RealGM.com is a sports website created in 2000. The site was originally a basketball site, but has since expanded its scope to provide information about American football, baseball, ice hockey and soccer. According to Alexa, the site ranked in th ...

Marcus Capers
on USBasket.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Capers, Marcus 1989 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Finland American expatriate basketball people in Japan American men's basketball players Basketball players from Florida Guards (basketball) Helsinki Seagulls players London Lightning players Mississauga Power players Montverde Academy alumni Osaka Evessa players Sportspeople from Winter Haven, Florida Torpan Pojat players Washington State Cougars men's basketball players