Joseph Alexander Ragland (born November 11, 1989) is an American-Liberian 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 Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. He played college basketball for North Platte Community College and Wichita State.

Early life

Ragland was born in

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...

. He played basketball for West Springfield High School, where he earned the Lahovich Award as a senior.

College career

After graduating from high school, Ragland committed to North Platte Community College, of the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

. Ragland was named a First Team

All-American selection in 2010, as he led his team to an NJCAA tournament appearance, averaging 18.4 points per game, on 56% shooting from the field. Ragland finished his career at North Platte, as the college's all-time leading scorer, with 1,286 total points scored, with career averages of 19.5 points and 3.1 assists per game. Ragland's performances at North Platte caught the eye of Gregg Marshall, who offered him a scholarship at Wichita State. As a junior with the Shockers, Ragland started 19 games, and led the team in assists. He helped the Shockers to win the 2011 NIT championship. Ragland had a career-high scoring performance against UNLV, with 31 points, to go along with another career high of 8 three-pointers made. In his senior college season, Ragland averaged 13.4 points per game, and ranked first nationally in true shooting percentage, at 70.4%. For his performances in the 2011–12 season, he was voted to the First Team of the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

. In total, over his two seasons with the Shockers, Ragland appeared in 69 games, and had averages of 10 points, 3 assists, and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Professional career

Following two solid years as the starting

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 ...

for Wichita State, Ragland entered the

2012 NBA draft The 2012 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2012, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The draft started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), and was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National Basketball A ...

. However, he went undrafted. He next played in the 2012 NBA Summer League, with 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 Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

' summer league squad; although he played in all 5 games for the undefeated Warriors summer league team, he was not able to secure an NBA contract with the Warriors.

Murcia (2012–2013)

In August 2012, Ragland moved to Europe, to start his

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

career, after he signed his first pro contract with UCAM Murcia, of the Spanish

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

. He signed a two-year contract with the Spanish club. After accounting himself well for Murcia, who were not in playoff contention, nor in relegation danger, he was loaned near the end of the season, in April 2013.

Cantù (2013–2014)

In 2013, Ragland was loaned by UCAM Murcia, to the Italian A League side Cantù, to play in the Serie A playoffs. He proved to be an instant hit in Italy, as he played in all of his team's games, and contributed greatly to their run to the league's semi-finals. Cantù then moved to secure him for the next season, and signed him to a one-year deal in July. It proved to be a wise move for the club, as Ragland became an indisputable starter, and contributed greatly to the team, in both the Italian league, where he made the Lega All-Star Game, and in the European-wide second-tier level EuroCup, where he was the MVP of Round 4 of the competition.

Olimpia Milano (2014–2015)

Ragland's performances with Cantù caught the eye of the Italian EuroLeague club Emporio Armani Milano, especially after he scored a season-high 27 points against them in April 2014. Ragland signed a two-year contract with Milano in July. Ragland and Milano agreed to rescind the player's contract in July 2015.

Karşıyaka (2015)

On July 29, 2015, Ragland signed a one-year deal with the

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The ...

club Pınar Karşıyaka.

Avellino (2015–2017)

On December 9, 2015, Ragland left Karşıyaka, and he signed with the Italian League club Sidigas Avellino, for the rest of the season. On June 15, 2016, he re-signed with Avellino for one more season.

Lokomotiv Kuban (2017–2018)

On July 21, 2017, Ragland signed a two-year deal with the Russian

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

club club Lokomotiv Kuban.

Red Star Belgrade (2018–2019)

On August 10, 2018, Ragland moved to

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, and signed with the Serbian

Adriatic 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 Macedonia, ...

club Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgtade), for the 2018–19 season, with an additional option for one more year.

Darüşşafaka İstanbul (2019)

On July 19, 2019, Ragland signed a one-year deal with the

club Darüşşafaka Tekfen, but he never appeared in any games with the team, because of an injury.

Cantu (2019–2020)

On 12 December 2019, Ragland returned to Italy, to play in the

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, after he signed again with Cantù.

Hapoel Eilat (2020–2021)

On July 31, 2020, Ragland signed with the Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Eilat. In the 2020–21 season, he was second in the Israel Premier League in assists, with an average of 7.5 per game.

Hapoel Holon (2021–2023)

On July 21, 2021, Ragland signed with Hapoel Holon, of the Israeli Premier League. Ragland was pivotal in helping Holon win the Israel League championship in the 2021–22 season, which was the club's first league championship in 13 years.

Peristeri Athens (2023–2024)

On June 23, 2023, Ragland signed with 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 ...

club Peristeri Athens.

Hapoel Tel Aviv (2024–present)

On June 19, 2024, he signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

Personal life

Ragland obtained Liberian citizenship in November 2012. Under the Cotonou Agreement, that allows him to be counted as an EU player in most European leagues, such as the Italian League and the Spanish League.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

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Milano Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nearly 1.4 million, while i ...

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