Nazareth Jersey Mitrou-Long is a

Greek-Canadian Greek Canadians ( el, Ελληνοκαναδοί) are Canadian citizens who have full or partial Greek heritage or people who emigrated from Greece and reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census, there were 262,140 Canadians who claimed Gr ...

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

Olimpia Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier le ...

(LBA) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the

Iowa State Cyclones The Iowa State Cyclones are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Iowa State University, located in Ames. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams (6 men's an ...

. Born in

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, he played high school basketball at Father Michael Goetz in his hometown. In 2012, he started playing

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

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. He played in the 2017

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

for the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

. He later played a total of 20 regular-season games with the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

and 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 ...

High school career

One of the top prospects out of Canada, Long was ranked as the 7th-best player in Canada according to North Pole Hoops. He participated in the 2011 All-Canada Classic, a showcase of the best Canadian basketball players and played for the CIA Bounce AAU program, the top AAU summer circuit in Canada. He played with NBA players

Tristan Thompson Tristan Trevor James Thompson (born March 13, 1991) is a Canadian-American professional basketball player who last played for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He won the 2016 NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavali ...

and

Cory Joseph Cory Ephram Joseph (born August 20, 1991) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the point guard position and is also the captain of the Canadian national team. ...

, and future

Cyclone In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

teammate

Melvin Ejim Melvin Obinna Ejim (born March 4, 1991) is a Nigerian-Canadian professional basketball player for Unicaja of the Liga ACB. He played college basketball for Iowa State University before playing professionally in Italy, Russia and Spain, as well as ...

while competing for REDA Red in the National Prep School Athletic Association in 2011–12. Naz played for Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, Nev., during the 2010–11 season, helping the Prep Pilots to a 28–4 record and their third-straight

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Rise National High School Invitational appearance where he was teammates with Texas'

Myck Kabongo Myck Lukusa Kabongo (born January 12, 1992) is a Congolese-Canadian professional basketball player who plays for the Cape Town Tigers of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). He played two seasons at the Texas Longhorns before going undrafted in th ...

. He prepped at Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md) in 2009–10, teaming with Duke's Josh Hairston During his recruitment he received offers from

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

, Creighton, and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, eventually committing to the

College career

Freshman season

Naz saw action in 18 games as a freshman, averaging 1.4 points and 1.0 assists. He tallied seven points vs. Southern and handed out seven assists vs.

Alabama A&M Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. AAMU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshal ...

Sophomore season

Long played in all 36 games, making seven starts and establishing himself as a clutch 3-point threat. He averaged 7.1 points per game and shot 40 percent from behind the arc, finishing fourth in the

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its fo ...

in 3-point field goal percentage (40.0) and seventh in 3-pointers made (1.8). His 64 3-pointers ranks as the 17th-most by a

in a single season. He made at least four 3-pointers in seven games. He hit a 30-foot three at the buzzer to send the

Cyclones In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...

to overtime against

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and in ISU's game at

earlier in the season, Long drilled a three to send the game to triple-OT. He earned Phillips 66

Player of the Week honors after hitting 8-of-11 3-pointers in the Cyclones' season-opening win against

UNC Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

and finishing with a career-high 26 points in the game. He went 4-of-6 from long range to score 16 points in the Cyclones' win against No. 7

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Long played a key role in ISU's Big 12 Tournament run, making 7-of-10 threes and averaging 10 points and going 4-of-6 from behind the arc in the championship game against Baylor. In the third round of the NCAA Tournament, Long hit three 3-pointers in the final 5:10, including one that tied the game at 81, as ISU rallied to defeat

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He averaged 7.1 points per game and shot 40 percent from behind the arc, finishing fourth in the Big 12 in 3-point field goal percentage (40.0) and seventh in 3-pointers made (1.8). His 64 3-pointers ranks as the 17th-most by a Cyclone in a single season.

