James Blackmon Jr. (born April 25, 1995) is an American

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

Pınar Karşıyaka Pınar is a common feminine Turkish given name A Turkish name consists of an ''ad'' or an ''isim'' (given name; plural ''adlar'' and ''isimler'') and a ''soyadı'' or ''soyisim'' (surname). Turkish names exist in a "full name" format. While th ...

of the

Basketbol Süper Ligi The Basketball Super League (; TBSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replaced the former Turkish Bas ...

(BSL). 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

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the demonym for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...

High school career

Blackmon played three years at Bishop Luers High School and his senior year at Marion High School. In his senior season, he averaged 33.4 points and 4.2 three-pointers (47%), and broke his father's school record by scoring 54 points in a game. He ranks #9 on Indiana's all-time scoring list. He was ranked the 20th best player in the class by

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 ...

and was recruited heavily by

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, and

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 ...

. He originally committed to Indiana before his freshman season, but reopened his recruitment before his senior season. His final verbal commitment to Indiana was televised live on

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remain ...

. He scored 13 points in the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is an American all-star basketball game played each year for boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the conclusion of the hi ...

and won the three-point contest. He also scored 23 in the Jordan Brand Classic. He finished third in Indiana Mr. Basketball voting, behind Trey Lyles and Trevon Bluiett.

College career

Freshman year

During Indiana's five-game preseason Canada trip, Blackmon led the team in scoring with 18.8 points, despite focusing mainly on his defense. As a freshman, he earned the starting spot in the backcourt alongside Yogi Ferrell. He averaged 15.7 points per game, the sixth best average for any freshman in the country. He ranked second on the team in both scoring and rebounding (5.3). Blackmon was a prolific three-point shooter, breaking Eric Gordon's Indiana freshman record with 77 three-point field goals made. He earned Honorable Mention All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

, a unanimous spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice.

Sophomore year

Blackmon Jr. had a strong first two months, setting career-highs in field goal percentage (.480) and three-point field goal percentage (.463), until a right knee injury ended his season. Blackmon underwent surgery in January 2016, his second knee surgery in a span of just six months – he had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his other knee before the season. He finished his sophomore campaign averaging 15.8 points in just thirteen total games. Indiana went 15–3 in the Big Ten season in his absence, winning an outright league title in the process.

Junior year

On November 14, 2016, Blackmon Jr. was named National Player of the Week by NBCSports.com and Big Ten Co-Player of the Week. He averaged 17.3 points per game on a team that went 19–16. After the end of his junior year, he decided to enter 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. ...

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 30.0 , , .420 , , .387 , , .806 , , 5.3 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , .1 , , 15.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 13 , , 12 , , 24.5 , , .480 , , .463 , , .852 , , 4.2 , , 1.7 , , 1.2 , , .4 , , 15.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 30.5 , , .477 , , .423 , , .837 , , 4.8 , , 1.9 , , .7 , , .0 , , 17.0 , - , align="center" colspan="2", Career , 76 , , 75 , , 29.3 , , .452 , , .415 , , .824 , , 4.9 , , 1.7 , , 0.8 , , .1 , , 16.3 , - Source:

Professional career

Blackmon signed as an

undrafted 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 ...

with the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

on June 23, 2017. After some successful performances with the team during the 2017 NBA Summer League, he signed a training camp contract with them on August 30 that same year. He was waived in the preseason on October 14, 2017. On January 26, 2018, Blackmon was traded by the Delaware 87ers to the

Wisconsin Herd The Wisconsin Herd are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and are affiliated with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Herd play their home games at Oshkosh Arena. History On June 29, 2016, it was anno ...

in exchange for Shannon Brown and Cameron Oliver. He signed with VL Pesaro of the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

on August 6, 2018. On July 19, 2019, he has signed with

Aquila Basket Trento Aquila Basket Trento, also known for sponsorship reasons as Dolomiti Energia Trento, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Trento, Trent, Trentino. It was founded in 1995 as an amalgamation of two local clubs, going from the amateur ...

of the Italian

(LBA). On October 23, 2020, short after the beginning of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, he signed a one-year contract with

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

in the

Turkish League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

and

Basketball Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European sports club, clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the European professional club basketball system ...

. On July 8, 2021, he has signed with

of the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

(BSL).

Family

Blackmon's father, James Blackmon Sr., was drafted into the NBA after an outstanding career at Kentucky. . He now coaches at Marion. His father is of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

descent, while his mother Sailaja is of Telugu descent. Blackmon has two brothers: Vijay, who was a walk-on for the

Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball The Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I college basketball and competes in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers play at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on the Branch McCracken Court in Bl ...

basketball team, and now is a member of the Lindenwood University men's basketball team, and Jalen, who plays for Stetson University.

References

External links

Indiana Hoosiers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackmon, James Jr. 1995 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Indian descent Aquila Basket Trento players Basketball players from Fort Wayne, Indiana Beşiktaş men's basketball players Delaware 87ers players Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Karşıyaka basketball players Lega Basket Serie A players McDonald's High School All-Americans Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Marion, Indiana Shooting guards Victoria Libertas Pallacanestro players Wisconsin Herd players 21st-century American sportsmen American people of Telugu descent