Matthew Richard Ryan (born April 17, 1997) 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 who last played for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

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), on a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

with the

Westchester Knicks The Westchester Knicks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in White Plains, New York, and are affiliated with the New York Knicks. The Knicks play their home games at Westchester County Center in White Plains, N ...

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 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 Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

Early life

Ryan attended Iona Prep where he led the Gaels to a 22–6 record en route to the program's first Class AA Archdiocesan Championship while averaging 20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game as a senior while also being named Mr. New York Basketball. He was also named a first-team ''Parade'' All-American.

College career

Ryan began his college career at Notre Dame, where he played sparingly before transferring to Vanderbilt after his sophomore season. As a junior, he averaged 8.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. Following the season, Ryan transferred to

. As a senior, he had his best season, playing 33 games and averaging 15.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 30.6 minutes per game, while shooting 42.3 percent from the field, 35.9 percent from three-point range and 87.9 percent from the free-throw line.

Professional career

Ryan went undrafted in the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, wi ...

. His prospects were limited by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and he did not land a spot in the

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 ...

's bubble in

2020–21 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 ...

. He resorted to working for DoorDash and UberEats while coaching a grassroots basketball team. He also worked at a cemetery in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

Grand Rapids Gold (2021–2022)

Ryan joined the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league c ...

and spent preseason with the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

. He subsequently joined the Grand Rapids Gold of the G League for the 2021–22 season. He averaged 15.8 points in 28 games for the Gold.

Boston Celtics / Maine Celtics (2022)

On February 28, 2022, Ryan signed a two-way contract with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

. He averaged 20.4 points in 14 games for the

Maine Red Claws The Maine Celtics are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo Building. The Boston Celtics pu ...

to finish the

2021–22 NBA G League season The 2021–22 NBA G League season was the 21st season of the NBA G League, the official minor league basketball organization owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA). The prior season, the league played a shortened season with 18 teams ...

. He made his first and only appearance for the Celtics on April 10, 2022, against the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

, scoring three points in five minutes. The Celtics made it to the

2022 NBA Finals The 2022 NBA Finals was the NBA Finals, championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2021–22 NBA season, 2021–22 season and conclusion of the 2022 NBA playoffs, season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, ...

, where they lost to 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 ...

in six games. Ryan joined the Celtics for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the cam ...

Los Angeles Lakers (2022)

On September 26, 2022, Ryan signed 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 ...

. He made 37.5% of his 3-pointers in the preseason and earned the final spot on the team's 15-man roster out of training camp. On November 2, he hit a corner 3-pointer to tie the game at the regulation buzzer 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 ...

, with the Lakers going on to win 120–117 in overtime. He had missed six of his first seven 3-point attempts against the Pelicans and finished the game with 11 points. Ryan was waived by the Lakers on December 1.

Minnesota Timberwolves / Iowa Wolves (2022–2023)

On December 8, 2022, Ryan signed a two-way contract with the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

. On September 28, 2023, Ryan re-signed with the Timberwolves on another two-way contract, but was waived on October 20.

New Orleans Pelicans / Birmingham Squadron (2023–2024)

On October 22, 2023, Ryan was claimed off waivers by the

and subsequently signed to a two-way contract. On November 2, Ryan had his first NBA start against the Pistons and on April 13, 2024, he signed a standard contract with the Pelicans. On August 24, he was waived by the Pelicans, but was re-signed three days later, but was waived again on October 11.

New York Knicks / Westchester Knicks (2024–2025)

On October 26, 2024, Ryan joined the

after being selected first overall in the 2024 NBA G League draft and on November 4, he signed with the

. Throughout the season, he was assigned several times to Westchester and on December 22, he was waived by New York. However, two days later, he signed a

with the Knicks. On March 2, 2025, The Knicks waived Ryan.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, 1 , , 0 , , 5.3 , , .200 , , .200 , , , , .0 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 3.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A. Lakers , 12 , , 0 , , 10.8 , , .306 , , .371 , , .800 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, 22 , , 0 , , 8.2 , , .424 , , .388 , , .857 , , .5 , , .5 , , .1 , , .0 , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-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 ...

, 28 , , 1 , , 13.9 , , .434 , , .451 , , .929 , , 1.4 , , .6 , , .2 , , .0 , , 5.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, 19 , , 0 , , 3.6 , , .323 , , .316 , , 1.000 , , .4 , , .2 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 82 , , 1 , , 9.4 , , .389 , , .402 , , .893 , , .9 , , .5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.7

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 0 , , 2.5 , , .000 , , .000 , , , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1 , , 0 , , 2.5 , , .000 , , .000 , , , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2015-16 , style="text-align:left;", Notre Dame , 36 , , 4 , , 14.5 , , .417 , , .374 , , .792 , , 1.7 , , .5 , , .3 , , .1 , , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016-17 , style="text-align:left;", Notre Dame , 36 , , 0 , , 7.9 , , .434 , , .434 , , .900 , , .9 , , .4 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Vanderbilt , 29 , , 25 , , 24.9 , , .347 , , .328 , , .750 , , 2.7 , , .9 , , .3 , , .1 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 30.6 , , .423 , , .359 , , .879 , , 4.9 , , 1.9 , , .4 , , .1 , , 15.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 134 , , 62 , , 18.9 , , .404 , , .363 , , .842 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .3 , , .1 , , 7.9

Personal life

He is the son of Richard and Laurie Ryan and has two siblings, Mikela and Michael. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Vanderbilt and worked on his MBA at

References

External links

Chattanooga Mocs bioVanderbilt Commodores bioNotre Dame Fighting Irish bioRealGM.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Matt 1997 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American men's basketball players Basketball players from White Plains, New York Birmingham Squadron players Boston Celtics players Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball players Grand Rapids Gold players Iowa Wolves players Los Angeles Lakers players Minnesota Timberwolves players New Orleans Pelicans players New York Knicks players Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players Small forwards Undrafted NBA players United States men's national basketball team players Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball players Westchester Knicks players