Jerel McNeal (born June 1, 1987) 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

Ironi Nahariya Ironi Nahariya Basketball Club ( he, מועדון הכדורסל עירוני נהריה; ) known for sponsorship reasons as Ironi Rain Nahariya () is a professional basketball club based in city of Nahariya in northern Israel. The team plays in th ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball ...

. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

before playing professionally in Belgium, the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

, Italy, China, Greece, Germany and Israel, including a short stint in the

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

with the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Pacific Division (NBA), P ...

in 2014.

Early life

McNeal was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Illinois to parents Edward and Meryln McNeal. He has 2 siblings (January and Jeremy). He attended Hillcrest High School along with point guard

Maurice Acker Maurice Acker (born June 25, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for Lille Métropole BC. He was a standout college player for the Marquette Golden Eagles. He played high school basketball at Hillcrest High School, a teammate of ...

, an eventual college teammate. McNeal was a third-team ''Parade'' All-American in 2005.

College career

McNeal won the Big East's Defensive Player of the Year award as a sophomore in the 2006–07 season and was the only guard on the Big East's All-First Team in 2008–09. McNeal was an Associated Press second team All-American in 2008–09 as well. On February 10, 2009, in a 102-84 loss at Villanova, McNeal broke George Thompson's 41-year-old school record of 1,773 points. Markus Howard passed McNeal for the Marquette scoring record, but McNeal remains Marquette's all-time leader in steals, field goals made, and field goal attempts. He is third all-time in games played and seventh in assists.

Professional career

2009–10 season

After going undrafted in the

2009 NBA draft The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other el ...

, McNeal joined the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

for the 2009 Las Vegas Summer League. On September 28, 2009, he signed with the

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

. However, he was waived on October 19, 2009. In November 2009, he signed with

Dexia Mons-Hainaut Belfius Mons-Hainaut is a Belgian professional basketball club that is based in Mons, Wallonia. The club competes in the highest division of the country, the BNXT League. The club's home arena is the Mons Arena. Founded as Quaregnon in 1959, the c ...

of Belgium for the 2009–10 season. In March 2010, he left Dexia after drawing a two-week suspension for a positive marijuana test.

2010–11 season

In July 2010, he joined the Charlotte Bobcats for the Orlando Summer League and the Chicago Bulls for the Las Vegas Summer League. On October 9, 2010, he signed with the Houston Rockets. However, he was waived by the Rockets on October 18. On October 30, 2010, he was acquired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. On March 9, 2011, he signed a 10-day contract with the New Orleans Hornets. On March 19, he returned to the Vipers after his 10-day contract expired. He did not appear in a game for the Hornets during his 10 days with the team.

2011–12 season

In July 2011, he signed with Sutor Basket Montegranaro of Italy for the 2011–12 season.

2012–13 season

On September 21, 2012, McNeal signed with the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Atlantic Division (NBA) ...

. However, he was waived by the Raptors on October 22. On November 1, 2012, he was re-acquired by the Vipers. The next day, he was traded to the

Bakersfield Jam Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. On February 4, 2013, McNeal was named to the Prospects All-Star roster for the 2013 NBA D-League All-Star Game. On March 27, 2013, McNeal signed a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz. On April 6, 2013, McNeal signed with the Utah Jazz for the rest of the 2012–13 season. He joined the Jazz for the

2013 NBA Summer League The 2013 NBA Summer League is a pro basketball league run by the NBA just after the 2013 NBA draft. It gives newly drafted players a chance to test their skills against each other, and to give them a feel for professional basketball. All 30 NBA ...

. On September 25, 2013, he was waived by the Jazz before appearing in a game for them.

2013–14 season

In October 2013, McNeal signed with the

Zhejiang Golden Bulls The Zhejiang Golden Bulls, or Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Rent are a Chinese professional basketball team based in Yiwu in Zhejiang, China. It competes in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), in the Southern Division. Its corporate sponsor is Z ...

for the 2013–14 season. In December 2013, he was released by the Golden Bulls after 15 games. On February 24, 2014, he was reacquired by the Bakersfield Jam.

2014–15 season

On August 4, 2014, McNeal signed a one-year deal with the Spanish team Baloncesto Sevilla. However, he left the team in September 2014 before appearing in a game for them following the death of his father. On January 13, 2015, he was reacquired by the Bakersfield Jam once again and was later named the NBA D-League Impact Player of the Year. On April 1, 2015, McNeal signed a 10-day contract with the

. The following day, he made his NBA debut, scoring two points in a 107–106 loss to the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

. On April 11, he signed with the Suns through the 2015–16 season. On July 17, 2015, he was waived by the Suns. Despite this, McNeal continued to play for the Suns at the 2015 Las Vegas Summer League, where he averaged 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds in seven games.

2015–16 season

On July 31, 2015, McNeal signed with

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

of Greece for the 2015–16 season. In 36 league games for Aris, he averaged 14.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He also appeared in 16 EuroCup games, averaging 14.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game.

2016–17 season

On December 21, 2016, McNeal signed a two-month contract with German club

Brose Bamberg Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

. On February 23, 2017, he re-signed with Bamberg for the rest of the season.

2017–18 season

On August 22, 2017, McNeal signed with French team

SIG Strasbourg Strasbourg Illkirch-Graffenstaden Basket, most commonly known as SIG Basket or SIG Strasbourg, is a French professional basketball club that is based in Strasbourg. The club, founded in 1929, competes domestically in the French Pro A League, and ...

. However, on September 2, 2017, he parted ways with Strasbourg before appearing in a game for them. On September 30, 2017, McNeal signed a one-year deal with the Israeli team

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

. On March 10, 2018, McNeal recorded a season-high 25 points along with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 90–87 win over

Maccabi Rishon LeZion Maccabi Rishon LeZion is a sport club in Rishon LeZion, Israel. The professional teams associated with it include: *Maccabi Rishon LeZion (basketball) *Maccabi Rishon LeZion (handball) * Maccabi Rishon LeZion (badminton) There was also a footb ...

. In 37 games played for Hapoel, he averaged 13.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.9 steals per game. McNeal helped Hapoel reach the 2018 Israeli League Final Four, where they eventually lost to

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

in the Semifinals.

2018–19 season

On November 2, 2018, McNeal returned to Hapoel Tel Aviv for the 2018–19 season. On April 12, 2019, McNeal participated in the 2019 Israeli League All-Star game. McNeal helped Hapoel reach the 2019 Israeli League Playoffs, where they eventually were eliminated by

in the Quarterfinals.

2019–20 season

On September 6, 2019, McNeal signed a one-year deal with

, joining his former head coach

Danny Franco Danny Franco (דני פרנקו; born 5 December 1973) is an Israeli basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. Franco began his coaching path as coach for Hapoel Tel Aviv's youth teams, a ...

and teammate

Tony Gaffney Anthony Joseph Gaffney, Jr. (born November 14, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player who most recently played for Ironi Nahariya of the Israeli Premier League. He played college basketball at the University of Massachusetts. ...

. On October 28, 2019, McNeal recorded a season-high 27 points, shooting 9-of-13 from the field, along with eight rebounds and two assists in an 86–84 win over his former team

The Basketball Tournament

Jerel McNeal played for the

Golden Eagles The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds o ...

in the 2018 edition of

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 201 ...

. In five games, he averaged 13.4 points, 5 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game all while shooting an impressive 53 percent from the field. The Golden Eagles reached the semi-finals before falling to

Overseas Elite Overseas Elite was an American basketball team that participated in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual winner-take-all single-elimination tournament. The team won the tournament four consecutive times: 2015 (prize money $1 million), 2016 ...

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" , , align="left" , Phoenix , 6 , , 0 , , 6.1 , , .273 , , .500 , , 1.000 , , .5 , , .3 , , .5 , , .1 , , 1.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 6 , , 0 , , 6.1 , , .273 , , .500 , , 1.000 , , .5 , , .3 , , .5 , , .1 , , 1.5

College

, - , align="left" , 2005–06 , align="left" , Marquette , 31 , , 31 , , 27.5 , , .442 , , .283 , , .750 , , 4.5 , , 2.7 , , 2.1 , , .5 , , 11.1 , - , align="left" , 2006–07 , align="left" , Marquette , 29 , , 28 , , 30.2 , , .417 , , .313 , , .682, , 4.8 , , 3.8 , , 2.6 , , .6 , , 14.7 , - , align="left" , 2007–08 , align="left" , Marquette , 35 , , 35 , , 30.2 , , .456 , , .304 , , .702 , , 4.9 , , 3.5 , , 2.2 , , .4 , , 14.9 , - , align="left" , 2008–09 , align="left" , Marquette , 31 , , 31 , , 33.9 , , .452 , , .407 , , .720 , , 4.6 , , 3.9 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , 20.1