Markquis Morris Nowell (born December 25, 1999) is an American 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 the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won f ...

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 ...

. He played college basketball for the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The School colors, official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are gener ...

, and previously the

Little Rock Trojans The Little Rock Trojans are the athletic teams representing the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The Trojans are a non-football member of the Ohio Valley Conference and a wrestling affiliate member of the Pac-12 Conference. The university o ...

. He holds the Division I NCAA Tournament single-game assists record, with 19 vs.

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

in the

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Sweet Sixteen.

High school career

Nowell began his high school career at St. Anthony High School in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

, under Hall Of Fame Coach Bob Hurley Sr. After receiving minimum playing time after his freshman year he decided to transfer schools to

Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School is a private, Roman Catholic, co-educational, college-preparatory high school located at 357 Clermont Avenue in the Ft. Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The school serves students in grades 9 ...

for his sophomore and junior year, playing alongside Julian and

Justin Champagnie Justin John Champagnie ( ; born June 29, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the shooting guard and small forward positions, and played college bask ...

. Nowell averaged 19.9 points and 8.1 assists per game as a junior. He transferred to

The Patrick School The Patrick School (TPS) is an Private school, independent Mixed-sex education, co-educational four-year High school in the United States, high school in Hillside, New Jersey, Hillside in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, New Jersey, Uni ...

for his senior season and averaged 10.9 points per game despite missing a month with injuries. He received no Division 1 offers out of high school before getting a look from

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

College career

As a freshman, Nowell averaged 11.1 points, 4.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game. He averaged 17.2 points, 4.9 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Nowell was named to the First Team All-

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

. He was suspended for two games in January 2020 due to disciplinary reasons. As a junior, Nowell averaged 14.3 points, 6.0 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game but opted out of the season in February 2020. Following the season, he transferred to

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

. Nowell averaged 12.4 points and team-highs of 5.0 assists and 2.2 steals per game in the 2021–22 season. He was one of two players to return to Kansas State after

Jerome Tang Jerome Tang (born October 7, 1966) is a Trinidadian-American college basketball coach who is the head coach for the Wildcats of Kansas State University. He had previously been an assistant coach under Scott Drew from 2003 to 2022 at Baylor, whe ...

was hired as coach to replace Bruce Weber. On January 10, 2023, Nowell was named

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

National Player of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association after scoring a career-high 36 points to go with nine assists and three steals in a 116–103 win against

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He was named to the First Team All-

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

as well as the All-Defensive Team. During the NCAA tournament, Nowell scored 17 points and recorded a then career-high 14 assists during a 77–65 first round win over

Montana State Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana, United States. It enrolls more students than any other college or university in the state. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's d ...

. On March 19, Nowell scored 27 points and dished out 9 assists in a Second Round win over the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

. On March 23, during a Sweet 16 matchup against Michigan State, while playing with a sprained ankle, along with 20 points and 5 steals, Nowell recorded 19 assists in an overtime win, setting a new NCAA Tournament record for assists in a single game. He also battled an ankle injury during the Michigan State game. On March 25, Nowell scored 30 points and 12 assists in a losing effort against Florida Atlantic in the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament.

Professional career

Toronto Raptors / Raptors 905 (2023–2024)

After going undrafted in the

2023 NBA draft The 2023 NBA draft, the 77th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on June 22, 2023, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The draft consisted of 58 picks instead of the typical 60 for the second ...

, Nowell signed a two-way contract with the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

on July 3, 2023. On July 15, he recorded 17 points, 12 assists and 3 rebounds in a 108–101 summer league win against 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 ...

. On March 4, 2024, he was waived by Toronto and two days later, he joined

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 ...

Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2024–present)

On October 1, 2024, Nowell signed with the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

, but was waived on October 14. On October 27, he joined the

Career statistics

NBA

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Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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College

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, 28 , , 26 , , 33.5 , , .427 , , .391 , , .879 , , 3.0 , , 4.9 , , 2.2 , , 0.1 , , 17.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...