Jaylen Maurice Barford (born January 23, 1996) 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 Russian team Lokomotiv Kuban of the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, i ...

. He played college basketball for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (o ...

High school career

Barford attended South Side High School in

Jackson, Tennessee Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackso ...

. As a senior, he led his team to the Class AA State Championship and averaged 22.5 points, three assists and three steals per game. Barford was named the West Tennessee Player of the Year and District 14-AA Player of the Year.

College career

Barford began his collegiate career at Motlow State Community College, where he averaged 20.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.4 steals per game as a freshman. He was named to the All-TCCAA First Team. As a sophomore, he led all junior college players in scoring with 26.2 points per game. Barford was named to the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Division I Men's Basketball First Team All-America. He was the No. 1 junior college transfer in the 2016 class when he committed to

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 junior at Arkansas, Barford averaged 12.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2 assists per game. He considered leaving early to pursue a pro career and declared for 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. ...

, but ultimately decided to return to Arkansas. On December 30, 2017, Barford notched a career-high 28 points in an overtime win against

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

in which backcourt mate Daryl Macon also had a career high in points. Barford matched his career high with 28 points in an 88–73 loss to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

on January 17, 2018. As a senior, he averaged 17.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. At the conclusion of the regular season he was named to the First Team All-SEC. After the season, he was invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament and won MVP after averaging 19.3 points per game.

Professional career

Greensboro Swarm (2018–2019)

After going undrafted in the

2018 NBA draft The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including inter ...

, Barford joined the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

for the

2018 NBA Summer League The 2018 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Sacramento Kings's California Classic Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League. The Sacr ...

play. On July 26, he signed a training camp deal with the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

. Barford was waived by the Hornets on October 11. He subsequently was added to the roster of the Hornets’

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 ...

affiliate, the Greensboro Swarm.

Italian Serie A (2019–2020)

On July 12, 2019, Barford signed with VL Pesaro of the

LBA LBA or lba may refer to: Science * Live blood analysis, the observation of live blood cells through a dark field microscope * Long branch attraction, an error in molecular phylogeny * Ligand binding assay, an assay whose procedure relies on the b ...

. Given the difficulties of Pesaro, next to the relegation, he left the team before the end of the season and moved to Virtus Roma. In his only game for the team, Barford had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

Egypt (2020–2021)

On October 27, 2020, Barford signed with Al Ittihad Alexandria of the

Egyptian Basketball Super League The Egyptian Basketball Super League, also known as the Egyptian Basketball Premier League A, is the top professional basketball division of the Egyptian basketball league system. Administrated by the Egyptian Basketball Federation (EBBFED), it is ...

Italian Serie A (2021)

Barford returned to Italy on February 8, 2021, signing until the end 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 tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

for Vanoli Cremona. He averaged 15 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.

Kazakhstan (2021–2022)

On September 20, 2021, Barford signed with

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

of the Kazakhstan Championship, the

, and the

FIBA Asia Champions Cup The FIBA Asia Champions Cup, previously known as the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Champions Cup until 2002, is the Asian club championship for professional basketball. It is organised by FIBA Asia, and takes place once a year (since 19 ...

. He averaged 23 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.6 assists per game in VTB United League play.

Russia (2022–present)

On February 1, 2022, Barford signed with the Russian team Lokomotiv Kuban of the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 30 , , 25.4 , , .438 , , .266 , , .752 , , 3.8 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 12.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 31.3 , , .470 , , .431 , , .721 , , 3.9 , , 2.5 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 17.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 71 , , 65 , , 28.3 , , .455 , , .373 , , .735 , , 3.8 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 15.3 ''College statistics only available for final two years at Arkansas.''

References

External links

Arkansas Razorbacks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barford, Jaylen 1996 births Living people Al Ittihad Alexandria Club basketball players American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball players Basketball players from Tennessee BC Astana players Greensboro Swarm players Motlow State Bucks men's basketball players PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban players People from Jackson, Tennessee Point guards