Tyler Deon Honeycutt (July 15, 1990 – July 7, 2018) was 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. 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

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

, where he earned first-team all-conference honors in the Pac-10 (known now as the Pac-12) as a sophomore in 2011. Honeycutt was selected by 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 ...

in the second round of the 2011 NBA draft. He played with the Kings for two seasons and in 2013 moved to Europe, where he played for EuroLeague clubs

Khimki Khimki ( rus, Химки, p=ˈxʲimkʲɪ) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, 18.25 kilometres northwest of central Moscow, and immediately beyond the Moscow city boundary. History Origins and formation Khimki was initially a railway station th ...

and

Anadolu Efes Anadolu Efes Biracılık ve Malt Sanayii A.Ş.''(lit. Anadolu Efes Brewery and Malt Industries)'' produces and markets beer and malt and non-alcoholic beverages in a wide geographical area comprising Turkey, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independe ...

. He committed suicide at age 27 following a shootout with police.

High school career

Honeycutt attended Sylmar High School in Sylmar, California. Considered a four-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, Honeycutt was listed as the No. 4 small forward and the No. 28 player in the nation in 2009.

College career

In his freshman year at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(UCLA) in 2009–10, Honeycutt played in the final 26 games, starting 18, and led the team in rebounding at 6.5 per game. He was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. In the following season, he was named the team's co-MVP (with Malcolm Lee and

Reeves Nelson Sophaur OneF ...

) and first-team All-Pac-10 after averaging 12.8 points per game and leading the conference in blocks with 2.1 per game. He declared for the NBA draft after the season. Honeycutt was projected as a late lottery pick to mid first round pick in the 2011 NBA draft but concerns over inconsistency and less-than-maximum effort dropped him to the second round. Sacramento took him with the 35th overall pick.

Professional career

Sacramento Kings (2011–2013)

Honeycutt was drafted in the second round with the 35th overall pick by the

in the 2011 NBA draft. He played in his first NBA game on December 31, 2011, and scored two points in four minutes. On January 1, 2012, Honeycutt was assigned to the

Reno Bighorns Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

of the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

. The Kings recalled him on January 24. During the 2012–13 season, Honeycutt was reassigned to the Bighorns on November 7 and recalled by the Kings on December 17.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2013)

On February 20, 2013, Honeycutt was traded to the Houston Rockets along with Thomas Robinson and Francisco García in exchange for Patrick Patterson,

Toney Douglas Toney Bernard Douglas (born March 16, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for Benfica of the Liga Portuguesa de Basquetebol. He played college basketball for Auburn for one year, eventually becoming frustrated with his role on t ...

and

Cole Aldrich Cole David Aldrich (born October 31, 1988) is an American former professional basketball player. He previously played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Minnesota Timberwol ...

. In two seasons with Sacramento, he played only 24 games with the Kings because of injuries and D-League assignments. On February 24, Houston assigned him to 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 fo ...

of the D-League. He was

waived A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. Regulatory agencies of state departments or the federal government may issue waivers to exempt companies from certain regulations. For example, a United St ...

by the Rockets on March 5, so they could sign guard Aaron Brooks. Afterwards, he rejoined the Vipers.

Ironi Nes Ziona (2013–2014)

In August 2013, Honeycutt signed with

Ironi Nes Ziona Ironi Ness Ziona B.C. (or spelled as Ironi Nes Ziona B.C.) is a professional basketball club based in Ness Ziona, Israel. The team plays its home games at the Lev Hamoshava, which has capacity for 1,200 people. The club plays in the Israeli Bas ...

, who had recently gained promotion to the

Israeli Super League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

Khimki (2014–2016)

On July 8, 2014, he signed a two-year deal with the Russian team

. In 2014–15 season, he won the Eurocup championship with Khimki, Europe's 2nd tier competition. In

2015–16 Euroleague The 2015–16 Turkish Airlines Euroleague was the 16th season of the modern era of EuroLeague, Euroleague Basketball and the sixth under the title sponsorship of the Turkish Airlines. Including the competition's previous incarnation as the FIBA E ...

, he made his debut in Europe's top competition. Over 23 EuroLeague games, he averaged 6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

Anadolu Efes (2016–2017)

On July 22, 2016, Honeycutt signed a 1+1 deal with Turkish club

, where he won the

Turkish Basketball Super League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

Slam Dunk Contest. Over 35 EuroLeague games, he averaged career-highs of 9.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2 assists per game. On June 28, 2017, Efes officially opted out of their deal with Honeycutt, and he became a free agent.

Return to Khimki (2017–2018)

On July 14, 2017, Honeycutt returned to Moscow-based Khimki. He signed a contract for the 2017–18 season. After missing the first nine games of the EuroLeague season due to injury, he returned to the court in late November 2017. He helped Khimki advance to the EuroLeague Playoffs, where they lost to

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

3–1 in the quarterfinal series. Over 17 EuroLeague games, he averaged 9.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. In

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it ...

, Khimki lost the final game to CSKA Moscow, 95–84.

Death

On the afternoon of July 6, 2018, Honeycutt's mother called

911 911 or 9/11 may refer to: Dates * AD 911 * 911 BC * September 11 ** 9/11, the September 11 attacks of 2001 ** 11 de Septiembre, Chilean coup d'état in 1973 that outed the democratically elected Salvador Allende * November 9 Numbers * 91 ...

after he had been acting erratically. She said that he had been using

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has ...

"for six months overseas and I think it scrambled his brain." When police arrived they found that he had barricaded the entrance to his

Sherman Oaks Sherman Oaks is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California located in the San Fernando Valley, founded in 1927. The neighborhood includes a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains, which gives Sherman Oaks a lower population density than ...

home.
He fired a shot that hit a wall next to an officer, who fired back at Honeycutt. After nine hours, LAPD SWAT entered the home early the next morning, and found Honeycutt dead. Bort Escoto, who coached Honeycutt for four years at Sylmar High School, said that "he was a great kid to be around. But he was having some problems", because in Russia he did not know the language and the surroundings, concluding that "he was basically having a hard time with the adjustment. I just kept telling him he needed to get out and meet people". An autopsy determined that he committed suicide by a gunshot wound to the head. Honeycutt's mother later sued the L.A. Police Department, saying it failed to de-escalate the situation and get him medical care.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, 15 , , 0 , , 5.9 , , .333 , , .333 , , .600 , , .9 , , .5 , , .3 , , .2 , , 1.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, 9 , , 0 , , 3.6 , , .273 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , .0 , , .1 , , .9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 24 , , 0 , , 5.0 , , .314 , , .200 , , .714 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .2 , , .2 , , 1.2

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 23 , , 17 , , 19.6 , , .520 , , .359 , , .636 , , 6.1 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , 1.0 , , 6.0 , , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 1 , , 24.5 , , .401 , , .303 , , .680 , , 7.3 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , 9.2 , , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Khimki , 17 , , 0 , , 21.2 , , .474 , , .491 , , .870 , , 5.4 , , 1.8 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , 9.2 , , 12.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 75 , , 18 , , 22.3 , , .443 , , .363 , , .699 , , 6.5 , , 1.0 , , 1.7 , , .9 , , 8.2 , , 12.7

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;",

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, 26 , , 18 , , 27.7 , , .496 , , .345 , , .600 , , 6.5 , , 2.7 , , 1.5 , , 1.2 , , 7.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

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

, 33 , , 33 , , 35.0 , , .406 , , .362 , , .736 , , 7.2 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , 2.0 , , 12.8 , -class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 59 , , 51 , , 31.7 , , .431 , , .359 , , .684 , , 6.9 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , , 1.7 , , 10.2

References

External links

UCLA Bruins bio

EuroLeague profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Honeycutt, Tyler 1990 births 2018 suicides American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Anadolu Efes S.K. players Basketball players from Los Angeles BC Khimki players Deaths by firearm in California Ironi Nes Ziona B.C. players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Sylmar, Los Angeles Reno Bighorns players Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Sacramento Kings draft picks Sacramento Kings players Small forwards Suicides by firearm in California UCLA Bruins men's basketball players