Leron "Boogie" Black (born January 31, 1996) 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 who currently serves as a player development coach for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

of the

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

(NBA). 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

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the College athletics, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's Varsity team, varsity sports. The university op ...

High school career

In September 2012, Black verbally committed to

Baylor University Baylor University is a Private university, private Baptist research university in Waco, Texas, United States. It was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Te ...

to play basketball, only to de-commit in January 2013. At the time in 2012, Black was actually the first top 25 recruit to announce his verbal commitment. Black explained that he committed to Baylor too early before exploring all of his options available. In talking about schools he was considering, Black listed

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

, Memphis, and

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

. After his official visit to Illinois, Black verbally committed to the program and coach

John Groce John Gordon Groce (; born September 7, 1971) is an American college basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Akron Zips men's basketball team. Prior to coaching for Akron, he was the head coach at Illinois and Ohio. Coaching career ...

on September 1, 2013. On November 15, 2013, Black then signed his

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to play for Illinois starting in the 2014–15 season. During his senior season, Black averaged 20.2 points and 12.9 rebounds and lead White Station to a 30–3 record. Black was named Class AAA Tennessee Mr. Basketball for 2014, the Gatorade Tennessee Boys Basketball Player of the Year for 2014 and was named First team All-State by USA Today.

College playing career

In his first career start on January 21, 2015, Black posted a

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

in a win against

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

with 15 points and a career high 13 rebounds, becoming the first Illinois player since Lowell Hamilton to post a double-double in his first career start. On October 8, 2015, it was announced that Black would miss 4–6 weeks after having surgery to repair a

Meniscus tear A tear of a meniscus is a rupturing of one or more of the fibrocartilage strips in the knee called menisci. When doctors and patients refer to "torn cartilage" in the knee, they actually may be referring to an injury to a meniscus at the top of ...

in his knee. He returned to the lineup during the win against

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...

on November 15, 2015. Following the 2017–18 season, Black was named to the honorable mention All Big-10 team by both the coaches and media.

College statistics

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

, 33 , , 10 , , 14.8 , , .475 , , .000 , , .682 , , 4.3 , , .1 , , .3 , , .2 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 3 , , 14.3 , , .417 , , .000 , , .500 , , 4.4 , , .6 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 27 , , 20.2 , , .453 , , .297 , , .722 , , 6.3 , , .4 , , .5 , , .1 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 30 , , 25.5 , , .547 , , .512 , , .800 , , 5.2 , , .8 , , .3 , , .3 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 102 , , 70 , , 19.6 , , .499 , , .398 , , .749 , , 5.2 , , .5 , , .4 , , .2 , , 9.0 , -

Professional playing career

On March 15, 2018, Black announced he would forego his final season of eligibility at Illinois to pursue a professional basketball career. He was not selected 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 ...

. On August 5, 2018, Black signed a one-year deal with the Israeli team Elitzur Yavne of the

Liga Leumit The Israeli Liga Leumit (, HaLiga HaLeumit, ) is the second division of the professional Israeli association football (soccer) league system. This second-tier league is placed directly below the Israeli Premier League. Structure There are 16 ...

. However, on October 8, 2018, Black parted ways with Yavne before appearing in a game for them. On October 20, 2018, Black was selected with the 25th pick in the first round of the 2018 NBA G League Draft by the

Raptors 905 The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fine Foods ...

. On November 1, 2018, the Raptors 905 announced that they had waived him from training camp. On November 30, 2018, Black signed with Argentino de Junín of the

Liga Nacional de Básquet Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. On July 3, 2019, Black signed with

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

to play the 2019–20 NBB season in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In 11 games he averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. Black joined

Minas Minas or MINAS may refer to: People with the given name Minas * Menas of Ethiopia (died 1563) * Saint Menas (Minas, 285–309) * Minias of Florence (Minas, Miniato, died 250) * Minas Alozidis (born 1984), Greek hurdler * Minas Avetisyan (192 ...

for the remainder of the season and averaged 4.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. On August 8, 2020, Black signed with

Abejas de León The Abejas de León (English: ''León Bees'') is a Mexican professional basketball team. It has been a member of the LNBP since the 2009–10 season. History Foundation The team was previously known as the Piedras Negras Bravos but the Uni ...

of the LNBP. On April 28, 2021, Black re-signed with Team Cali of the

Baloncesto Profesional Colombiano Baloncesto Profesional Colombiano (Professional Colombian Basketball), currently known as the Liga WPlay de Baloncesto for sponsorship reasons, is the premier professional basketball championship in Colombia. The championship was established in ...

The Basketball Tournament

Black joined House of 'Paign, a team composed primarily of Illinois alumni in

The Basketball Tournament 2020 The Basketball Tournament 2020 was the seventh edition of The Basketball Tournament (TBT), a 5-on-5, single elimination basketball tournament. The tournament, involving 24 teams, started on July 4 and continued through the championship game on Jul ...

. He scored two points in a 76–53 win over War Tampa in the first round.

International play

In May 2014, Black was among the 24 players who earned an invitation to the training camp for USA Basketball

FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship The FIBA Under-18 AmeriCup, previously known as the FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship, is the Americas basketball championship for men's under-18 national teams that takes place every two years in the FIBA Americas zone. The top four finishers ...

at the

United States Olympic Training Center The United States Olympic & Paralympic Training Centers (OPTCs) are two campuses created by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) as training facilities for its Olympic and Paralympic athletes. They are located in Colorado Spr ...

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

Coaching career

Black joined the

Dayton Flyers The Dayton Flyers are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Dayton of Dayton, Ohio. All Flyers intercollegiate sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I level. The football team ...

as a graduate assistant in 2021. He was elevated to the position of video coordinator in 2023. On October 30, 2023, Black was hired as an assistant coach and director of video by the Rip City Remix of 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 ...

. Black was promoted to an assistant coach the following season for the Rip City Remix. On June 11, 2025, the

hired Black to serve as a player development coach.

References

External links

Illinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Leron 1995 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen Abejas de León players American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Brazil American expatriate basketball people in Colombia American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Argentino de Junín basketball players Basketball coaches from Tennessee Basketball players from Memphis, Tennessee Flamengo basketball players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Minas Tênis Clube basketball players Novo Basquete Brasil players Rip City Remix coaches Small forwards Team Cali players