Larry Donelle Drew II (born March 5, 1990) 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 won the John R. Wooden High School Player of the Year Award in 2008 before starting his

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 ...

career with 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 ...

. He went on to win a

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 2009 with the Tar Heels before deciding to leave the program midseason in 2011. He transferred to 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 ...

' program, where he played one season and broke the single-season school record for assists. Drew was named to the All-Pac-12 first team. He won a gold medal with the United States national team at the

FIBA AmeriCup The FIBA AmeriCup (previously known as the FIBA Americas Championship) is the Americas Basketball Championship that takes place every four years between national teams of the Western Hemisphere continents. Since FIBA organized the entire Wester ...

in 2017.

Early life

Drew is the son of Larry Drew, who was a first-round draft pick in the

1980 NBA draft The 1980 NBA draft was the 34th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1980, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel & Towers, before the 1980–81 season. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selectin ...

before becoming a head coach in the league. At William Howard Taft High School, Drew won the John R. Wooden High School Player of the Year Award as the 2008 Los Angeles City Section Player of the year and was also a third-team ''Parade'' All-American that year. He participated in the 2008 McDonald's All-American Game, where he won the 3-point shooting contest.

College career

North Carolina

Drew started his collegiate career at

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

. In his freshman year, he averaged 1.4 points, 1.9 assists, 1.2 turnovers, and 1.1 rebounds in 9.6 minutes per game as the Tar Heels won the 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I championship. He became 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 ...

as a sophomore, replacing Ty Lawson who departed for the NBA. Drew had an up and down season as the Tar Heels struggled to a 20–17 overall record and failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament. However, they did advance to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT) championship game. For the season, Drew averaged 8.5 points per game on 40.2% shooting from the field, with six assists and 2.1 turnovers per game. On February 3, 2011, Drew left the University of North Carolina's basketball program in the middle of the season. In his last game with the Tar Heels, he had nine assists in 19 minutes in a 106–74 victory over

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

. He did not cite any reasons, but his playing time, scoring, and assist numbers were all down from the prior season, and freshman Kendall Marshall had supplanted him as starting point guard in mid-January. However, in a

freestyle rap Freestyle rap, also simply known as Freestyle, is a style of hip hop music where an artist normally improvises an unwritten verse from the head, with or without instrumental beats, in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure ...

in March on his 21st birthday, Drew rapped, "The past three years I can't undo, so now I'm making all the moves that I want to ... They tried to tell me just to play my role, but who's really trying to stick to a script that's full of typos?"

UCLA

Drew started attending classes at UCLA on March 28, and had to sit out the 2011–12 season before using his final season of eligibility. Drew joined former Tar Heel twins,

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

and Travis Wear, who also transferred to UCLA. Drew began the 2012–13 season as the Bruins lone senior player. He was also their only true point guard, a position he shared with freshman Kyle Anderson. In the final game of the regular season, Drew broke Pooh Richardson's school record for most assists in a season. Drew was named to the All-Pac-12 first team.

Professional career

2013–14 season

After going undrafted in the

2013 NBA draft The 2013 NBA draft was held on June 27, 2013, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including internation ...

, Drew joined the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

for the 2013 NBA Summer League. On September 23, 2013, he signed with the Heat. However, he was later waived by the Heat on October 21. On October 31, he was acquired by the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team has played its home games in the Sanford Pentagon since the 2013–14 ...

. On November 23, he made his professional debut in a 103–73 win over the Reno Bighorns, recording nine points, three rebounds and six assists in 32 minutes.

2014–15 season

In July 2014, Drew re-joined the Heat for the 2014 NBA Summer League. On October 20, he re-signed with the Heat, however they waived him on October 25, when he accepted their assignment back to Sioux Falls. He was officially reacquired by the Skyforce on November 3. He went on to deliver a D-League record 23 assists on December 25 in the 135–129 win over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. On January 16, 2015, Drew signed a 10-day contract with the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

. On January 26, he signed a second 10-day contract with the 76ers. Hours later, he made his first NBA start against the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

; Philadelphia was without starting point guard

Michael Carter-Williams Michael Carter-Williams (born October 10, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted in the first round with the 11th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, after playing college basketball f ...

