Max Strus (born March 28, 1996) 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

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

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 St ...

(NBA). He 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

Lewis Flyers The Lewis Flyers are the athletic teams that represent Lewis University, located in Romeoville (a suburb of Chicago), Illinois, United States, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Ass ...

and the

DePaul Blue Demons The DePaul Blue Demons are the athletic teams that represent DePaul University, located in Chicago, Illinois. The Blue Demons participate in NCAA Division I and are a member of the Big East Conference. DePaul’s Athletic Director is DeWayne P ...

Early life and high school career

Strus was born in the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

suburb of

Hickory Hills, Illinois Hickory Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois. Located principally in Palos Township, it is a suburb of Chicago. The population in 2020 was 14,505. History The Hickory Hills Country Club was founded in 1917 in the area of the present-day cit ...

and attended

Amos Alonzo Stagg High School Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, Stagg, or AAS, is a public four-year high school located at the intersection of S. Roberts Rd. and W. 111th Street in Palos Hills, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part o ...

, where he was a member of the baseball and basketball teams. Although he entered his sophomore year at 5'9", he had a late growth spurt and was 6'6" by the end of high school. As a senior, Strus averaged 19 points and nine rebounds per game and was named the area player of the year by '' The Reporter'', All- Southwest Suburban Conference, All-Area by the ''

SouthtownStar The ''Daily Southtown'' (formerly ''SouthtownStar'') is a newspaper of the Chicago, Illinois, United States metropolitan area that covers the south suburbs and the South Side neighborhoods of the city – a wide region known as the Chicago S ...

'' and third team All-State. After having only received one Division I offer (

Chicago State Chicago State University (CSU) is a predominantly black public university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1867 as the Cook County Normal School, it was an innovative teachers college. Eventually the Chicago Public Schools assumed control of t ...

), Strus committed to play at Division II

Lewis University Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university in Romeoville, Illinois, United States. The enrollment is currently around 6,800 students. Lewis offers more than 80 undergraduate majors and programs of study, 22 graduate pr ...

, where his older brother Marty had played.

College career

Lewis

Strus began his collegiate career at

. As a freshman, Strus averaged 13.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game and started all 31 of the Flyers' games and was named second team All-

Great Lakes Valley Conference The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its thirteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois ...

(GLVC). As a sophomore, Strus averaged 20.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game-all team highs-and was named first team all-GLVC and an honorable mention Division II All-American. He also set school records with 167 free throws made and 666 points scored in a single season and points scored in a game with 52 (14 for 18 shooting) against

Northwood University Northwood University (NU) is a private university focused on business education with its main campus in Midland, Michigan. Opened in 1959, more than 33,000 people have graduated from the institution. History Northwood University opened as Nort ...

on November 24, 2015. Following the season, Strus announced that he would be leaving the program in order to play at the Division I level. Strus scored 1,078 points in his two seasons at Lewis.

DePaul

Strus transferred to DePaul for the final two seasons of his eligibility after considering offers from Butler,

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

and Xavier. After sitting out one season due to NCAA transfer rules, Strus began his

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after ...

junior season on the Blue Demons in the starting lineup and led the team with 16.8 points per game and 81 three-pointers made (second most in school history). He reached double figures in scoring in 26 of the 31 games he played in. He declared for the 2018 NBA Draft, but returned to school for his final season. In his final season, Strus averaged 20.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.9 steals per game and was named second team All-

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. He became only the second Blue Demons player ever to score 700 points in a season after former 1st Overall draft pick

Mark Aguirre Mark Anthony Aguirre (born December 10, 1959) is an American former basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Aguirre was chosen as the first overall pick of the 1981 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks after playing thre ...

with 705 points and set single season school records for three-point shots taken (311) and made (113). In two seasons, Strus scored 1,226 points (29th in school history), 554 three-point attempts (second), and 194 three-pointers made (third) and finished with the fifth-highest free throw percentage at .825 (226-274).