Junior season

Long saw action in all 34 games, making 33 starts and hit four or more threes in a game six times. He scored a team-high 20 points in Iowa State's regular season win against Kansas and connected on 5-of-9 threes to lead Iowa State with 21 points in win at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. He drilled 7-of-10 threes and scored a season-high 24 points against

Mississippi Valley State Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU, The Valley or Valley) is a public historically black university in Mississippi Valley State, Mississippi, adjacent to Itta Bena, Mississippi.Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He averaged 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. He hit a team-high 77 three-pointers, the eighth most in a single season by a Cyclone. He was second in the Big 12 averaging 2.3 three-pointers made per game and finished the season tied for fifth in the league shooting 39.1 percent behind the arc. Naz had ISU's third-longest streak of games with a three-pointer come to an end at 21 games. He shot 44.9 percent from the field despite 77.5 percent of his shots coming from three-point range and is tied for fifth all-time at Iowa State with 146 three-pointers made. Long suffered a labral tears in both of his hips during the season. In the offseason he had separate surgeries to repair each tear.

Senior season

Naz played in the first eight games this season for the fifth-ranked Cyclones, averaging 12.0 points in 31.6 minutes. He got a rest against Arkansas–Pine Bluff, with coach

Steve Prohm Steven Marshall Prohm (born July 12, 1974) is an American basketball coach who is in his second tenure as the head coach for Murray State men's basketball. Previously, he was the head coach at Iowa State University, a position he had held from ...

commenting that his situation would be re-evaluated every week. On 15 December 2015, he decided to sit out the rest of the season due to persistent pain from his hip surgeries. Mitrou-Long commented on his decision: "I feel the need to take time off to allow myself to rehab with our training staff to get back to where I can perform at my peak level on the basketball court". Iowa State coach Prohm supported Mitrou-Long's decision to sit out to rehabilitate, while adding his belief that the team could react in a positive manner. Naz was awarded a

medical redshirt Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

by the

, thus becoming eligible for the 2016-2017 season.

Redshirt senior season

Going into his redshirt senior season, Long was named in the preseason All-

Second-Team, receiving praise from coach Prohm for his work ethic, maturity and leadership. Former teammate

Jameel McKay Jameel McKay (born September 14, 1992) is an American former professional basketball player. He played two seasons of college basketball for Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball, Iowa State, where as a junior in 2014–15, he was named Big 12 Con ...

commented before the season that Mitrou-Long looked in the best shape of his life, also stating that he could end up Big 12's leading scorer for the season. He started the season strong, posting his first career double-double against the

Savannah State Tigers The Savannah State Tigers and Lady Tigers are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that play for Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia. Conference affiliation Savannah State University holds membership in the NCAA Division ...

with 18 points and a career best 10 rebounds. Versus Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers, Mitrou-Long played against his younger brother Elijah Long, a sophomore for the Mountaineers; Mitrou-Long said after the game: ''"Part of me wanted to cheer for him. Part of me was keeping it competitive. It was a little weird, but man it was a good time"''. Against the

Drake Bulldogs The Drake Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent Drake University, located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The Bulldogs' athletic program is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) and competes at the NCAA ...

, Mitrou-Long set a new career-high in scoring with 37 points on 8 of 12 three-pointers. At the end of his redshirted senior season, Mitrou-Long would be named for the official All-

Second Team for the work he put in that year for Iowa State.

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , style="text-align:left;",

, 18 , , 0 , , 6.9 , , .348 , , .278 , , 1.000 , , .8 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .0 , , 1.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 7 , , 20.3 , , .432 , , .400 , , .643 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , .1 , , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 33 , , 27.5 , , .449 , , .391 , , .755 , , 2.9 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , .1 , , 10.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 8 , , 8 , , 31.6 , , .425 , , .291 , , .600 , , 2.9 , , 1.9 , , .6 , , .3 , , 12.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 33.3 , , .473, , .384 , , .795 , , 4.6 , , 2.7 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 15.1 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 131 , , 83 , , 24.5 , , .451 , , .380 , , .751 , , 2.7 , , 1.8 , , .7 , , .1 , , 9.5

Professional career

Salt Lake City Stars (2017)

After going undrafted in the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

, Mitrou-Long played for the

in the 2017 NBA Summer League. He later signed with the Utah Jazz for their training camp squad. After getting cut from the team, he was assigned to the

Salt Lake City Stars The Salt Lake City Stars are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are affiliated with the Utah Jazz. As of the 2022-23 season, the Stars play in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, U ...

in 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 ...

