Nathaniel Robert Hinton (born June 8, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for 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 ...

of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

High school career

Hinton started playing basketball as a freshman for

Forestview High School Forestview High School is a public high school in Gastonia, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the Gaston County Schools Gaston County Schools is a public school district located in Gaston County, North Carolina. With 30,046 student ...

in Gastonia, North Carolina, before transferring to Gaston Day School in the same city. For his sophomore season, he moved to

Northside Christian Academy Northside Christian Academy is a private Christian school serving grades pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. It is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It is accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International, the Southern Associat ...

in Charlotte, North Carolina, averaging 18 points, six rebounds and four steals per game, and led his team to the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) 2A title game. Hinton returned to Gaston Day for his final two years of high school. As a junior, he averaged a team-high 19.1 points per game, helping his team reach the NCISAA 2A semi-finals. After his junior season, Hinton led Team Loaded NC to the

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Gauntlet final, drawing the attention of several high-major NCAA Division I programs. As a senior, he averaged 19.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.7 assists and four steals per game, helping Gaston Day to a NCISAA 2A runner-up finish. Hinton was an NCISAA 2A All-State selection and was named ''

Gaston Gazette ''The Gaston Gazette'' is an American, English-language daily newspaper based in Gastonia, North Carolina. The newspaper was owned by Freedom Communications until 2012, when Freedom sold its Florida and North Carolina papers to Halifax Media Grou ...

'' Player of the Year. He scored 2,217 points in his high school career.

Recruiting

Hinton was a consensus four-star recruit and committed to play college basketball for Houston. He became the top recruit to join the program under head coach Kelvin Sampson.

College career

Hinton was the preseason Freshman of the Year in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). On January 6, 2019, he was named AAC Freshman of the Week after recording a season-high 19 points and nine rebounds in a 90–77 win over Memphis. On March 10, Hinton posted his first double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds in an 85–69 victory over Cincinnati, helping Houston clinch the AAC regular season title. As a freshman, he averaged 7.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game and was selected to the AAC All-Freshman Team. On December 11, 2019, Hinton recorded a sophomore season-high 25 points and 10 rebounds in a 71–63 win over

UT Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

. He tallied career-highs and set

Fertitta Center The Fertitta Center, formerly known as Hofheinz Pavilion, is a 7,100-seat multi-purpose arena on the University of Houston campus in Houston. Located at 3875 Holman Street, it is home to the Houston Cougars men's and women's basketball teams and ...

records of 16 rebounds and five steals, to go with 20 points, in a 78–63 victory over

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

on January 3, 2020. As a sophomore, Hinton averaged 10.6 points, 8.7 rebounds, two assists and 1.4 steals per game, earning second-team All-AAC honors. He was also named to the NABC All-District 24 first team. On April 5, he declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

while maintaining his college eligibility. On May 18, Hinton announced that he had hired an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

and would remain in the draft, forgoing his remaining two years of college eligibility.

Professional career

Dallas Mavericks (2020–2021)

After going undrafted in the

, Hinton signed a two-way contract with the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

. On February 2, 2021, it was announced Hinton would have his first assignment at the NBA G League with the Long Island Nets. He then moved to the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

. He was re-signed on August 3, 2021. On August 27, 2021, he was waived by the Mavericks.

Indiana Pacers/Fort Wayne Mad Ants (2021–2022)

On September 7, 2021, Hinton signed a Exhibit 10 deal with the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

. He subsequently joined their G League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. In 14 games, Hinton averaged 8.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. On December 30, he signed a 10-day contract with Indiana and on January 9, 2022, he was reacquired by Fort Wayne. On April 7, 2022, the Pacers signed Hinton to a two-way contract.

Cleveland Charge (2022–2023)

On October 24, 2022, Hinton joined the Cleveland Charge training camp roster.

Houston Rockets (2023–present)

On August 2, 2023, Hinton signed with the

. However, on October 21, 2023, he was waived by the Rockets, but was re-signed to a two-way deal two days later.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Dallas , 21 , , 0 , , 4.4 , , .357 , , .211 , , .700 , , .4 , , .4 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Indiana , 2 , , 0 , , 1.2 , , .000 , , − , , − , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 23 , , 0 , , 4.2 , , .349 , , .211 , , .700 , , .4 , , .3 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Houston , 37 , , 1 , , 19.2 , , .413 , , .337 , , .857 , , 4.4 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Houston , 31 , , 31 , , 30.3 , , .410 , , .387 , , .756 , , 8.7 , , 2.0 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 10.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 68 , , 32 , , 24.3 , , .411 , , .366 , , .800 , , 6.4 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 8.8

Personal life

Hinton's father, Dr. Benjamin Hinton, has been the pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Gastonia since March 1991. Hinton had a religious upbringing.

References

External links

*
Houston Cougars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinton, Nate 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from North Carolina Cleveland Charge players Dallas Mavericks players Fort Wayne Mad Ants players Houston Cougars men's basketball players Houston Rockets players Indiana Pacers players Long Island Nets players Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Santa Cruz Warriors players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Gastonia, North Carolina Undrafted National Basketball Association players United States men's national basketball team players