Jesse Riedel (born March 27, 1999), better known as Jesser, formerly JesserTheLazer, is an American YouTuber who makes videos based around basketball, being the largest basketball creator on the platform.
His videos usually include challenges or meeting professional athletes.
Early life
Jesse Riedel
was born on March 27, 1999, in
Westlake Village, California
Westlake Village is a city in Los Angeles County, California, on its western border with Ventura County. Upon its incorporation in 1981, Westlake Village became the 82nd municipality of Los Angeles County.Baker, Pam (2002). ''Thousand Oaks We ...
. His father, Guy, is a film producer who has worked on films such as ''
Wedding Crashers
''Wedding Crashers'' is a 2005 American romantic comedy film directed by David Dobkin, written by Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, starring Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Christopher Walken with Rachel McAdams, Isla Fisher, Bradley Cooper and ...
'' and ''
Office Space
''Office Space'' is a 1999 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes the office work life of a typical 1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals weary of their jobs. It stars Ron ...
''. His brother, James, is also a YouTuber, going by the alias Jiedel.
Jesser began making videos in elementary school, filming skits with his brother. In 2013, when he was in middle school, he began to make videos about the video games ''
Minecraft
''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
'' and ''
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', being inspired by English YouTuber
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest.
Etymology
The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French word ''syndic ...
.
Career
Jesser was originally known as JesserTheLazer.
His first viral video, "
NBA 2K14
''NBA 2K14'' is a 2013 basketball video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K. The fifteenth installment in the series, it was released on October 1, 2013, for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and the PlayStation 4 and the X ...
In Real Life", where he discussed glitches in the ''
NBA 2K
''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball and the National Basketball Association.
The ser ...
'' series, was uploaded during his freshman year at
Westlake High School.
Following the continued success of his later videos, Jesser persuaded his parents to let him skip his senior year, and eventually passed the
California High School Proficiency Exam. He founded BucketSquad in 2017 as a lifestyle brand and community centered around basketball culture and digital content creation. He launched the brand to engage his growing YouTube audience with apparel and merchandise reflecting his passion for basketball. In 2018, BucketSquad expanded into a merchandise line offering apparel and accessories. BucketSquad has since become a prominent name in online basketball entertainment, resonating with younger audiences and sports enthusiasts. He became sponsored by
Ballislife.com in 2018.
In 2020, Jesser partnered with
Champs Sports
Champs Sports is an American sports retail Chain store, store, operating as a subsidiary of Foot Locker. Products sold at Champs Sports include apparel, Sports equipment, equipment, footwear, and accessories. As of June 2019, there were 540 store ...
and
Puma to release his own exclusive version of the
Puma Clyde, along with other apparel.
He signed with management company
Night
Night, or nighttime, is the period of darkness when the Sun is below the horizon. Sunlight illuminates one side of the Earth, leaving the other in darkness. The opposite of nighttime is daytime. Earth's rotation causes the appearance of ...
in 2023 and also participated in that year's
NBA All-Star Game
The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...
.
In the same year, he introduced the BucketSquad 1 sneaker in collaboration with SoleSavy and Garrixon Studios.
In 2024, Jesser made an appearance on the
NBA League Pass
NBA League Pass is the National Basketball Association's direct-to-consumer subscription-based product that provides live and on-demand NBA games. It is available to those in the United States and also as an international package for all other co ...
, commentating an alternative broadcast.
In 2025, he was the representative for the fan vote for that year's
Slam Dunk Contest
The NBA Slam Dunk Contest (officially known as the AT&T Slam Dunk) is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) competition held during the NBA All-Star Weekend.
The contest was conceived of and started by the American Basketball Associat ...
.
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
Jesser's channel on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riedel, Jesse
1999 births
Living people
Sports YouTubers
YouTubers from Los Angeles
YouTubers from California