Robert Davis Jr. (born October 21, 2001) 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

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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

High school career

Davis attended

Archbishop Stepinac High School Archbishop Stepinac High School is an American Single-sex education, all-boys' Catholic Church, Roman Catholic high school in White Plains, New York. It was operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the 2009–2010 school yea ...

White Plains, New York White Plains is a city in and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, and a commercial hub of Westchester County, a densely populated suburban county that is home to about one milli ...

. He led the Crusaders to a 27–5 record, the CHSAA city championship, and the New York State Federation championship during his sophomore season. However, he suffered an injury as a sophomore which kept him from playing in the summer circuit. As a junior, Davis averaged 25.4 points, seven rebounds, four assists and 1.7 steals per game. Davis was named

The Journal News ''The Journal News'' is a newspaper in New York State serving the New York counties of Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam, a region known as the Lower Hudson Valley. It is owned by Gannett. History ''The Journal News'' was created through a ...

Westchester/Putnam Player of the Year and helped the team reach the city championship game. He averaged 26.5 points, eight rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game as a senior. Davis was named a

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 well as Mr. New York Basketball.

Recruiting

Considered a four-star recruit, Davis was ranked 197th by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

in early 2019, but rose in most recruiting services' and was ranked No. 43 in the Class of 2020 according to

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. Davis committed to playing

for

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 ...

in October 2019, choosing the Tar Heels over Georgetown, Marquette and

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College career

Freshman

As a freshman, Davis averaged 8.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game while shooting 35.0 percent from the floor. He was named to the All-

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 ...

Academic Team. He made ten starts in 29 appearances in his freshman year.

Sophomore

A starter all season, Davis was a member of the "Iron Five" starting lineup that led North Carolina on an improbable run to the 2022 National Championship game alongside Armando Bacot, Brady Manek,

Caleb Love Caleb Khristopher Love (born September 27, 2001) is an American basketball player. He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Arizona Wildcats. High school career Love attended Christian Brothers College High School in ...

, and Leaky Black. On November 13, 2021, he scored a then-career-high 26 points in a 94–87 win against

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

. Davis broke his career high in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, scoring 30 points in the Tar Heels' 93–86 upset victory against Baylor. He became the first Tar Heel to score 30 points and post 5 rebounds and 5 assists in an NCAA tournament game.

Junior

After the Tar Heels' run to the national championship game in the season prior, RJ Davis, Leaky Black, Armando Bacot, and

all decided to return to Chapel Hill. Despite the team's preseason No.1 ranking, the Tar Heels struggled all season, missing the NCAA tournament and going 20–13 overall. Davis started all but one game in the 2022–23 season, and his lone appearance off the bench came on UNC's Senior Day, where it is tradition for all seniors being honored to start the game. He improved off of many of his statistics from the previous season, averaging 16.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game.

Senior

Davis announced that he was returning to Carolina for his senior season on March 24, 2023. On January 22, Davis scored a then career-high 36 points in a game against Wake Forest. On February 26, Davis recorded a new career high with 42 points in a win against

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Davis' 42 points were the most ever scored at the

Dean Smith Center The Dean E. Smith Student Activities Center (commonly known as the Dean Smith Center, Smith Center, or the Dean Dome) is a multi-purpose arena in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, used primarily as the home for the University of North Carolina at Ch ...

, and the most scored by a North Carolina player since Shammond Williams scored 42 in 1998. Davis was named a member of the 2024 First-team All-ACC team and the ACC Player of the Year. He was also named a member of the first-team AP

All-American team The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and became the first North Carolina player to win the Jerry West Award. Fifth Year On May 1, 2024, Davis announced he was returning to Carolina for his fifth year of eligibility granted because of the shortened 2020–21 season due to 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 ...

. In February 2025, Davis was named one of 10 players as a candidate for the 2025 Jerry West Award. He won the Jerry West Award.

Professional career

On June 26, 2025, Davis signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2020–21 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 10 , , 22.3 , , .350 , , .323 , , .821 , , 2.3 , , 1.9 , , .7 , , .1 , , 8.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 39 , , 39 , , 33.9 , , .425 , , .367, , .833 , , 4.3 , , 3.6 , , 1.0 , , .2, , 13.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 35.0 , , .438 , , .362 , , .881 , , 5.1 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , 16.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 37 , , 34.8 , , .428 , , .398 , , .873 , , 3.6 , , 3.5 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 21.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 37 , , 34.2 , , .413 , , .354 , , .873 , , 3.4 , , 3.6 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 17.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 175 , , 155 , , 32.4 , , .418 , , .367 , , .861 , , 3.8 , , 3.2 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 15.6

References

External links

North Carolina Tar Heels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, R. J. 2001 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Archbishop Stepinac High School alumni Basketball players from White Plains, New York McDonald's High School All-Americans North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Point guards Shooting guards