, who was out sick, and backup Tony Wroten had been sidelined with a knee injury. League rules limited teams to signing a single player to a maximum of two 10-day deals. Needing to sign Drew to a fully guaranteed contract if they wished to retain him, the team instead signed Tim Frazier to a 10-day contract on February 5, citing the desire for roster "flexibility." On February 6, he returned to the Skyforce.

2015–16 season

During the offseason, Drew played for the

during the

2015 NBA Summer League The 2015 NBA Summer League consisted of three professional sports, pro basketball sports league, leagues organized by the National Basketball Association, NBA: the Orlando Magic, Orlando Pro Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas S ...

in Las Vegas, where he was named to the All-NBA Summer League Second Team. Following the conclusion of the Summer League, he signed with AS Monaco Basket of the

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

in France for 2015–16. On March 15, 2016, he parted ways with Monaco after averaging 4.1 points per contest in 18 games. On March 28, 2016, Drew was reacquired by the

. The next day, he made his season debut in a 125–107 win over the Iowa Energy, recording three points, one rebound and two assists in nine minutes off the bench. He helped the Skyforce win the league championship with a 2–1 Finals series win over the

Los Angeles D-Fenders 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 ...

2016–17 season

On August 2, 2016, Drew signed a one-year contract with BC Neptūnas in Lithuania. On February 10, 2017, he parted ways with Neptūnas due to disciplinary issues. On March 2, 2017, Drew was acquired by the

2017—18 season

Drew Joined the

for the 2017

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 Orlando. He later signed with Miami for his third training camp with the Heat. On October 12, he was waived by the Heat. On January 23, 2018, Drew signed a 10-day contract with the

. In March, he signed two 10-day contracts with the

, but was not re-signed after the team signed former Pelicans guard Jordan Crawford.

National team career

Drew played for the United States national team at the

2017 FIBA AmeriCup The 2017 FIBA AmeriCup was the 18th edition of the FIBA AmeriCup, which is the main tournament for senior men's basketball national teams of the FIBA Americas. The tournament was held in Medellín, Colombia, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Bahía Blanca a ...

, where he won a gold medal. He averaged 4.6 points, 5.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game in the tournament.

Career statistics

NBA statistics

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Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 12 , , 1 , , 18.3 , , .345 , , .154 , , .667 , , 1.3 , , 3.8 , , .5 , , .0 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" rowspan=2, , align="left" ,

, 3 , , 0 , , 5.0 , , .143 , , .000 , , – , , .3 , , .7 , , .0 , , .0 , , .7 , - , align="left" ,

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 7 , , 0 , , 7.9 , , .353 , , .500 , , – , , .3 , , 1.1 , , .0 , , .0 , , 2.1 , - class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan="2", Career , 22 , , 1 , , 13.1 , , .329 , , .200 , , .667 , , .8 , , 2.5 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.9

College statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2008–09 , 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 ...

, 38 , , 0 , , 9.6 , , .351 , , .231 , , .412 , , 1.1 , , 1.9 , , .4 , , .0 , , 1.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 36 , , 28.8 , , .405 , , .352 , , .606 , , 2.7 , , 5.9 , , .8 , , .0 , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2010–11 , style="text-align:left;",

, 21 , , 17 , , 22.8 , , .384 , , .207 , , .677 , , 2.3 , , 3.9 , , 1.1 , , .0 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2012–13 , 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 ...

, 35 , , 35 , , 35.5 , , .446 , , .433 , , .609 , , 2.4 , , 7.3 , , 1.4 , , .2 , , 7.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 131 , , 88 , , 24.0 , , .412 , , .343 , , .601 , , 2.1 , , 4.8 , , .9 , , .1 , , 5.5 , -

Notes

References

External links

*
Larry Drew II
at nbadleague.com
Larry Drew II
at UCLABruins.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, Larry II 1990 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Lithuania American expatriate basketball people in Monaco American men's basketball players AS Monaco Basket players Basketball players from Los Angeles BC Neptūnas players McDonald's High School All-Americans New Orleans Pelicans players North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Encino, Los Angeles Philadelphia 76ers players Point guards Sioux Falls Skyforce players UCLA Bruins men's basketball players Undrafted NBA players United States men's national basketball team players William Howard Taft Charter High School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen