Skylar Justin Mays (born September 5, 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

Delaware Blue Coats The Delaware Blue Coats are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Wilmington, Delaware, and are affiliated with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blue Coats play their home games at Chase Fieldhouse. The team was founde ...

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 ...

. 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

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

Early life and high school career

Mays grew up in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

and attended the

Louisiana State University Laboratory School Louisiana State University Laboratory School (U-High) is a laboratory school under Louisiana State University and is one of two laboratory schools in Baton Rouge. The other is Southern University Laboratory School (commonly known as "Southern Lab ...

(U-High), where he began playing on the varsity basketball team when he in eighth grade. He first began to dunk the basketball as a freshman. He was named first-team All-State in his sophomore and junior seasons as he helped lead the Cubs to back to back state championships. As a junior, he averaged 9.1 points, 8.1 assists and 3.2 rebounds. Mays transferred to

Findlay Prep Findlay Prep is a former high school basketball program located in Henderson, Nevada. The program was created in 2006 by local businessman Cliff Findlay, who owns several car dealerships in the Las Vegas area.Abramson, Mitch"Former Knick Jerome Wi ...

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

before his senior year and averaged 10.9 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals in his only season with the Pilots. Rated a three-star recruit, Mays committed to play

Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

during his sophomore year before re-opening his recruitment to other schools shortly before he transferred to Findlay. Mays eventually re-committed to LSU after considering offers from Baylor,

UNLV 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 ...

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 M ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

College career

Mays became the Tigers' starting point guard during his freshman year, averaging 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals over 31 games (25 starts). As a sophomore, Mays averaged 11.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists as well as 1.6 steals per game. He averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds 2.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game as a junior and was named second team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) and the conference's scholar-athlete of the year. Mays scored his 1,000th career point on February 26, 2019 against

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. After the season, Mays declared for the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place 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, i ...

but ultimately opted to return to LSU. Mays was named preseason first team All-SEC and to the watchlists for the

Jerry West Jerome Alan West (born May 28, 1938) is an American basketball executive and former player. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames included "Mr. Clutch", for his ability ...

and the Naismith Player of the Year awards. He was also named the 45th-best collegiate basketball player going into the 2019–20 season by

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

. Mays scored a career-high 30 points on November 22, 2019 in an 80–78 loss to

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

. Mays tied his career high with 30 points along with eight assists and seven rebounds on February 8, 2020 in a 91–90 overtime loss to

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 ...

. At the end of the regular season he was again named a first team Academic All-American and was selected as the Academic All-American of the Year as well as First Team All-SEC and was named the scholar-athlete of the year for a second straight season. Mays averaged 16.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Professional career

Atlanta Hawks (2020–2022)

On November 18, 2020, Mays was selected with the 50th pick in 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 ...

by the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

. Mays 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 team on November 24, 2020, meaning he would split time between the Hawks and their

affiliate, the

College Park Skyhawks The College Park Skyhawks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in College Park, Georgia, and are affiliated with the Atlanta Hawks. The Skyhawks play their home games at Gateway Center Arena at College Park a ...

. On February 13, Mays scored a career high 20 points against the San Antonio Spurs, cutting a 45-point deficit to just 11 in the second half. Mays played for the Hawks in the

2021 NBA summer league The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league cons ...

, scoring 13 points in 30 minutes on 4-11 shooting at his debut in a 85-83 loss against the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

. On August 26, 2021, Mays signed a second two-way contract with the Hawks. On April 7, 2022, the Hawks converted his previously signed two-way contract into a standard NBA contract.

Delaware Blue Coats (2022–present)

On November 4, 2022, Mays was named to the opening night roster for the

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 33 , , 0 , , 8.2 , , .449 , , .350 , , .880 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , .4 , , .1 , , 3.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 5 , , 7.9 , , .500 , , .320 , , .889 , , .9 , , .6 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 61 , , 5 , , 8.0 , , .469 , , .338 , , .882 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , .3 , , .0 , , 3.3

Playoffs

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, 7 , , 0 , , 2.4 , , .800 , , — , , — , , .3 , , .1 , , .3 , , .0 , , 1.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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

, 2 , , 0 , , 4.5 , , 1.000 , , — , , — , , .5 , , .5 , , .5 , , .0 , , 1.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 9 , , 0 , , 2.9 , , .833 , , — , , — , , .3 , , .2 , , .3 , , .0 , , 1.1

College

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

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, 31 , , 25 , , 22.9 , , .411 , , .328 , , .812 , , 2.2 , , 3.6 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 30 , , 31.1 , , .443 , , .351 , , .837 , , 4.0 , , 2.9 , , 1.6 , , .2 , , 11.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 33.1 , , .421 , , .313 , , .860 , , 3.3 , , 2.1 , , 1.9 , , .2 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 34.4 , , .491 , , .394 , , .854 , , 5.0 , , 3.2 , , 1.8 , , .2 , , 16.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 130 , , 121 , , 30.5 , , .445 , , .345 , , .845 , , 3.6 , , 2.9 , , 1.6 , , .2 , , 12.4

Personal life

Mays' best friend and LSU teammate, Wayde Sims, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head and neck on September 28, 2018. Mays served as the pallbearer at the funeral. He gave an 11-minute speech in Sims's honor at an on-campus vigil outside the

Pete Maravich Assembly Center The Pete Maravich Assembly Center is a 13,215-seat multi-purpose arena in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The arena opened in 1972. It is home to the Louisiana State University Tigers and Lady Tigers basketball teams, the LSU Tigers women's gymnastics ...

in front of a crowd of hundreds. Mays wore customized Nike tennis shoes during the 2019 SEC Tournament in honor of Sims.

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mays, Skylar 1997 births Living people American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Baton Rouge, Louisiana College Park Skyhawks players Findlay Prep alumni Louisiana State University Laboratory School alumni LSU Tigers basketball players Point guards Shooting guards