QJ Peterson (born October 12, 1994) 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 Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

(CBA).

Early life

Peterson was born in

Frederick, Maryland Frederick is a city in and the county seat of Frederick County, Maryland. It is part of the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area. Frederick has long been an important crossroads, located at the intersection of a major north–south Native ...

and was coached by Kelly Church at Hedgesville High School. He led the team to a State Championship, an achievement that has not been reached since 1971. He played at Massanutten Military Academy alongside seven Division One Players. Peterson received multiple offers from different colleges, signing with VMI on November 20, 2012.

College career

In his first game at VMI, Peterson scored 25 points against

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...

. He averaged 19 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and was named to the

Big South The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). Th ...

All-Freshman Team. Peterson suffered a mental breakdown in January 2015 and missed the rest of the season with a medical furlough. He returned to the team as a junior and averaged 19.6 points per game. Peterson declared for the 2016 NBA draft but returned to VMI. As a senior, Peterson was named to the First Team All-

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

by the media and Second Team All-Conference by the coaches. He averaged 19.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game.

Professional career

Peterson signed his first professional contract with

USK Praha USK Praha, ( cs, Univerzitní Sportovní Klub Praha, University Sports Club Prague), formerly known as Slavia VŠ Praha ( cs, Slavia Vysoké Školy Praha), is a Czech professional basketball club that was founded in 1953 in the city of Prague ...

on September 7, 2017. He averaged 21.5 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in six games. He signed with

Anyang KGC The Anyang Korea Ginseng Corporation ( ko, 안양 KGC인삼공사), or Anyang KGC, is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League, based at Anyang Arena in the city of Anyang. The club has won three KBL championship titles, ...

on November 11, 2017. Peterson was selected by 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 ...

in the first round of the 2018 NBA G League draft, but was waived in the preseason. On November 16, 2018, he signed with APOEL B.C. in Cyprus. In November 2019, Peterson signed with

MBC Mykolaiv Municipal Basketball Club Mykolaiv (in Ukrainian: Муніципальний Баскетбольний Клуб Миколаїв), commonly known as simply Mykolaiv, is a professional basketball team (club) of Mykolaiv, Ukraine. They currently p ...

of the

Ukrainian Basketball Superleague The Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague (USL) ( uk, Українська баскетбольна суперліга) is the first-tier level of professional basketball league in Ukraine. Established in 1992, the league is currently contested by 10 c ...

. He averaged 29.5 points per game as the top scorer in the Ukrainian League. On June 29, 2020, Peterson signed with the

Bakken Bears Bakken Bears is a Danish professional basketball club based in Aarhus. The club plays in the Basketligaen, the top tier basketball league in Denmark. Founded in 1953, the club has won the Basketligaen 20 times and holds the record for the most ...

. He received 2020-21 Basketligaen Most Valuable Player honors. On July 9, 2021, he has signed with

Gaziantep Basketbol Gaziantep Basketbol is a professional basketball team based in the city of Gaziantep in Turkey that plays in the Turkish Basketball Super League. Their home arena is the Karataş Şahinbey Sport Hall with a capacity of 6,400 seats. History The ...

of the

Basketball Super League 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 ...

. On July 17, 2022, Peterson reached a 1-year deal with Nanjing Tongxi Monkey Kings of the CBA.

References

External links

VMI Keydets bio
1994 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in the Czech Republic American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus American expatriate basketball people in Denmark American expatriate basketball people in South Korea American expatriate basketball people in Ukraine American men's basketball players Bakken Bears players Basketball players from West Virginia Gaziantep Basketbol players MBC Mykolaiv players Point guards VMI Keydets basketball players {{Authority control