Morris Russell Peterson Jr. (born August 26, 1977) is an American retired professional

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 who played eleven seasons in 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). He played college basketball for

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, where in the 1999–2000 season he led the Spartans to the national title as Big Ten Player of the Year. He is also a cousin of former NBA player

Jonathan Bender Jonathan Rene Bender (born January 30, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A highly-touted 6’11 prospect who mostly pla ...

College career

Born in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

, Peterson played collegiate basketball at

, and helped lead them to the 2000 NCAA title. In his senior year at MSU, Peterson led the team in scoring, field goal percentage, and

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

percentage. He had a team-high 30 double-digit scoring efforts. He was voted

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

Player of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten, and he placed as first or second team All-American on five different polls. He was selected 21st overall by the Raptors in the 2000 NBA draft, and was a starter in the majority of their games during his first three seasons. On January 17, 2009, MSU retired his number 42 with MSU's other all-time greats before their game against the

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

NBA career

Toronto Raptors

Drafted in the first round by the Raptors in 2000, Peterson was a fan favorite from the moment he stepped on the floor. While enjoying some early success in his professional career, Peterson's production faced a steady decline, before stepping up in the wake of the new era of Raptor youngsters being ushered in, taking on a more expansive leadership role and transforming himself into an elite perimeter defender, a clutch performer and consistent scorer. He is known for his three-point shooting, acrobatic shots, defense, and fearless driving to the basket. On December 28, 2005, Peterson set a record for career games played as a Raptor, surpassing

Alvin Williams Alvin Leon Williams Jr. (born August 6, 1974) is an American retired professional basketball player who played for Villanova University and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1997 to 2007. College career Williams graduated from G ...

with 418 games played. Peterson also leads the NBA in longest consecutive games played, appearing in 371 straight until November 22, 2006, when he missed his first game in over four years. Peterson posted career highs in points and rebounds averaging 16.8 points and 4.6 rebounds and threw in 2.3 assists per game through 82 games played in the 2005–06 season. Perhaps the biggest highlight of his career occurred against the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

on March 30, 2007 in a game that helped determine the two teams' playoff seeding. The Raptors trailed 109–106 with only 3.8 seconds left and no timeouts remaining. The Wizards'

Michael Ruffin Michael David Ruffin (born January 21, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). At 6'8" and 248 lbs, he played as a ...

intercepted the full-court pass and tried to toss the ball high into the air so that the clock would run out. But the ball slipped from his hands and was not thrown high enough. There was still enough time on the clock as Peterson caught the ball and launched a "Hail Mary" three-pointer and sank it to send the game into overtime. Peterson only played 55 seconds in the game, with his first shift beginning with only 9.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Raptors went on to defeat the Wizards, 123–118. After signing Bryan Colangelo, it became apparent that the re-building process of the Raptors would not include Peterson. It was only a matter of time before his contract expired in the summer of 2007 that he would be gone.

New Orleans Hornets

On July 13, 2007, the New Orleans Hornets signed Peterson to a four-year contract, worth $23 million.

Oklahoma City Thunder

On July 8, 2010, the Hornets traded Peterson along with #11 overall pick in the 2010 draft,

Cole Aldrich Cole David Aldrich (born October 31, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He previously played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Minnesota Timberwol ...

, to the Oklahoma City Thunder for two 2010 first-round draft picks (#21, Craig Brackins and #26,

Quincy Pondexter Quincy Coe Pondexter (born March 10, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He is currently an assistant coach for the University of Washington men's basketball team. He played high school basketball in Fresno, California, a ...

Charlotte Bobcats

On February 24, 2011, Peterson was traded to the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

along with

D.J. White Dewayne "D. J." White, Jr. (born August 31, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player, who was selected in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. Standing at , he played the power forward position. He spent the majority of his c ...

in exchange for Nazr Mohammed. He was waived four days later when his contract was bought out by the Bobcats. Peterson's final NBA game was played on December 12, 2010 in a 106 - 77 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers where he recorded 2 points.

