CJ Walker (born March 24, 1997) 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 The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...

and the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

Early life

Walker was raised in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

and attended

Arsenal Technical High School Arsenal Technical High School, commonly referred to as Tech or Arsenal Tech, is a public high school in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, which is run by the Indianapolis Public Schools district. The school is located on a , multiple buildin ...

in Indianapolis. During his senior season, he won the Indianapolis Coaches Association Player of the Year. His senior season averages were 24.3 points, 5.6 assists and three steals per game. Walker committed to

Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

on June 20, 2015, over offers from Walker's future head coach at

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

Chris Holtmann Christopher Adam Holtmann (born November 11, 1971) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at DePaul University. Holtmann grew up in Nicholasville, Kentucky, and started his college playing career in-state at Br ...

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

College career

Florida State

Walker played in 33 games off the bench during his freshman year, averaging 4.9 points, 1.3 assists, and 0.6 steals per game. His season-high in points during the season was 13, against

and Wake Forest. He started every game except for one during his sophomore season at

, averaging 8 points, 2.4 assists, and 1 steal per game. He started every game of Florida State's

Elite Eight In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...

run during the 2018 NCAA tournament, averaging 17.5 minutes per game. Following the season, on March 27, 2018, he transferred from

Ohio State

Walker committed to

on April 8, 2018. Walker sat out the 2018–19 season due to NCAA transfer rules. He had a solid season during his junior season, averaging 8.7 points, 3.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. He scored a season-high 18 points in a game against

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

on January 14, 2020. Walker missed four games during mid-January due to a nagging hand injury. In Ohio State's Big Ten tournament championship loss, Walker scored 16 points and made a buzzer-beating

three-pointer A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two p ...

, although the three-pointer did not affect the result of the game as

won the game by three points. He averaged 9.5 points, 4.4 assists, and 0.9 steals per game. His free throw percentage of 94.0% ranked second in the country. Walker declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. The NBA draft returned to Brooklyn after 2020 NBA draft, the pre ...

on April 12, 2021, forgoing his option to return to college by hiring an agent.

Professional career

On August 13, 2021, Walker signed his first professional contract with ETHA Engomis of the

Cyprus Basketball Division A The OPAP Basket League is currently the top-tier level men's professional basketball competition of the Cypriot basketball league system. It is run and governed by the Cyprus Basketball Federation. Format All teams are playing against each othe ...

. However he parted ways with the team before playing a game. On September 27, Walker signed with

Phoenix Hagen Phoenix Hagen is a German professional basketball club that is based in Hagen, Germany. After withdrawing from the Basketball Bundesliga in November 2016, Phoenix Hagen re-launched its basketball team for the 2017-18 ProA season. The ProA is Germ ...

of the German

ProA The ProA is the German basketball league system, second-tier Sports league, league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the ''2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the t ...

Career statistics

College

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

, 33 , , 0 , , 12.5 , , .397 , , .304 , , .655 , , 1.4 , , 1.3 , , .6 , , .1 , , 4.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 34 , , 23.2 , , .412 , , .355 , , .732 , , 2.5 , , 2.4 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 8.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 29 , , 29.0 , , .427 , , .321 , , .812 , , 3.1 , , 3.5 , , 1.3 , , .1 , , 8.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 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;",

, 27 , , 12 , , 30.0 , , .410 , , .265 , , .940 , , 3.2 , , 4.4 , , .9 , , .1 , , 9.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 126 , , 75 , , 23.3 , , .413 , , .321 , , .799 , , 2.5 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , .1 , , 7.7

Personal life

Walker has a daughter, Summer, in 2019 from a previous Relationship. He is married to Taylor Ramey in 2022 and they had a son in 2023, Skylar. Walker serves as an assistant coach for the Girls Varsity basketball team at North Central High School in

References

External links

Ohio State Buckeyes bioFlorida State Seminoles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, CJ 1997 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indianapolis Florida State Seminoles men's basketball players Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball players Phoenix Hagen players