Jaylen Jowan D. Bland (born March 29, 1993) 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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the ABC Fighters of the

Road to BAL The Road to BAL, also known as the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, are the qualifying tournaments of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). While the main tournament is co-organised by FIBA and the NBA, the organization of the qualifiers is completely do ...

. He played college basketball for

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky, in the Southern United States. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper-level an ...

College of the Canyons College of the Canyons (COC) is a public community college in Santa Clarita, California. It comprises the Santa Clarita Community College District. The college is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and has campus loca ...

, and

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in ...

. In 2019, he was named NBL Canada Newcomer of the Year.

College career

Bland signed with

out of high school but decided to transfer after averaging 1.7 points per game as a freshman. Bland played one season at

before joining UC Riverside. Bland holds the UCR program record with 118 3-pointers in a season. As a senior, Bland was fourth in Division I in made 3-pointers. He was named second-team all-

Big West The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

after averaging 16.1 points per game, shooting .404 percent from behind the arc.

Professional career

Bland played for the

Salt Lake City Stars The Salt Lake City Stars are an American minor-league professional basketball team. They are a member of the NBA G League, based in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley City, Utah, and are affiliated with the Utah Jazz. Before the 2016–17 ...

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 ...

after being drafted 15th overall in the D League draft. He averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in 39 games. In August 2017, he signed with

AB Contern Amis du Basket-Ball Contern is a semi professional basketball club from Contern, Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and nort ...

in Luxembourg. In May 2018, Bland signed with

Caballeros de Culiacán Caballeros de Culiacán (Culiacán Knights) is a professional basketball club based in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. The team currently plays in the Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico ( CIBACOPA). In the past the team played in the Lig ...

in Mexico. Bland signed with the

Sudbury Five The Sudbury Five are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Sudbury, Ontario that play in the Basketball Super League (BSL). The team is owned by Sudbury Wolves Sports and play at the Sudbury Community Arena. History The team was orig ...

in November 2018. In the 2018–19 season, Bland finished ninth in NBL Canada in scoring with 18.8 points per game in addition to 5.9 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He earned player of the week honors on November 18, 2018. He was named league newcomer of the year. Bland joined the

Fraser Valley Bandits The Vancouver Bandits are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Langley, British Columbia, that competes in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). The Bandits play home games at Langley Events Centre, located in the Fraser Valle ...

of the

Canadian Elite Basketball League The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL; ) is the premier men's professional basketball league in Canada, as recognized by Canada Basketball. The CEBL was founded in 2017 and began play in 2019 with six teams all owned and operated by owner ...

after the season. He was released by the Bandits on May 23. On November 4, he re-signed with the Five. Bland averaged 24.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. He was named to the Second Team All-NBL Canada.

Wisconsin Herd (2021–2022)

Bland was selected with the ninth pick of the third round of the

2021 NBA G League draft 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

by 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 ...

. On February 12, 2022, Bland was waived by the

. In December 2023, Bland joined Tenuun Olziy Metal in Mongolia. He led the team to an appearance in the finals, where they lost to

Khasin Khuleguud Khasin Khuleguud (; ), internationally known as the Ulaanbaatar Xac Broncos, are a Mongolian professional basketball team based in Ulaanbaatar. Founded in 2004, the team plays in The League, the country's premier level basketball league and has ...

. In November 2024, Bland joined the ABC Fighters of Ivory Coast in the

2025 BAL qualification 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

games.

References

External links

UC Riverside Highlanders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bland, Jaylen 1993 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Luxembourg American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American expatriate basketball people in Mongolia American men's basketball players Caballeros de Culiacán players College of the Canyons alumni Halcones de Ciudad Obregón players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Murray State Racers men's basketball players Point guards Salt Lake City Stars players Basketball players from Saginaw, Michigan Sudbury Five players UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball players Wisconsin Herd players AB Contern players Windsor Express players 21st-century American sportsmen Bishrelt Metal players ABC Fighters players