Caleb McConnell (born June 8, 1999) 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

Greensboro Swarm The Greensboro Swarm are an American basketball team of the NBA G League based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and are affiliated with the Charlotte Hornets. The Swarm play their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. The team became the ...

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

Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football ...

, where he played in the second round of the

2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2020–21 seaso ...

, became the team's steals leader at the first round of the

2023 National Invitation Tournament The 2023 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 NCAA Division I men's college basketball teams not selected to participate in the 2023 NCAA tournament. The tournament began on March 14 and ended on March 30. Th ...

and won the

Reese's College All-Star Game The Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Reese's College All-Star Game, founded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, NABC, is a men's college basketball game showcasing 20 of the best senior players in NCAA Division I. The two teams are coa ...

with the West. He ended that year with 221 steals and 972 points. In the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

, he held the season record for steals twice. He was named their Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and shared the award in 2023 with Chase Audige. Throughout 2023, McConnell won the

Lefty Driesell Award The Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's college basketball defender in NCAA Division I competition. The award was established in 2010 and is named after head coach Lefty Dries ...

and was in the top four with the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award. Outside of college, he played with the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

during 2023 in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

. With the Oklahoma City Blue, McConnell was a 2024 G-League champion.

Early life and education

McConnell was born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

on June 8, 1999. During his childhood, McConnell lived in Dayton and

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

with two siblings after the divorce of their parents. He played football before becoming interested in basketball. With Dunbar High School from 2014 to 2017, he had 346 rebounds as part of his 686 points. While with Dunbar at the 2015

OHSAA The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is the governing body of athletic programs for junior and senior high schools in the state of Ohio. The OHSAA governs eligibility of student athletes, resolves disputes, organizes levels of comp ...

Boys Basketball State Tournament, his team played in a semifinal for Division II schools. In 2018, he completed his boys basketball career at Spire Academy.

College career

Before McConnell started playing for

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in 2018, he had surgery to fix a foot injury. The following year, McConnell had surgery for his hip. After hurting his back, McConnell decided to stopped playing for a year during October 2020. By the end of 2020, he had back surgery. In January 2021, McConnell made an early return to the team "after missing ... eight games". That year, his team reached the second round of the

. In 2022, McConnell decided to not enter the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

and instead remain at Rutgers. Throughout the year, he " issedfive games with a knee injury". McConnell competed in the

2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the ...

during the

First Four The First Four is a play-in round of the NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball tournaments. It consists of two games contested between the four lowest-ranked teams in the field (usually the four lowest-ranked conference champions), an ...

. At the

, he became the steals leader for Rutgers while his team played in the first round. During these two years, McConnell held the season steals record for the

. He had 606 rebounds, 221 steals and 972 points overall after leaving the team in 2023. Outside of Rutgers, his West team won the 2023

. While competing as a 17U player in the Under Armour Association during 2017, he had 74 rebounds and 18 steals with C2K Elite. His team competed in that year's UAA Finals. Throughout 2023, McConnell participated at the

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 ...

Elite Camp and the

Portsmouth Invitational Tournament The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, (PIT), is the only postseason camp restricted to college basketball seniors. The Portsmouth Invitational is the first of two NBA pre-Draft (sports), draft camps, the other being the Orlando pre-Draft (sport ...

Professional career

Oklahoma City Blue (2023–2024)

After going undrafted in the

2023 NBA draft The 2023 NBA draft, the 77th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 22, 2023, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The draft consisted of 58 picks instead of the typical 60 for the second ...

, McConnell joined the

for the

2023 NBA Summer League The 2023 NBA Summer League (branded as ''NBA 2K, NBA 2K24'' Summer League 2023 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las ...

and on October 31, 2023, he joined the

Oklahoma City Blue The Oklahoma City Blue are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City and are affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blue compete in the NBA G League as members of the Western Conference. The Blue play their home games ...

. Throughout the year, he had 174 rebounds and 200 points before becoming a 2024 G-League Finals winner.

Greensboro Swarm (2024–present)

On September 11, 2024, McConnell signed with the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...

, but was waived on October 2. On October 27, he joined the

Awards and honors

McConnell was the Defensive Player of the Year for the Big Ten during 2022. He shared this Big Ten award with Chase Audige during 2023. That year, he was an All-Met for the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association. He also won the

and was in the top four with the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McConnell, Caleb 1999 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American men's basketball players Basketball players from Dayton, Ohio Greensboro Swarm players Oklahoma City Blue players Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball players Shooting guards