Joel DeWayne Berry II (born April 1, 1995) is an American former 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. 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

North Carolina Tar Heels The North Carolina Tar Heels (also Carolina Tar Heels) are the college sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The name Tar Heel is a nickname used to refer to ...

and led the team to the 2017 national championship. Berry played professionally for two seasons 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 ...

and one season in Turkey before his retirement in 2021.

High school career

20140402 MCDAAG Joel Berry dribbling in traffic

Berry, a 6'0"

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 ...

, played high school basketball at

Lake Highland Preparatory School Lake Highland Preparatory School is a private, coeducational school in Orlando, Florida. It is the largest private school in Orlando and the fourth-largest private school in the state. It serves grades pre-K through 12, separated into lower (gr ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. He led his team to two state titles and was the first player named Florida Mr. Basketball three times. He was named a

Parade All-American ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers nationwide in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a read ...

and

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea. Brothers ...

as a senior in 2014.

College career

Freshman season (2014–15)

Berry's freshman season was hampered by injury. He averaged 4.2 points and 1.5 assists per game backing up junior

Marcus Paige Marcus Taylor Paige (born September 11, 1993) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. He played college basketball for the University of North Carolina, where he helped lead the Tar Heels to the 2016 NCAA championship gam ...

at point guard.

Sophomore season (2015–16)

As a sophomore, Berry moved into the starting lineup at point guard, with Paige shifting over to shooting guard, resulting in a dramatic increase in Berry's offensive production. Berry helped the team to an

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

(ACC) regular season title. He then helped the team to an ACC tournament championship, averaging 17 points per game and coming away with Most Valuable Player honors. In the post-season, Berry and the Tar Heels made the Final Four and 2016 NCAA championship game. During the championship game, Berry scored 20 points and dished out four assists, but North Carolina fell short on a last-second three-pointer to Villanova, 77–74.

Junior season (2016–17)

As a junior, Berry led the Tar Heels to the ACC regular season title. In the NCAA Tournament, despite playing with injuries to both ankles, Berry led the Tar Heels to a 2017 NCAA men's basketball championship. In the national title game against Gonzaga, Berry scored 22 points and had six assists, and was thereafter named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, becoming the first player since

Bill Walton William Theodore Walton III (November 5, 1952 – May 27, 2024) was an American basketball player and television Sports commentator, sportscaster. He played college basketball, collegiately for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCLA Bruins an ...

to score 20 points or more in back-to-back title games. While Berry was one out of 182 players that declared early entry into the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

, he ultimately decided to return to North Carolina for his senior season instead, announcing his decision on April 25, 2017.

Senior season (2017–18)

In his senior year, Berry led the Tar Heels to the ACC tournament final. Despite losing in the second round of the 2018 NCAA tournament, he averaged 17.1 points and 3.2 assists per game and had 93 three-pointers. He was named the winner of the Dean Smith Most Valuable Player award at the 2017–18 UNC men's basketball awards ceremony, and was one of eight finalists for the James E. Sullivan Award, which is presented by the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

(AAU) to the top amateur athlete in the United States. He was also voted a third team All-American by the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...

(NABC). Berry earned this distinction just two weeks after being named a 2018 first team All-ACC selection.

Professional career

South Bay Lakers (2018–2019)

After going undrafted in 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 ...

, Berry played with the

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

' Summer League team, and they signed him to an NBA contract afterwards. On October 8, 2018, he was waived by the Lakers after appearing in three pre-season games. He was subsequently signed by the Lakers' G League affiliate, the

South Bay Lakers The South Bay Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the NBA G League. Founded in 2006 as the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the team is owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, who were the first ...

. On March 2, 2019, Berry was removed from the active roster by the Lakers due to a season-ending injury.

Greensboro Swarm (2019–2020)

The

Greensboro Swarm The Greensboro Swarm are an American basketball team of the NBA G League based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and are affiliated with the Charlotte Hornets. The Swarm play their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. The team became the ...

, the NBA G League affiliate of the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...

, on September 27, 2019, acquired the rights to Berry in a trade with the

(Los Angeles Lakers affiliate). In return, the Swarm sent its second-round selection in the 2019 NBA G League draft (No. 40 overall) to South Bay. On March 6, 2020, Berry scored a career-high 44 points on 17-for-29 shooting from the field and 8-for-15 from three to go along with two assists and three rebounds in the Greensboro Swarm's 134–129 loss to the Erie Bayhawks.

Beşiktaş (2020–2021)

On November 24, 2020, Berry signed with

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

of the

Basketball Super League 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 ...

(BSL). On August 4, 2021, Berry was added to the

Summer League roster. On August 24, 2021, Berry announced his retirement from professional basketball on the "Ceiling is the Roof" podcast.

Post-playing career

On October 12, 2021, Berry joined

ACC Network ACC Network (ACCN) is an American multinational subscription-television channel owned and operated by ESPN Inc. Dedicated to coverage of the Atlantic Coast Conference, it was announced in July 2016 and launched on August 22, 2019. The channel ...

as a college basketball studio analyst on the show ''Nothing but Net''.

Career statistics

Professional

, - , align=center , 2018–19 , align=left ,

, 21 , , 22.4 , , .391 , , .272 , , .800 , , 1.3 , , 2.5 , , .6 , , .3 , , 11.1 , - , align=center , 2019–20 , align=left ,

, 34 , , 17.4 , , .425 , , .325 , , .700 , , 2.1 , , 2.1 , , 1 , , .2 , , 8.0 , - , align=center , 2020–21 , align=left ,

, 26 , , 23.3 , , .420 , , .365 , , .854 , , 1.7 , , 3.3 , , 1.1 , , .0 , , 9.2 , -

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, 30 , , 0 , , 13.2 , , .404 , , .354 , , .757 , , .9 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , 0 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 40 , , 39 , , 30.7 , , .448 , , .376 , , .872 , , 3.3 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , .2 , , 13.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 38 , , 37 , , 30.4 , , .426 , , .383 , , .774 , , 3.1 , , 3.6 , , 1.4 , , .1 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 36 , , 33.1 , , .396 , , .344 , , .893 , , 3.5 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 17.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 144 , , 112 , , 27.6 , , .420 , , .365 , , .834 , , 2.8 , , 3.1 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 12.7

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Joel 1995 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Basketball players from Orlando, Florida Beşiktaş men's basketball players Greensboro Swarm players McDonald's High School All-Americans North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Sportspeople from Apopka, Florida Point guards South Bay Lakers players Sportspeople from Greater Orlando Lake Highland Preparatory School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen