Jaylen Joseph Hands (born February 12, 1999) 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

Pallacanestro Varese Pallacanestro Varese, also called by its current sponsor's name, the Openjobmetis Varese, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Varese, Lombardy. Founded in 1945, the team plays in the Italian basketball league system, Italian first ...

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 ...

(LBA). 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

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

. As a high school senior in 2017, he was selected to play 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 was ranked as a consensus five-star prospect and the No. 3

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

in the country in the class of 2017 by all major scouting services, including

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

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

. Hands earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors in his sophomore year with UCLA in 2019. He was selected in the second round of the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible p ...

by the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

with the 56th pick before being traded to the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...

. He played a season in 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 ...

with Brooklyn's affiliate, the

Long Island Nets The Long Island Nets are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Uniondale, New York, and are affiliated with the Brooklyn Nets. The team plays its home games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Nassau County ...

before beginning his European career in 2021.

High school career

Hands began his high school career playing with Mater Dei Catholic High School in

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista ( ; , ) is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. It is the second-most populous city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh-most populous city in Southern California ...

where he was named an All-County player, San Diego Metro League Player of the Year, and won the 2014 CIF championship. Following his sophomore season, he transferred to Foothills Christian High School in

El Cajon El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, lit. 'the box') is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was named for the box-like shape of the valley tha ...

, but this transfer was denied by the San Diego Section. Instead, Hands enrolled at Balboa City, a prep school that operated outside of the Section's jurisdiction, where he was teammates with

Deandre Ayton Deandre Edoneille Ayton Sr. ( ; born July 23, 1998) is a Bahamian professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A consensus five-star prospect in the Class of 2017 and a McDonald's All ...

, the future top prospect of the class of 2017. For his senior season, he completed his transfer to Foothills Christian, where he played for coach

Brad Leaf Brad Leaf (; born May 17, 1960) is an American-Israeli basketball coach and former player. He played 17 years of professional basketball in Israel, first for Hapoel Galil Elyon and later for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israel Premier League and Euro ...

, father of UCLA star

T. J. Leaf Ty Jacob Leaf (; born April 30, 1997) is an Israeli-American professional basketball player for the Nanjing Monkey Kings of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). After playing one season of college basketball for the UCLA Bruins, he was sele ...

. That year, Hands averaged 29 points, 6.7

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and 6.5 assists a game. He also won the slam dunk contest at the

Ballislife All-American Game The Ballislife All-American Game is an annual American all-star game featuring high school basketball players. It was founded in 2011 by Ballislife.com to provide a stage for West Coast players who were not selected to other All-American games. A ...

. Ranked a consensus five-star college recruit, Hands received many offers from teams such as

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

and

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system. SDSU is ...

, but eventually committed to UCLA on September 16, 2015.

College career

As a freshman in 2017–18, Hands and junior

Aaron Holiday Aaron Shawn Holiday (born September 30, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Bruins, wher ...

gave the Bruins two fast guards capable of handling the ball, and they were expected to play alongside each other as well as share point guard duties. However, Hands' play was erratic, and he came off the bench for much of the season. He started the first five games of the season before missing a game after spraining his left foot against

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. Upon returning, he became the

sixth man The sixth man in basketball is a player who is not a starting lineup, starter but comes off the bench much more often than other reserves, often being the first player to be substituted in, and the first to be used against the other team's subst ...

while sophomore Prince Ali remained in the starting lineup. On December 3, 2017, Hands scored a career-high 23 points and added nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and only one turnover in 24 minutes in a 106–73 win over Detroit Mercy. After playing 14 games as a reserve with coach

Steve Alford Stephen Todd Alford (born November 23, 1964) is an American men's college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach for the Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball, Nevada Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference (MWC). ...

staggering the minutes of his two main ballhandlers, Hands returned to the starting lineup on January 25, 2018, against

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, replacing forward GG Goloman. He finished with 14 points, six rebounds and one assist in a 70–57 win over the Golden Bears. In the following game, he scored nine points and had a season-high 10 assists with only one turnover in an 89–73 victory over

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

. Hands missed the regular season finale after spraining his right ankle in practice. He returned for UCLA's Pac-12 tournament opener, but played just 10 minutes and did not start. He ended the season with averages of 9.9 points in 25.2 minutes, with almost as many turnovers (1.8) as assists (2.6). After the season, Hands declared for the

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

and attended the NBA Draft Combine, but withdrew from the draft to return to the Bruins. In 2018–19, Hands assumed the lead point guard role with Holiday having left for the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. Hands hoped to become a better leader and improve his assist-to-turnover ratio. He and fellow sophomore

Kris Wilkes Kristafer Aaron Wilkes (born September 18, 1998) is an American professional basketball player who is a free agent. As a high school senior, he was a McDonald's All-American Game, McDonald's All-American and named Indiana Mr. Basketball. He played ...

were the team's top two returning scorers. On November 28, 2019, Hands had a career-high 11 assists in an 80–61 win over

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. In the following game, he had his first career

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

with 17 points and 10 assists in an 82–58 win over

Loyola Marymount Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

. He followed up with 12 points and a career-high-tying 11 assists for his second straight double-double in a win against Notre Dame. He became the first Bruins player with 10 or more assists in three consecutive games after achieving it only once in his first 37 career games. On February 9, 2019, Hands scored a career-high 27 points against

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, but the Bruins blew a 22-point lead with 12:10 remaining in the game and lost 93–92 on a

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or triple) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two ...

at the buzzer. Hands conceded that he committed an intentional foul too early with 6.9 seconds left in the game, helping to set up the Utes' game-winning shot. On February 23, he scored all of his 27 points in the second half, when he was 7-of-8 on 3-pointers to help UCLA rally from a 19-point deficit in the half and win 90–83 versus

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. In the following game against

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, he had 21 points and 10 assists with no turnovers in a 93–88 overtime win over their crosstown rivals. He had sat out the first 2:19 of overtime as the Bruins opted for a stronger defensive lineup, but he returned to make a three-pointer with 21 seconds remaining to extend the Bruins' one-point lead and help secure the victory. His performance against the Trojans earned him his first

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

Player of the Week honors. In UCLA's opening game of the Pac-12 tournament, Hands had 22 points and a career-high 11 rebounds in a 79–72 win over 10th-seeded Stanford. He finished the year as the Pac-12 leader in assists (6.1), and was named second-team All-Pac-12. After the season, he announced that he would declare for the NBA draft and hire an agent.

Professional career

Long Island Nets (2019–2020)

Hands was selected by the

in the second round of the

with the 56th overall pick. He was acquired by the

along with a

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

first-round pick in exchange for Mfiondu Kabengele, who was taken earlier with the 27th overall pick. Brooklyn used the draft rights player rule to have Hands sign with their

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 ...

affiliate, the

. On December 11, 2019, Hands had 28 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals in a win over the

Westchester Knicks The Westchester Knicks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in White Plains, New York, and are affiliated with the New York Knicks. The Knicks play their home games at Westchester County Center in White Plains, N ...

. In his rookie season, Hands averaged 11.3 points, 3.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. On November 19, 2020, Hands' NBA draft rights were traded to the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

in a three-team trade; they renounced his draft rights in July 2021.

FMP (2021)

On January 1, 2021, Hands signed a two-year contract with Serbian team FMP of the

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 ...

Riesen Ludwigsburg (2021)

In August 2021, Hands signed with the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

for the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

. In September, the

acquired his G League rights from the Nets for

Bryce Brown Bryce Lee Brown (born May 14, 1991) is an American former professional football running back who played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, and Seattle Seahawks. He attended the University of Tennessee his freshman year of college, but ...

. On September 22, Hands signed with

MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg BG Ludwigsburg, for sponsorship reasons MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg (), is a professional basketball club that is based in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The club currently plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), the first tier of basketball in Germany. Fo ...

of the

Basketball Bundesliga The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the German basketball league system, highest level Sports league, league of professional club basketball in German ...

Antwerp Giants (2021–2022)

On October 11, 2021, Hands signed with

Telenet Giants Antwerp Antwerp Giants, named Windrose Giants Antwerp for sponsorship reasons, is a Belgians, Belgian professional basketball club based in Antwerp. Their home arena is Lotto Arena. The club plays in the BNXT League, the highest tier of Belgian basketbal ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL and Pro Basketball League, PBL. The inaugural season ...

PAOK Thessaloniki (2022–2023)

On July 4, 2022, Hands signed with

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

of the

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

. In 31 domestic league games, he averaged 13.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 turnovers, playing around 24 minutes per contest.

Peristeri Athens (2023–2024)

On June 24, 2023, Hands signed with Peristeri Athens of the

and the

FIBA Champions League The Basketball Champions League (BCL), also commonly known as the FIBA Champions League, is an annual professional basketball competition for European clubs, organised by FIBA. It is the top-level competition organised by FIBA Europe, therefor ...

. On February 14, 2024, he parted ways with the club. He was averaging 12 points, 3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest, but he also missed part of the season due to injuries.

Pallacanestro Varese (2024–present)

On July 9, 2024, Hands signed with

of the

(LBA).

Career statistics

College

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

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, 31 , , 15 , , 25.2 , , .405 , , .374 , , .738 , , 4.0 , , 2.6 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 9.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 31.2 , , .413 , , .373 , , .780 , , 3.7 , , 6.1 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , 14.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 64 , , 48 , , 28.3 , , .409 , , .373 , , .762 , , 3.8 , , 4.4 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 12.1

Notes

References

External links

*
UCLA Bruins bio

USA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hands, Jaylen 1999 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen ABA League players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Serbia American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Antwerp Giants players Basketball League of Serbia players Basketball players from San Diego Basketball players from San Diego County, California KK FMP players Liga ACB players Long Island Nets players Los Angeles Clippers draft picks McDonald's High School All-Americans P.A.O.K. BC players Palencia Baloncesto players Pallacanestro Varese players Peristeri B.C. players Point guards Riesen Ludwigsburg players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Chula Vista, California UCLA Bruins men's basketball players