Darius Days (born October 20, 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Divisio ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA), on a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won fo ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC).

High school career

Days attended Williston High School in

Williston, Florida Williston is a city in Levy County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 2,768. Histoy The city was established before 1885 by J.M. Willis, who named it after himself. Geography Williston is located at (29.38 ...

as a freshman, playing junior varsity football. For his sophomore season, he transferred to The Rock School in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

and focused on basketball. As a junior, Days averaged 21 points and 10 rebounds per game, earning ''

Gainesville Sun ''The Gainesville Sun'' () is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. The paper is published by Lynni Henderson, the paper's Executive Editor is Douglas Ray and the edi ...

'' Small Schools Co-Player of the Year honors. He moved to

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a boar ...

Bradenton, Florida Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries ...

for his senior season. Days committed to playing college basketball for

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

over offers from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

and

Xavier Xavier or Xabier may refer to: Place * Xavier, Spain People * Xavier (surname) * Xavier (given name) * Francis Xavier (1506–1552), Catholic saint ** St. Francis Xavier (disambiguation) * St. Xavier (disambiguation) * Xavier (footballer, born J ...

College career

As a freshman at LSU, Days averaged 5.3 points and four rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game. In his next year, he moved into the starting lineup. On January 8, 2020, Days recorded 16 points and 16 rebounds in a 79–77 win over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

. As a sophomore, he averaged 11.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Days declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

before withdrawing his name and returning to college. On November 26, 2020, he made his junior season debut, scoring 24 points in a 94–81 victory over

SIU Edwardsville Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...

. Days missed one game with a sprained ankle. As a junior, he averaged 11.6 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per game. Following the season, Days declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NB ...

. However, he opted to withdraw from the draft and return to LSU. Days was named to the Second Team All- SEC as a senior. He averaged 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Professional career

Houston Rockets (2022–present)

After it was initially reported that Days would sign with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

after going undrafted in the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. T ...

, he instead signed a

with the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

on July 16, 2022. On October 9, his two-way contract was converted to an exhibit 10 contract, and he was subsequently waived. On October 11, he was claimed off waivers by the

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

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College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 3 , , 14.6 , , .485 , , .382 , , .743 , , 4.0 , , .4 , , .7 , , .3 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 30 , , 23.5 , , .486 , , .295 , , .786 , , 6.8 , , .8 , , .6 , , .3 , , 11.1 , - , 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;",

, 28 , , 28 , , 27.0 , , .519 , , .400 , , .703 , , 7.8 , , .6 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 11.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 29.8 , , .434 , , .350 , , .700 , , 7.8 , , .9 , , 1.5 , , .3 , , 13.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 127 , , 94 , , 23.4 , , .474 , , .353 , , .734 , , 6.5 , , .7 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 10.3

Personal life

Days is the son of Tracy and Greg Days. His favorite NBA players are

Draymond Green Draymond Jamal Green Sr. (born March 4, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Green, who plays primarily at the power forward position, is a four-time NB ...

, who he has compared himself to, and

Carmelo Anthony Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team m ...

References

External links

LSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Days, Darius 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Gainesville, Florida Houston Rockets players IMG Academy alumni LSU Tigers men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Undrafted National Basketball Association players