Javon Unique Small (born December 19, 2002) 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 (appro ...

player for the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA), on 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 o ...

with the

Memphis Hustle The Memphis Hustle are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in the Greater Memphis suburb of Southaven, Mississippi, and are affiliated with the Memphis Grizzlies. The team plays their home games at the Landers C ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the sport, athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA ...

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National ...

, and

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. The Mountaineers have been a membe ...

Early life and high school career

Coming out of high school, Small was rated as a three-star recruit and committed to playing

for

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

over other schools such as

Ball State Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. T ...

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified ...

, IUPUI,

Kent State Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Ashtabula, Burton, East Liverpool, Jackson Township, New Philadelphia, ...

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

, and

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

College career

East Carolina

As a freshman in 2021–22, Small appeared in just 16 games, playing 9.2 minutes per game. In 2022–23, he averaged 15.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. After the season, Small entered his name into the

NCAA transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool created to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member institutions. It is i ...

Oklahoma State

Small transferred to play for the

. On March 9, 2024, he dropped a career-high 34 points versus BYU. During the 2023–24 season, Small appeared in 31 games for the Cowboys, where he averaged 15.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and one steal per game while shooting 44% from the field and 37% from three, earning all-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

honorable mention. After the conclusion of the 2023–24 season, Small once again entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal.

West Virginia

Small transferred to play for the

. In his first game with the Mountaineers on November 4, 2024, he notched 15 points, five assists, two rebounds, two steals and one block in a win over

Robert Morris Robert or Bob Morris may refer to: :''Ordered chronologically within each section.'' Politics and the law * Robert Hunter Morris (1700–1764), lieutenant governor of Colonial Pennsylvania * Robert Morris (financier) (1734–1806), one of the Foun ...

. On November 27, 2024, Small scored 31 points (highest in his year at WVU) in the matchup with

Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs (), also known unofficially as the Zags, are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Gonzaga competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

in the second game of the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis at Imperial Arena in

Paradise Island Paradise Island is an island in the Bahamas formerly known as Hog Island. The island, with an area of (2.8 km2/1.1 sq mi), is just off the shore of the city of Nassau, which is itself on the northern edge of the island of New Providence ...

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

, securing the win for the Mountaineers 86–78 in overtime. On December 31, 2024, Small scored 13 points including the game-winning free throw, while also adding 11 rebounds and six assists, as he helped the Mountaineers upset #7

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. On January 4, 2025, he scored 24 points in a 69–50 win over his former team,

Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

. On January 18, 2025, his 12 points in the last 2 minutes of the game secured the Mountaineers with a spectacular win over No. 2 Iowa State, 64–57 (he scored 27 points in the whole game). On February 25, 2025, Small posted 23 points, ten assists, and five rebounds in a win over

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

. During his year with the Mountaineers, he scored 20 or more points in 14 games. On March 30, 2025, he officially declared for the

2025 NBA draft The 2025 NBA draft was the 79th edition of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual draft. Like the 2024 draft, this draft took place over two nights. The draft consisted of 59 picks as opposed to the full 60 due to the New York Knick ...

, and was invited to the 2025 NBA draft combine on May 2. Small graduated from

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

with Regents Bachelor of Arts degree on May 18, 2025.

Professional career

Small was selected with the 48th pick in the 2025 NBA draft by the

. On July 10th Memphis Grizzlies announced that signed him to a two-way contract.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 16 , , 0 , , 9.2 , , .263 , , .217 , , 1.000 , , .6 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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

, 18 , , 17 , , 34.7 , , .397 , , .333 , , .854 , , 4.8 , , 5.6 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 15.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 33.0 , , .441 , , .374 , , .866 , , 4.7 , , 4.1 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 15.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;",

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, 32 , , 32 , , 36.1 , , .418 , , .353 , , .880 , , 4.1 , , 5.6 , , 1.5 , , .3 , , 18.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 97 , , 80 , , 30.4 , , .415 , , .350 , , .871 , , 3.9 , , 4.4 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 14.2

References

External links

West Virginia Mountaineers bioOklahoma State Cowboys bioEast Carolina Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Javon 2002 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American men's basketball players East Carolina Pirates men's basketball players Memphis Grizzlies draft picks Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players Point guards West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball players