Bryce Alexander Dejean-Jones (August 21, 1992 – May 28, 2016) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played college basketball for

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

after stints with

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

and

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. ...

, and played professionally for the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

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). Dejean-Jones was fatally shot after breaking into an apartment, having wrongly believed it to be that of his girlfriend.

High school career

Dejean-Jones attended View Park Preparatory High School for two years, then transferred to and graduated from

William Howard Taft Charter High School William Howard Taft Charter High School is a Public school (government funded), public school located on the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue in the Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, Woodland Hills district of the San Ferna ...

in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. As a senior in 2009–10, he averaged 16.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 steals and made 56.8 percent of his shots, including 49.3 percent from beyond the arc in leading the Toreadors to the L.A. City Section final and third round of the Division I state playoffs.

College career

Dejean-Jones began his college career with

, appearing in 18 of 34 games as a freshman and starting in each of the Trojans' first 10 games. In 20.6 minutes per game, he averaged 7.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 37.9 percent from the field and 34.5 percent from three-point range, scoring in double figures seven times, including a career-high 21 points against

New Mexico State New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a Public university system, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the state's oldest public institution ...

. After his freshman season, Dejean-Jones transferred to

, redshirting as a sophomore. As a redshirted sophomore in 2012–13, he was named the

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Janu ...

Preseason Co-Newcomer of the Year prior to the start of the season, going on to appear in all 35 games, starting 29. He was third in scoring for the Runnin' Rebels with 10.3 points per game, third in steals and assists with 0.9 and 2.3 per game respectively, and fourth in rebounds with 4.4 rebounds per game, leading his team in scoring five times and in rebounding twice. He made his debut on November 12, 2012, scoring 15 points, including hitting 3-of-4 three-pointers, in a win over

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Yavapai counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the ...

which was the first of 18 total games of scoring in double figures. He also dished out a career-high six assists in three different games, and exploded for a career-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting in a 76–75 win over

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

to help UNLV earn its best non-conference road win of the season. On February 9, 2014, he grabbed a career-high nine rebounds in a home win over

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

and made a career-high five three-pointers as part of a team-leading 19-point effort in the MW tournament's championship game on March 16, also against the Lobos. Five days later, he made his NCAA tournament debut against Cal, scoring a team-high 15 points in a 64–61 loss. In 2014, Dejean-Jones transferred to

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

to play under coach

Fred Hoiberg Fredrick Kristian Hoiberg (born October 15, 1972) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He has served as the men's head basketball coach at the University of Nebraska since 2019. Hoiberg grew up in Ames, Iowa, and played coll ...

. Dejean-Jones played in 33 games during the 2014–15 season, starting 21, averaging 10.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals, while shooting a career-best 47.6 percent from the field. He scored in double figures 17 times and earned CBSSports.com National Player of the Week honors after scoring a season-high 27 points in ISU's win against nationally ranked

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. In that game, he was 8-for-8 from the field, becoming just the fifth player in school history with at least eight field goal attempts in a game without a miss. In his Cyclone debut, he recorded his first career double-double, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds against

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, and just missed a triple-double against Lamar, scoring 12 points to go along with 10 rebounds and a career-high eight assists. He helped the Cyclones win the 2015 Big 12 tournament.

College statistics

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

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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

, 18 , , 10 , , 20.6 , , .379 , , .345 , , .639 , , 2.6 , , 1.6 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 7.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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

, 35 , , 28 , , 26.0 , , .413 , , .347 , , .728 , , 4.4 , , 2.3 , , .9 , , .3 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 26 , , 27.4 , , .427 , , .323 , , .643 , , 3.7 , , 3.0 , , .7 , , .3 , , 13.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 21 , , 23.0 , , .476 , , .329 , , .722 , , 4.7 , , 2.1 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 10.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 117 , , 85 , , 24.7 , , .429 , , .336 , , .684 , , 4.0 , , 2.3 , , .9 , , .2 , , 10.8

Professional career

Idaho Stampede (2015–2016)

After going undrafted in the

2015 NBA draft The 2015 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2015, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was televised nationally in the U.S. by ESPN. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eli ...

, Dejean-Jones joined the

for the

2015 NBA Summer League The 2015 NBA Summer League consisted of three professional sports, pro basketball sports league, leagues organized by the National Basketball Association, NBA: the Orlando Magic, Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas S ...

in Las Vegas, averaging 12.8 points in six games. On August 20, 2015, he signed with the Pelicans, but was later waived by the team on October 24 after appearing in seven preseason games. On December 13, he was acquired by the

Idaho Stampede Idaho ( ) is a landlocked state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington and Oregon to the west; the state s ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

. He made his professional debut on December 19 in a 117–107 win over the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

, recording 15 points, three rebounds, four assists and one steal in 21 minutes of action.

New Orleans Pelicans (2016)

On January 21, 2016, Dejean-Jones signed a 10-day contract with the Pelicans. On January 28, in his fourth game for the team, Dejean-Jones started at shooting guard in place of the injured

Tyreke Evans Tyreke Jamir Evans (born September 19, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Broncos de Caracas of the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto (SPB). After playing college basketball for the Memphis Tigers men's ...

. In 34 minutes of action, he recorded 14 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, helping the Pelicans defeat 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 Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

114–105. On February 1, he signed a second 10-day contract, and continued to start for the Pelicans due to Evans' injury. On February 4, he had a career-best game with 17 points and 9 rebounds in a 99–96 loss to the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

. On February 19, he signed a three-year deal with the Pelicans. A week later, he was ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing successful surgery to repair a right wrist fracture.

Personal life

Dejean-Jones was the son of KC and Franchesca Jones, and had four brothers and two sisters. He graduated from UNLV with a degree in sociology and pursued a master's degree in family and consumer sciences – youth development. He had one daughter, Allicsia DeJean.

Death

On May 28, 2016, Dejean-Jones was killed when he was shot after kicking open the locked front door and locked bedroom door of a Camden Belmont Dallas apartment which he mistakenly thought belonged to his girlfriend. He was visiting his girlfriend, who lived on the floor above, for their daughter's first birthday. Dejean-Jones intended to re-enter her apartment after leaving to take a walk following an argument with her, but instead went to another apartment one floor below his girlfriend's apartment on the fourth floor. At about 3:20 a.m., Dejean-Jones forced open the front door of the third-floor apartment. While shouting for his girlfriend, Dejean-Jones approached and kicked open the bedroom door within the apartment. The resident, who had been sleeping, thought that the person breaking in intended to harm him, so he proceeded to retrieve and fire a handgun in self defense at Dejean-Jones through the bedroom door, striking him in the abdomen. Dejean-Jones, at the age of 23, was pronounced dead at a Dallas hospital. According to his agent, this was the first time that Dejean-Jones visited his girlfriend's new apartment. Dejean-Jones was the first active NBA player to die since 2007 when

Eddie Griffin Edward Rubin Griffin (born July 15, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for portraying Eddie Sherman in the sitcom '' Malcolm & Eddie'', the title character in the 2002 comedy film '' Undercover Brother'', and Tib ...

was killed in a vehicular accident.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 14 , , 11 , , 19.9 , , .406 , , .375 , , .524 , , 3.4 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , .1 , , 5.6 , - class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan="2", Career , 14 , , 11 , , 19.9 , , .406 , , .375 , , .524 , , 3.4 , , 1.1 , , .7 , , .1 , , 5.6

References

External links

*
Iowa State Cyclones bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dejean-Jones, Bryce 1992 births 2016 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Los Angeles Deaths by firearm in Texas Idaho Stampede players Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball players New Orleans Pelicans players People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles Shooting guards Undrafted NBA players UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball players USC Trojans men's basketball players 21st-century American sportsmen