Matthew Mayer (born September 23, 1999) is an American professional
basketball player for the
Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the
NBA G League. He played
college basketball for the
Baylor Bears
The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only two private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to j ...
and the
Illinois Fighting Illini.
High school career
Mayer attended
Westlake High School in
Austin, Texas, where he played alongside future
NCAA Division I players Brock Cunningham, Keonte Kennedy and Will Baker. He committed to playing college basketball for
Baylor over offers from
Texas and
Texas A&M, among others. Mayer was a consensus four-star recruit, according to major recruiting services.
College career
Mayer had a limited role during his first two years at Baylor. In his junior season, he improved his efficiency and was a key contributor off the bench for the national champion Bears. Mayer grew a
mullet upon the advice of his teammate Jackson Moffatt, who had the same hairstyle. Mayer averaged 8.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Following the season, he declared for 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 ...
, but ultimately returned for his senior season. In his senior season, Mayer started all 33 games and averaged 9.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He again declared for the
NBA draft after the season, but later withdrew and announced he was transferring to
Illinois. In his lone season at Illinois, Mayer was named to the Third Team All-Big Ten by both coaches and media.
Professional career
Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2023–present)
After going undrafted in the
2023 NBA draft, Mayer joined the
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...
for the
2023 NBA Summer League
The 2023 NBA Summer League (branded as '' NBA 2K24'' Summer League 2023 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, ...
. He signed a contract with the Rockets on August 2, 2023, but was waived on October 17. On October 30, Mayer joined the
Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Career statistics
College
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
2018–19
, style="text-align:left;",
Baylor
, 33 , , 0 , , 11.8 , , .331 , , .308 , , .660 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , .5 , , .2 , , 4.6
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
2019–20
, style="text-align:left;",
Baylor
, 30 , , 0 , , 11.6 , , .422 , , .378 , , .690 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , .5 , , .1 , , 4.8
, -
, 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;",
Baylor
, 30 , , 0 , , 15.7 , , .489 , , .395 , , .592 , , 3.7 , , 1.0 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 8.1
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
2021–22
, style="text-align:left;",
Baylor
, 33 , , 33 , , 22.8 , , .409 , , .324 , , .700 , , 5.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , 9.8
, -
, 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;",
Illinois
, 33 , , 33 , , 26.5 , , .407 , , .330 , , .741 , , 5.3 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 1.2 , , 12.5
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 159, , 66, , 17.8, , .413, , .339, , .689, , 3.6, , .9, , .8 , , .5 , , 8.0
References
External links
Baylor Bears bioIllinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Matthew
1999 births
Living people
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Austin, Texas
Basketball players from Dallas
Baylor Bears men's basketball players
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
Rio Grande Valley Vipers players
Shooting guards
Small forwards
Westlake High School (Texas) alumni