Mustapha Jahhad Heron (born December 12, 1997) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Manawatu Jets The Manawatu Jets are a New Zealand basketball team based in Palmerston North. The Jets compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Central Energy Trust Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Pro ...

of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). 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

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year coeducational university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

and the

St. John's Red Storm The St. John's Red Storm is the nickname used for the 17 varsity athletic programs of St. John's University, in the U.S. state of New York. St. John's 17 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fenci ...

Early life

Mustapha Heron was born on December 12, 1997, in

Derby, Connecticut Derby is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, approximately 8 miles west-northwest of New Haven. It is located in southwest Connecticut at the confluence of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Rivers. It borders the cities of Ansoni ...

, to parents Thalia Levey and Bryan Heron. He started playing basketball at the age of three. He has three sisters and one brother: Imani, Zari, Aja, and Raheem. Heron gained notoriety as an eighth grader after a video of him guarding

NBA all-star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Originally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of al ...

Chris Paul one-on-one at the Five-Star Skills Clinic was posted to

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in 2011. The video has since been viewed over 2 million times.

High school career

Heron played his freshman year of high school at

Wilbraham & Monson Academy Wilbraham & Monson Academy (WMA) is a college-preparatory school located in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1804, it is a four-year boarding and day high school for students in Grades 9-12 and postgraduate. A middle school, with Grades 6–8 ...

before transferring to Sacred Heart High School, where he won three consecutive Connecticut state championships. He averaged 22.0

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

and 5.3

rebounds per game 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

as a junior at Sacred Heart, and 30.2 points per game and 8.0 rebounds per game during his senior season, including scoring 79 total points in the state semifinals and championship game. Heron was selected as the ''

New Haven Register The ''New Haven Register'' is a daily newspaper published in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The Register's main office is located at 100 Gando Drive in New Haven. The ''Register'' was established about 1812 and i ...

'' Connecticut Boys Basketball Player of the Year in both 2015 and 2016, becoming the first player to win the award twice since

Kris Dunn Kristofer Michael Dunn (born March 18, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Capital City Go-Go of the NBA G League. He played four seasons of college basketball for the Providence Friars before being drafted with the fifth ...

. He was also recognized nationally, earning a spot on the USA Today All-USA Boys Basketball Third team in 2016. Heron was selected to play in the 2016

Ballislife All-American Game The Ballislife All-American Game is an annual American all-star game featuring high school basketball players. It was founded in 2011 by Ballislife.com to provide a stage for West Coast players who were not selected to other All-American games. A ...

, where he was named co-MVP alongside

Lonzo Ball Lonzo Anderson Ball (born October 27, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A point guard, he played college basketball for one season with the UCLA Bruins, earni ...

Recruiting

Despite being initially committed to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Heron committed to play basketball at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

on August 16, 2015, and signed his

National Letter of Intent National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

to attend the university on November 12, 2015. In doing so, Heron became the first five-star men's basketball recruit to play at

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

in program history.

College career

In his first season at Auburn, Heron scored in double figures in every game but one, leading the team in scoring with 15.2 points per game and rebounding with 6.1 rebounds per game. At the end of the season, he was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. He was also named to the SEC All-Community Service team for his work in encouraging academics for athletes at his high school, Sacred Heart High School, and in promoting a weapons buy-back program in his hometown of

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

. Heron was selected as the SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Week for weeks 9 and 12 during his second season at Auburn. At the end of the regular season, Heron was selected to the AP All-SEC Second team. He averaged 16.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore. On April 4, 2018, Heron declared for the

2018 NBA draft The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, 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, including inte ...

but did not hire an agent in order to maintain his amateur status. He announced that he was withdrawing from the draft but will transfer to be closer to his ailing mother in Connecticut. On May 31, Heron announced that he was transferring to St. John's and intended to seek a hardship waiver to play immediately. He was granted the waiver on October 13. Heron averaged 14.6 points per game as a junior, shooting 40.3 percent from beyond the arc. He helped lead St. John's to its first NCAA Tournament since 2015. On February 11, 2020, Heron was ruled likely out for the season with an ankle injury.

Professional career

On February 26, 2021, Heron signed with the

Leicester Riders Leicester Riders are a British professional basketball team and the oldest club in the British Basketball League (BBL). Established in 1967, the club have played in various locations around Leicestershire before moving to their current purpose- ...

of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

for the rest of the 2020–21 season. In 20 games, he averaged 11.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. For the 2021–22 season, Heron moved to Hungary to play for

ZTE KK Zalaegerszegi Torna Egylet Kosárlabda Klub now mostly known for sponsorship reasons as Zalakerámia ZTE is a professional basketball team from Zalaegerszeg, Hungary. ZTE currently plays in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A, the Hunagrian top division. I ...

. In five games between September 25 and October 16, he averaged 9.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. In February 2022, he moved to Iceland to play for

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarðv ...

. In 12 games, he averaged 16.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. In October 2022, Heron joined the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won f ...

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 ...

. On March 1, 2023, Heron signed with the

for the

2023 New Zealand NBL season The 2023 NBL season was the 42nd season of the National Basketball League. For the third year in a row, the league fielded 10 teams. The regular season commenced on 6 April in Pukekohe, with the Franklin Bulls hosting the Hawke's Bay Hawks at Fr ...

National team career

In the summer of 2019, Heron was a part of the

United States National team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

who competed at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

in Peru. The team won bronze.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 28.2 , , .442 , , .423 , , .770 , , 6.1 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , .2 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 28.6 , , .439 , , .331 , , .803 , , 5.3 , , .9 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 16.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", St. John's , 31 , , 30 , , 31.7 , , .440 , , .403 , , .754 , , 4.6 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 14.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", St. John's , 21 , , 19 , , 24.8 , , .385 , , .385 , , .827 , , 2.4 , , 1.6 , , .5 , , .3 , , 13.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 116 , , 113 , , 28.6 , , .430 , , .383 , , .785 , , 4.8 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , .2 , , 15.1

References

External links

St. John's Red Storm bioAuburn Tigers bioUSA Basketball bioIcelandic Statistics
at

Icelandic Basketball Association The Icelandic Basketball Association (''Icelandic:Körfuknattleikssamband Íslands - KKÍ'') is the national governing body of basketball in Iceland and is a member of the continental association FIBA Europe and the global International Basketbal ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heron, Mustapha 1997 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in New Zealand American men's basketball players Auburn Tigers men's basketball players Basketball players at the 2019 Pan American Games Basketball players from Connecticut Keflavík men's basketball players Leicester Riders players Manawatu Jets players Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in basketball Shooting guards Sportspeople from Waterbury, Connecticut St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players ZTE KK players 21st-century African-American sportspeople