Broadcasting career

On January 14, 2015,

TSN TSN may refer to: Science and technology * Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function * Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System * The Science Netwo ...

announced that Peterson would join their broadcast team as an analyst. For the network's package of Toronto Raptors games, Peterson joined TSN's broadcast team of Jack Armstrong,

Leo Rautins Leo Rytis Rautins (born March 20, 1960) is a Canadian broadcaster, former professional basketball player and the former head coach of the Canada men's national basketball team, Canadian men's national basketball team. Rautins played in the Nationa ...

, Matt Devlin, and Rod Black both in the

Studio and on-site at the

Air Canada Centre Scotiabank Arena ( French: ''Aréna Scotiabank)'', formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in the South Core district of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Rap ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario. Peterson will also deliver analysis for SportsCentre and appear throughout the network's expanded NCAA coverage, including TSN's wall-to-wall coverage of

NCAA March Madness The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

. As of 2017, Peterson is no longer an analyst on TSN.

Restaurant

On January 23, 2018 Peterson, in a partnership with Viktor Palushaj, opened "MoPetes Sports Retreat" just outside of his hometown of Flint in neighboring Flint Township, Michigan. The menu features Michigan inspired dishes such as The Flintstones Combos, Flint-Town Reuben sandwich, the Izzo sub, and The National Champ Philly cheese steak sandwich.

Accolades

* Career-high: March 31, 2006 Peterson scored a career-best 38 points vs. the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

. * First-round draft choice (21st overall) by

in 2000. * Recorded his 800th career three-point field goal April 3, 2005 vs. the Detroit Pistons. * Had a career-high 14 rebounds April 8, 2005. * Held the longest active streak of games played, with 371, ending in 2006. * Held Raptors career records for games played (542) and 3-point field goals (801).

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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

, 80 , , 49 , , 22.6 , , .431 , , .382 , , .717 , , 3.2 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , .2 , , 9.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 63 , , 56 , , 31.6 , , .438 , , .364 , , .751 , , 3.5 , , 2.4 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 14.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 80 , , 36.0 , , .392 , , .337 , , .789 , , 4.4 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 29 , , 26.2 , , .405 , , .371 , , .809 , , 3.2 , , 1.4 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 61 , , 30.6 , , .420 , , .385 , , .832 , , 4.1 , , 2.1 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 77 , , 38.3 , , .436 , , .395 , , .820 , , 4.6 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , 16.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 71 , , 12 , , 21.3 , , .429 , , .359 , , .683 , , 3.3 , , .7 , , .6 , , .2 , , 8.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 76 , , 76 , , 23.6 , , .417 , , .394 , , .765 , , 2.7 , , .9 , , .6 , , .1 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 43 , , 9 , , 12.0 , , .399 , , .388 , , .632 , , 2.0 , , .4 , , .3 , , .1 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 46 , , 39 , , 21.2 , , .385 , , .363 , , .611 , , 2.7 , , .9 , , .5 , , .1 , , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, 4 , , 0 , , 5.8 , , .400 , , .000 , , .000 , , .8 , , .3 , , .0 , , .0 , , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 711 , , 488 , , 27.2 , , .418 , , .373 , , .773 , , 3.5 , , 1.5 , , .9 , , .2 , , 10.7

Playoffs

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

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

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

, 8 , , 3 , , 13.8 , , .514 , , .444 , , .750 , , 1.5 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , .0 , , 5.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

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

, 5 , , 5 , , 30.8 , , .367 , , .118 , , .800 , , 2.8 , , 2.2 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , 9.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

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

, 6 , , 2 , , 30.5 , , .517 , , .500 , , .833 , , 4.5 , , .3 , , .3 , , .3 , , 6.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 12 , , 12 , , 23.1 , , .485 , , .471 , , .667 , , 2.6 , , .6 , , .5 , , .2 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, 2 , , 0 , , 10.5 , , .200 , , .333 , , .750 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .5 , , .0 , , 3.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 33 , , 22 , , 22.6 , , .457 , , .387 , , .767 , , 2.6 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .2 , , 6.7

References

External links

NBA Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Morris 1977 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from Flint, Michigan Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players New Orleans Hornets players Oklahoma City Thunder players Shooting guards Small forwards Toronto Raptors draft picks Toronto Raptors players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople