Elijah Childs (born January 10, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...

and the Basketball Champions League (BCL). He played college basketball for the Bradley Braves.

Early life and high school career

Growing up, Childs focused on football and baseball. He did not begin playing basketball until eighth grade, when friends recommended he try out as he was already 6'5". Childs attended Raytown South High School before transferring to Lee's Summit West High School. As a junior, he averaged 19 points and 12 rebounds per game, earning All-Conference and All-State recognition. During his senior season, Childs averaged 14.2 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. He was named Suburban Gold Conference player of the year as well was First Team All-Metro by The Kansas City Star. Childs was not highly recruited, receiving offers from Central Arkansas,

Indiana State Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

, and

Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

, before committing to Bradley due to the suggestion of his father.

College career

Childs averaged 8.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game as a freshman, earning Missouri Valley Conference All-Freshman Team honors. He was named 2019 Missouri Valley Conference tournament MVP after averaging 12.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game in three games. In the NCAA Tournament, Childs scored 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting and had six rebounds and three blocks in a loss to

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. As a sophomore, he averaged 12.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game, earning Third Team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors. Childs broke his middle finger in a game against

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

on December 15, 2019. After sitting out for three weeks, he re-injured it during a game against

Northern Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

, which required surgery. Childs averaged 14.8 points and 8.6 rebounds per game as a junior. He was named to the Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference. In February 2021, he was indefinitely suspended due to a violation of program standards, and he missed the rest of the season. It later emerged that he was investigated by the police for sodomy in the second degree. As a senior, Childs averaged 14.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. He was named to the Second Team All-Missouri Valley Conference. Following the season, Childs entered the transfer portal, but ultimately decided to turn professional.

Professional career

On July 26, 2021, Childs signed his first professional contract with Pallacanestro Trapani of the

Serie A2 Basket Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with pro ...

. On July 14, 2022, he signed with Bakken Bears of the Basketligaen. On July 14, 2023, he signed with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg of the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Bradley , 33 , , 12 , , 20.9 , , .502 , , .280 , , .537 , , 6.2 , , .6 , , .7 , , 1.4 , , 8.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Bradley , 35 , , 34 , , 29.5 , , .471 , , .236 , , .659 , , 7.8 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , 1.4 , , 12.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Bradley , 22 , , 22 , , 30.0 , , .498 , , .212 , , .711 , , 8.6 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 1.4 , , 14.8 , - , 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 b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Bradley , 22 , , 22 , , 31.2 , , .476 , , .355 , , .700 , , 8.3 , , 1.0 , , .9 , , 1.3 , , 14.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 112 , , 90 , , 27.4 , , .484 , , .264 , , .647 , , 7.6 , , .9 , , .7 , , 1.4 , , 12.1

Personal life

Childs is the son of Keisha Cook and Daron Childs. His mother is a nurse while his father works on the assembly line at Ford Motors. Childs has two older siblings, Markevian and Robert Cornelius; a fraternal twin Isaiah, and a younger brother Daron Jr. He studied communications at Bradley.

References

External links

Bradley Braves bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Childs, Elijah 1999 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Missouri Bradley Braves men's basketball players Power forwards People from Lee's Summit, Missouri