Dakarai Dupree Lorenzo Allen (born February 4, 1995) 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 who last played for the

NBA G League Ignite The NBA G League Ignite was a developmental basketball team in the NBA G League. Originally based in Walnut Creek, California, with home games planned to have been played at the Ultimate Fieldhouse for their first two seasons before moving to Hende ...

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

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). The university fields 17 varsity teams (6 men's, 11 women's) in National Collegiate Athle ...

High school career

Allen attended Sheldon High School in

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

, where he was a standout four-year varsity basketball player.

College career

In September 2012 during his senior year in high school, Allen committed to play basketball for the

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

after high school. During the high school recruiting process, he received offers to play basketball from every

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

college and many other big colleges in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. Through his first two seasons with the Aztecs ( 2013–14 and 2014–15), Allen was primarily on the bench. He started just one game out of the 62 total games he played, averaging 2.5 points and 11.3 minutes per contest. During his junior year ( 2015–16), Allen enjoyed an expanded role with more minutes, and greater success. As the team's sixth-leading scorer and starting 17 of 38 games, he was mainly in the team's

sixth man The sixth man in basketball is a player who is not a starting lineup, starter but comes off the bench much more often than other reserves, often being the first player to be substituted in, and the first to be used against the other team's subst ...

role. He averaged 6.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game, while nearly doubling his minutes from the previous two seasons with 22.2 per game. For his senior year ( 2016–17), he became a full-fledged starter, being the team's only player to start all 33 games. He averaged 8.3 points per game to go along with 4.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 28.2 minutes. At the end of the season in 2017, the league's head coaches named Allen the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year due to his skillfully tenacious defense, as evidenced by his 39 steals, 29 blocks, and 85 defensive rebounds that season. His defensive play has also been aided by his unusually long

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

(7'1") in proportion to his height (6'5").

Professional career

Salt Lake City Stars (2017–2018)

After graduating from college, Allen went undrafted in the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

, making him an

unrestricted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

. Later in 2017, he made it onto the

Salt Lake City Stars The Salt Lake City Stars are an American minor-league professional basketball team. They are a member of the NBA G League, based in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City, Utah, and are affiliated with the Utah Jazz. Before the 2016–17 ...

team via a local tryout prior to the start of the 2017-18 NBA G League season. The team waived him on January 17, 2018.

Agua Caliente Clippers (2018–2019)

Eleven days later on January 28, 2018, the Agua Caliente Clippers picked up Allen via the G League available player pool. On February 11, 2018, in a game against the

Northern Arizona Suns The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play as the Long ...

, Allen posted a career-high 22 points in a 113–109 loss.

Grand Rapids Drive (2019–2020)

On January 8, 2019, the

Grand Rapids Drive The Grand Rapids Gold are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and are affiliated with the Denver Nuggets. The Gold play their home games at Van Andel Arena. They began play as the Anahe ...

acquired Allen from the Agua Caliente Clippers in a trade. During the 2019–20 season, Allen averaged 7.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

Return to Salt Lake City (2021)

On February 14, 2021, the

acquired Allen from the available player pool.

NBA G League Ignite (2021–2022)

On October 28, 2021, Allen signed with the

Personal life

Dakarai's uncle is

Larry Allen Larry Christopher Allen Jr. (November 27, 1971 – June 2, 2024) was an American professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football ...

, a former

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

champion, and 11-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

er who was inducted into the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional football (gridiron), professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, 1963, the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of profes ...

in 2013. In a 2015

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

interview on the "Scott and BR Show" hosted by Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith Jr. on

XEPRS-AM XEPRS (1090 Hertz, kHz) is an Amplitude modulation, AM commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Playas de Rosarito, a suburb of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico. It broadcasts an Spanish Language, Spanish Christ ...

"The Mighty 1090", Allen revealed that the meaning of his given name "Dakarai" is "happiness" in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

. In July 2024 Allen sued the

Elk Grove, California Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. Located just south of the state capital of Sacramento, it is part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 176,124. A 2021 C ...

Police Department, accusing them of breaking his knee with baton strikes after he was found sleeping in a car.

References

External links

San Diego State Aztecs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dakarai 1995 births Living people Agua Caliente Clippers players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Sacramento, California Grand Rapids Drive players NBA G League Ignite players Salt Lake City Stars players San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball players Shooting guards 21st-century American sportsmen