Utah Jazz (2017–2019)

After showing promising results for his playing in

, on December 22, 2017, Mitrou-Long 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

, taking the spot that was originally held by

Nate Wolters Nate Wolters (born May 15, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for South Dakota State University and was an All-American for the Jackra ...

. This move saw him split playing time between the Jazz and the Stars for the rest of the length of his contract. Mitrou-Long made his NBA debut four days later, recording a three-pointer in a blowout 107–83 loss to the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

. However, on January 13, 2018, Mitrou-Long was waived from the Jazz in order to sign former college teammate

Georges Niang Georges Niang (born June 17, 1993), nicknamed "The Minivan", is a Senegalese-American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an All-American college player for Iowa State U ...

. He was re-signed by the Jazz on February 11, 2018 to a 10-day contract. After his first 10-day contract expired on February 21, he signed a second 10-day contract with the Jazz three days later.

Salt Lake City Stars (2018–2019)

On January 16, 2018, Mitrou-Long was reacquired by the

. He returned to Salt Lake City once again on February 21, 2018, after his 10-day contract expired. Mitrou-Long left Salt Lake City once again for his second 10-day contract with the

, and returned to Salt Lake City after the second 10-day contract expired. He averaged 18.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game with Salt Lake City. In July 2019, Mitrou-Long joined the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

for the 2019

Indiana Pacers (2019–2020)

On July 31, 2019, Mitrou-Long signed a two-way contract with the

. On November 18, 2019, Mitrou-Long scored a career-high 12 points while getting three rebounds, three assists and one steal in a 115–86 win against the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...

. In the G League, he averaged 13.7 points, 6.1 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game. On December 19, Mitrou-Long was waived by the Pacers.

Fort Wayne Mad Ants (2021)

On January 11, 2021, Mitrou-Long signed with the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The M ...

of the

as an affiliate player. He averaged 13.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Basket Brescia Leonessa (2021–2022)

On July 30, 2021, Mitrou-Long signed with Basket Brescia Leonessa of the

. He averaged 17.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5 assists per game, leading the team to the 3rd place in the domestic league regular season standings.

Olimpia Milano (2022–present)

On June 27, 2022, Mitrou-Long signed a two-year contract with Italian champions

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, , 1 , , 0 , , 1.0 , , 1.000 , , 1.000 , , - , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 3.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, , 14 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , .300 , , 0.182, , 0.1 , , .4 , , 1.1, , .1 , , .1 , , 1.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, , 5, , 0 , , 9.4 , , .353 , , 0.167, , 0.0, , .4 , , 1.6 , , .2 , , .1 , , 2.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , , 20, , 0 , , 5.7 , , .333 , , .250 , , 1.000 , , .4 , , 2.7, , .3 , , .2, , 1.3

Personal life

Mitrou-Long was born on August 3, 1993, in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, to Jersey Long and Georgia Mitrou. His father is of

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

descent while his mother is a

Greek Canadian Greek Canadians ( el, Ελληνοκαναδοί) are Canadian citizens who have full or partial Greek heritage or people who emigrated from Greece and reside in Canada. According to the 2021 Census, there were 262,140 Canadians who claimed Gre ...

. His mother Georgia was born in

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and immigrated to Canada along with her family when she was a child. Mitrou-Long has three siblings and six half-siblings. His brother, Elijah Mitrou-Long, previously played college basketball for Mount St. Mary's University before transferring to the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in his junior year. After one year with the Longhorns, he transferred to the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

. In summer 2015, Mitrou-Long decided to display his full last name on his jersey to honor his mother; up to that point his jersey had only his father's name on it.

References

External links

Iowa State Cyclones bio

ESPN profile

CBSSports profile

RealGM profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitrou-Long, Naz 1993 births Living people Basketball people from Ontario Basket Brescia Leonessa players Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Canadian people of Greek descent Canadian sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent Amateur Athletic Union men's basketball players Fort Wayne Mad Ants players Greek expatriate basketball people in the United States Greek men's basketball players Greek people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Indiana Pacers players Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball players National Basketball Association players from Canada Point guards Salt Lake City Stars players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Mississauga Undrafted National Basketball Association players Utah Jazz players