Professional career

Boston Celtics/Chicago Bulls (2019–2020)

After going undrafted in the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

, Strus was named to the Boston Celtics Summer League roster. He averaged 9.8 points per game and shot 45 percent from three for the Celtics. On July 22, 2019, Strus 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 team. On October 13, 2019, the Celtics announced that they had signed Strus to a standard NBA contract in order to sign

Tacko Fall Elhadji Tacko Sereigne Diop Fall (born 10 December 1995) is a Senegalese professional basketball player for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Fall was born and raised in Dakar, Senegal. He moved to the Uni ...

to one of the team's two two-way roster spots. The roster move put Strus in direct competition with

Javonte Green Javonte Green (born July 23, 1993) is an American-Montenegrin professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Radford Highlanders. Early life and high school ...

for the final spot on the Celtics' opening day roster. He was ultimately cut shortly before to the start of the regular season. After being waived by the Celtics, Strus signed a two-way contract with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

on October 22, 2019. Strus made his NBA debut on November 22, 2019 against the

, playing the final five minutes of a 116-108 loss and scoring five points with one rebound. On December 23, 2019, the

announced that Strus suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and bone bruise on his left knee in an

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 ...

game for

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thir ...

in a 92–85 win over the

Lakeland Magic The Lakeland Magic are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Lakeland, Florida, and are affiliated with the Orlando Magic. The Magic began play in the 2017–18 season and play their home games at the RP Fundi ...

on December 21 and Strus was expected to be sidelined for about eight to twelve months. Strus ended his rookie season with five points scored in two NBA games played and averaged 18.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 13 G League games.

Miami Heat (2020–present)

On November 30, 2020, Strus signed a training camp contract with the

. The Heat converted his contract to a two-way contract on December 19, 2020 towards the end of training camp. On February 11, 2021, he came on in a game against the Rockets and scored 21 points on 5 of 8 three point shooting. On August 1, 2021, Strus joined the Heat for the NBA Summer League and five days later, he signed a two-year contract worth $3.5 million to remain with the Heat.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Miami 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 ...

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, 68 , , 16 , , 23.3 , , .441 , , .410 , , .792 , , 3.0 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .2 , , 10.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 109 , , 16 , , 19.3 , , .446 , , .391 , , .756 , , 2.2 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .2 , , 8.8

Playoffs

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, 18 , , 18 , , 29.1 , , .374 , , .331 , , .722 , , 4.1 , , 2.1 , , .8 , , .4 , , 10.9 , -class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 20 , , 18 , , 26.5 , , .372 , , .331 , , .722 , , 3.7 , , 1.9 , , .7 , , .4 , , 9.8

College

NCAA Division I

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", DePaul , 31 , , 31 , , 35.6 , , .408 , , .333 , , .803 , , 5.7, , 2.7 , , 1.3, , .5 , , 16.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", DePaul , 35 , , 35 , , 37.4 , , .429 , , .363 , , .842 , , 5.9 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , .5 , , 20.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 66 , , 66 , , 36.6 , , .420 , , .350 , , .825 , , 5.8 , , 2.5 , , 1.1 , , .5 , , 18.6

NCAA Division II

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Lewis , 31 , , 31 , , 28.8 , , .521 , , .352 , , .773 , , 5.3 , , 2.2 , , 1.5 , , .8 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;", Lewis , 33 , , 33 , , 36.2, , .455 , , .360 , , .823 , , 8.4 , , 3.5 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , 20.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 64 , , 64 , , 32.6 , , .479 , , .357 , , .807 , , 6.9 , , 2.9 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , 16.8

Personal life

Strus's father, John, played college baseball as a pitcher for Eastern Illinois and his mother, Debra, played basketball and volleyball at DePaul and was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. His older brother, Marty, also played basketball at Lewis and is currently the head coach at Stagg High School. He also has an older sister, Maggie, who played college volleyball at the

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the University of Illinois ...

and is currently an assistant volleyball coach at DePaul.

References

External links

Lewis Flyers bio

DePaul Blue Demons bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strus, Max 1996 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Illinois Chicago Bulls players DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball players Lewis Flyers men's basketball players Miami Heat players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois Undrafted National Basketball Association players Windy City Bulls players