Jacob Alexander Grandison (born April 2, 1998) is an American-Finnish 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

PAOK Thessaloniki PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

of the

Greek Basketball League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...

(GBL). He also represents the Finnish national team in international competition. 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

Holy Cross Crusaders The Holy Cross Crusaders are the athletic teams representing the College of the Holy Cross. They compete in NCAA Division I, primarily as members of the Patriot League. In ice hockey, a sport not sponsored by the Patriot League for either sex, th ...

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports. The university op ...

, and the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the N ...

High school career

Grandison began his high school career playing for Berkeley High School. Grandison started his sophomore year on junior varsity, but he was elevated to the varsity team. During the last two years Grandison was in Berkeley High School, he played basketball with private coaching, due to unethical environment and coaching methods in his school. Later Grandison has told in media about the situation, that it was not safe for him to play under the coach of Berkeley. When his father noted the school about those circumstances, he was threatened not to make it an issue, or else Grandison's life and health will be in danger. Since then, Grandison was escorted on his way to school, and his social life was forced to be limited.Jacob Grandison pyytää, ettei hänen ohuiden käsivarsiensa anneta hämätä

Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (meaning ''South Finland News'' in English; nickname ''Etlari'') is a Finnish daily newspaper published in Lahti, Finland. It is the leading paper in its metropolitan area.

, Raiko Häyrinen, 12 June 2023 He committed himself to continue to train with Chris Garlington at Overtime Sports Academy (CA). In May 2016, Grandison's senior year of high school, he was seen, by Team Lillard's head coach, Raymond Young, playing basketball on a non-sponsored AAU team. Coach Raym Young invited Grandison to play basketball on its Adidas sponsored AAU team supported by Oakland's very-own

Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Dame Time", he played college basketball for the Weber State Wi ...

. This experience permitted, for the first time, Division I coaches to see Grandison compete from May to July 2016, following his graduation from his public high school. During spring 2016, Grandison decided to attended a post-graduate high school year at

Phillips Exeter Academy Phillips Exeter Academy (often called Exeter or PEA) is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Exeter, New Hampshire. Established in 1781, it is America's sixth-oldest boarding school and educates an es ...

Exeter, New Hampshire Exeter is a New England town, town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. Its population was 16,049 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county ...

for the 2016–17 season. Grandison was named Third-team Class A All-New England Honors and led the Exonians to a

NEPSAC The New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) is an organization that serves as the governing body for sports in preparatory schools and leagues in New England. The organization has 169 full member schools as well as 24 associate ...

Class A championship, where he scored 20 points in the final, championship game and was named MVP of the tournament. His success at Phillips Exeter led to Grandison being offered a Division-I scholarship to play for

Holy Cross Holy Cross or Saint Cross may refer to: * the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus * Christian cross, a frequently used religious symbol of Christianity * True Cross, supposed remnants of the actual cross upon which Jesus was crucified * Feast o ...

, where he ended up committing.

College career

Grandison began his college career at

, where he played in all 31 games and started 18 games his freshman year. During his first year, he averaged nine points a game and led his team in scoring six times and rebounding nine times. As a sophomore, Grandison started in all 33 games. He led the team in scoring with an average of 13.9 points per game, which was 11th in the

Patriot League The Patriot League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference comprising primarily leading Private university, private institutions of higher education and two United States service academies based in the Northeastern United ...

, and was second on the team in recounting with five rebounds per game. Along with this, Grandison shot 36.5 percent from three with a team high of 69 three-pointers, which was eighth in the Patriot league. Some individual highlights for the season included scoring a double-double of 21 points and a career-high 10 assists against Stony Brook on November 16, 2018, a career-high of 25 points against

Iona Iona (; , sometimes simply ''Ì'') is an island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there are other buildings on the island. Iona Abbey was a centre of Gaeli ...

on December 30, 2018, and a double-double of 22 points and a career-high 16 rebounds against Lafayette on March 5, 2019. After two years at Holy Cross, Grandison transferred to

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 ...

. After sitting out the 2019–20 season because of NCAA transfer rules, Grandison started his Illinois career as a bench player. However, after Illinois suffered consecutive losses to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and

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 ...

, Coach

Brad Underwood Bradley Cole Underwood (born December 14, 1963) is the current head coach for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. Previously, he served as head coach at Oklahoma State Cowgirls basketball, Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin Lumber ...

decided to shake up his lineup and put Grandison in the starting lineup for their game against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

on January 19, 2021. This proved to be a successful change as Illinois beat the Nittany Lions 79–65, and Grandison started 15 of the final 16 games of the season. With Grandison in the lineup, Illinois moved from 22 to 2 in the AP poll and won the

2021 Big Ten men's basketball tournament The 2021 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was a postseason men's basketball tournament for the Big Ten Conference of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season which took place March 10–14, 2021. The tournament was originally to ...

