Jamal Abu-Shamala (; born July 25, 1987) is a

Palestinian-American Palestinian Americans () are Americans who are of full or partial Palestinian descent. There are around 160,000 Palestinian American refugees according to the 2023 American Community Survey, making up around 0.05% of the U.S. population. Th ...

former 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. 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

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

. Abu-Shamala played in the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

for the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team has played its home games in the Sanford Pentagon since the 2013–14 ...

during the 2010–11 season. Abu-Shamala first represented the Jordanian national team and began to play internationally in 2008. He joined the Palestine national team in 2011 and later represented them internationally.

College career

Abu-Shamala came to the University of Minnesota as a walk-on but earned a scholarship after playing in 30 games and starting 10 games during his freshman season in 2005–06. His best season statistically was his sophomore season in 2006–07 when he played in 31 games, started 21 games, averaged 6.5 points per game, and made 44-of-102 three-point attempts. He finished his career with 128 games played, 62 starts, 592 points, 270 rebounds, a field goal percentage of 43.2% (203–469) and three-point field goal percentage of 40.1% (106–264). His career three-point field percentage ranked him seventh all-time at Minnesota. In 2009, Abu-Shamala was named the University of Minnesota's male recipient of the Outstanding Student-Athlete Award for his accomplishments in athletics, academics, leadership and volunteerism.

International career

Abu-Shamala was noticed by the Jordan men's national basketball team while playing in a game broadcast on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. He said he was eligible to play for the team because of his Palestinian father and "65–75 percent of Jordan is Palestinian". Abu-Shamala was not aware of the Palestine men's national basketball team when he committed and only realized the team existed when he played against them in a tournament. Although he felt like he should be playing for Palestine, his commitments to Jordan prevented him from joining the team immediately. Abu-Shamala played for Jordan as they retained their title at the

William Jones Cup The William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament (), also known as the William Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in sports, 1977 ...

.Abu-Shamala Helps Jordan National Team Win William Jones Cup
, July 18, 2008. Access Date September 5, 2008. Abu-Shamala was unable to obtain a Jordanian passport after his second year with the team and played his first game with the Palestine team at the

2011 Pan Arab Games The 2011 Arab Games also known as the 12th Arab Games took place in Doha, Qatar from 6 to 23 December 2011. This was the first time that the country had hosted the multi-sport event. Khalifa International Stadium was the main venue for the comp ...

Personal life

Abu-Shamala was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother. His father moved to the United States from Gaza at the age of 21.

References

External links

Jamal Abu-Shamala
at asia-basket.com
Jamal Abu-Shamala
at RealGM

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Shamala, Jamal 1987 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American men's basketball players American people of Palestinian descent Asian Games competitors for Jordan Basketball players at the 2014 Asian Games Basketball players from Minnesota Jordanian men's basketball players Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players Palestinian men's basketball players Potros ITSON de Obregón players Sioux Falls Skyforce players Small forwards People from Shakopee, Minnesota Sportspeople from Scott County, Minnesota 21st-century Jordanian sportsmen