Bernard Ronald James (born February 7, 1985) is an American former 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. 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 Florida State Seminoles. James was selected in the 2012 NBA draft and spent three seasons in 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) with the Dallas Mavericks.

Background

In a 2012 piece for ''The Tipoff'', the magazine of the United States Basketball Writers Association, '' ESPN.com'' writer Dana O'Neil called James

...the most unconventional of high school dropouts, a kid who grew disenchanted with the social hierarchy of school yet would head to Barnes & Noble to read on the days that he cut.

After dropping out, he earned his GED, and shortly afterwards enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

while still 17. He served six years in the Air Force as a security forces specialist, attaining the rank of

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

. He was assigned to the 9th Security Forces Squadron at Beale Air Force Base and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom to

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. He initially planned to have a career in the military, but was drafted onto an intramural basketball team at his base. During this time, he underwent a late growth spurt of 5 inches (13 cm), and soon rose through the ranks of military basketball to the Air Force's all-star team. This in turn led him to pursue basketball as a potential career path; when his enlistment term expired, he left the Air Force and enrolled at Tallahassee Community College so that he could eventually fully qualify for

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

Professional career

James was selected as the 33rd overall pick by 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 Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

in the 2012 NBA draft. He was later traded to the Dallas Mavericks in a draft night trade that included the 24th overall pick Jared Cunningham and the 34th overall pick Jae Crowder. The Cavaliers received guard Kelenna Azubuike and the 17th overall pick Tyler Zeller. On July 25, 2012, James signed with the Dallas Mavericks. On July 19, 2013, he was waived by the Mavericks, but he was quickly re-signed on July 26. On February 27, 2014, James was assigned to the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League. He was recalled the next day. On September 3, 2014, James re-signed with the Mavericks. However, he was later waived by the Mavericks on October 25, 2014. On November 3, 2014, he was acquired by the Texas Legends as an affiliate player. After playing in the Legends' first two games of the season, he left the team in order to sign in China. On November 21, 2014, he signed with the Shanghai Sharks for the 2014–15 CBA season. On February 11, 2015, James signed a 10-day contract with the Dallas Mavericks, returning to the franchise for a second stint. He signed a second 10-day contract with the Mavericks on February 21, and for the rest of the season on March 3. On July 31, 2015, James re-signed with the Shanghai Sharks for the 2015–16 CBA season. On March 12, 2016, he signed with Galatasaray of Turkey for the rest of the 2015–16 Turkish Basketball Super League season. In early May 2016, he left Galatasaray. On January 6, 2017, James signed with French club Limoges CSP for the rest of the 2016–17 Pro A season. On February 7, 2017, he parted ways with Limoges after appearing in two games.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, 46 , , 11 , , 9.9 , , .515 , , .000 , , .610 , , 2.8 , , .1 , , .3 , , .8 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 30 , , 0 , , 4.9 , , .478 , , .000 , , .545 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , .1 , , .3 , , .9 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 16 , , 2 , , 9.9 , , .444 , , .000 , , .870 , , 2.4 , , .3 , , .1 , , .9 , , 2.8 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 92 , , 13 , , 8.3 , , .497 , , .000 , , .680 , , 2.3 , , .1 , , .2 , , .7 , , 2.2

Playoffs

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

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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

, 2 , , 0 , , 4.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .5 , , .0 , , .5 , , .0 , , .0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015 , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 3 , , 0 , , 3.3 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .3 , , .0 , , .3 , , .0 , , .0

References

External links

* *
FIBA.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Bernard 1985 births Living people African-American United States Air Force personnel American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Basketball players from Savannah, Georgia Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks Dallas Mavericks players Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Limoges CSP players Shanghai Sharks players Tallahassee Eagles men's basketball players Texas Legends players United States Air Force airmen United States Air Force personnel of the Iraq War United States Air Force personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Anhui Wenyi Basketball Club players