. For the entire season, Grandison averaged 4.6 points and 3.4 rebounds a game. For his senior season, Grandison saw a more increased role as he started in 23 of the 30 games he played. On February 19, 2022, Grandison had his most points as an Illini with 24 points and tied a career-high in three pointers made in a game with six as he helped lead his team to a win against

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

79–74. However, on March 3, 2022, Grandison sustained a shoulder injury against

, which caused him to miss the last game of the regular season and the

Big Ten tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

and limited his playing time in the NCAA tournament. Despite this, he averaged 9.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, which was fourth on the team for both, and earned an Academic All-Big Ten selection. After graduating from Illinois, Grandison decided to use his final year of eligibility and transferred to Duke. While attending Duke, Jacob was selected to the All-ACC Academic Team.

Professional career

On 16 August 2023,

KK Cibona Košarkaški klub Cibona, commonly referred to as Cibona Zagreb or simply Cibona, is a men's professional basketball club based in Zagreb, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the Adriatic Basketball Association, and compete ...

in Croatian League and

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

announced the signing of Grandison, but the deal was eventually collapsed due to the club's financial problems. On 27 October 2023, it was announced that Grandison had signed his first professional contract with

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

club

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

on a three-month deal. On 27 February 2024, Grandison moved to Finland and signed with

Salon Vilpas Salon Vilpas is a professional basketball club based in Salo, Finland. The team currently plays in the top level Korisliiga. The Vikings are a part of the Salon Vilpas multi-sport club. In 2021, Vilpas won its first Korisliiga championship. Curre ...

Korisliiga The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

for the rest of the 2023–24 season. On October 25, 2024, Grandison joined the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

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 ...

, but was waived three days later. On February 28, 2025, Grandison signed with Greek club

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

for the rest of the season.

National team career

Grandison was born to a Swedish-speaking Finnish mother and an American father, and has a dual Finnish-American citizenship by birth. Grandison's Finnish citizenship permitted him to represent the

Finland men's national basketball team The Finland men's national basketball team (, ) represents Finland in international basketball competition. The national team is governed by Basketball Finland. Finland has played in 17 EuroBasket tournaments, with their best finish coming in ...

in its summer training camp and their Olympic preparatory national team matches in 2021. Grandison was also part of the Finland squad in World Cup preparatory games in Summer 2023. He was named in the Finland final squad in the

2023 FIBA World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams, held from 25 August to 10 September 2023. The tournament was the second to feature 32 teams and was hosted by multipl ...

tournament. Grandison also played in the 2024 FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament.

Personal life

Grandison was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and grew up in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. His mother, Carina, is from

Haaga Haaga () is a district and a former municipality in the Western major district of Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Fin ...

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland, and she had met Grandison's father, James, in California when she was an exchange student in the U.S. He competitively swam growing up for the Oakland Undercurrents and competed in the 50 freestyle at the Junior Olympics. He graduated from the

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the fou ...

with his bachelor's (B.S.) degree in earth, society, and environmental sustainability in 2021, and graduated with his master's (M.S.) degree from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

GIES School of Business in business management in May 2022. Although being born and raised in the United States, Grandison visited Finland with his family during summers when he was younger. He does not speak Finnish, but understands and speaks some Swedish, which his mother spoke to him when he was a child.Jacob Grandison löysi identiteettinsä Salosta: ”En juhli menestystä – siitäkin huomaa, että olen suomalainen”

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

, 11 April 2024 Grandison's maternal grandfather was Nils Mustelin, a Finnish professor of physics and an astronomer, and a former member of the Helsinki city council.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 18 , , 27.5 , , .442 , , .317 , , .741 , , 4.5 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , .2 , , 9.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 34.6 , , .429 , , .365 , , .800 , , 5.0 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 13.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

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

Redshirt , - , 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;",

, 30 , , 16 , , 15.3 , , .526 , , .415 , , .957 , , 3.4 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , .1 , , 4.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 23 , , 25.0 , , .455 , , .410 , , .824 , , 3.8 , , 2.3 , , .3 , , .2 , , 9.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 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;",

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, 34 , , 0 , , 15.9 , , .397 , , .333 , , .889 , , 2.1 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .1 , , 4.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 158 , , 90 , , 23.7 , , .442 , , .364 , , .814 , , 3.8 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .2 , , 8.3

National team

References

External links

Duke Blue Devils bioESPN profileIllinois Fighting Illini bioHoly Cross Crusaders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grandison, Jacob 1998 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players American people of Finnish descent Basketball players from San Francisco Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) alumni CB Menorca players Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Finnish expatriate basketball people in Greece Finnish expatriate basketball people in Spain Finnish people of African-American descent Holy Cross Crusaders men's basketball players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players P.A.O.K. BC players Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Shooting guards Small forwards Swedish-speaking Finns Vilpas Vikings players