Samardo Samuels (born January 9, 1989) is a Jamaican professional basketball player for Bashkimi Prizren of the Kosovo Basketball Superleague. He is a tall power forward– center who attended college at the University of Louisville.

High school career

Samuels attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey. Samuels was ranked 9th in the nation by Rivals.com and 2nd in the nation by Scout.com. He, alongside class of 2010 star Tristan Thompson led St. Benedicts's Prep to a 24–1 record in the 2007–2008 season. At season's end St. Benedict's was ranked #2 in the nation by '' USA Today''. He played in the two top all-American games, the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

and the Jordan Brand Classic.

College career

Samuels decided to attend the University of Louisville for college. He chose the Cardinals over Connecticut, Florida, Georgetown and North Carolina. At Louisville, Samuels started every game that he played in and led the 2009–10 team in scoring and rebounding. After his sophomore year, he decided to skip his final two years of college eligibility and enter the

2010 NBA draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

Professional career

Cleveland Cavaliers (2010–13)

After going undrafted in the

, Samuels played for the Chicago Bulls in the 2010 NBA Summer League, averaging 12.6 points and 7.4 rebounds. On August 17, 2010, Samuels signed a 3-year, $2.3 million contract with 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 league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. A portion of the deal was guaranteed. He debuted against the Toronto Raptors, on October 29, and scored 7 points. On December 27, 2010 he was sent to the Erie BayHawks, the Cavs' affiliate in the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. On January 1, after two games in the NBA D-League, he was recalled by the Cavs. On March 2, 2011, Samuels made his first career start against the San Antonio Spurs in place of the injured

Antawn Jamison Antawn Cortez Jamison (; born June 12, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He serves as director of pro personnel for the Washington Wizards. Jamison playe ...

and scored a career high 23 points while pulling down 10 rebounds. On December 28, 2012, Samuels was assigned to the Canton Charge of the D-League. He was recalled on December 31, 2012. On January 6, 2013, he was waived by the Cavaliers.

Several short stints (2013)

Following the waiving by the Cavaliers, he was acquired by the D-League's Reno Bighorns on January 17, 2013. On April 7, 2013, Samuels signed with the Israeli club Hapoel Jerusalem for the rest of the 2012–13 season.

Olimpia Milano (2013–15)

On July 25, 2013, he signed a two-year deal with the Italian club

Emporio Armani Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometime ...

. In his first Euroleague season with Milano, he averaged 9.5 points and 3.9 rebounds over 25 games. In his second season with Milano, he elevated his game and averaged 12.9 points and 5.4 rebounds over 23 Euroleague games. In the summer of 2015, he parted ways with Olimpia Milano.

Barcelona (2015–16)

On July 22, 2015, Samuels signed a two-year deal with the Spanish club

FC Barcelona Lassa FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakist ...

. On September 11, 2015, Barcelona announced that Samuels has suffered right hand injury and will miss about 6 weeks of action. In his third consecutive Euroleague season, his role in the new team decreased, and he had averages of 6 points and 2.8 rebounds over 26 games. On August 16, 2016, he parted ways with Barcelona.

Jiangsu Dragons (2016–17)

On August 17, 2016, Samuels signed with the Chinese Basketball Association club Jiangsu Dragons for the 2016–17 CBA season.

Several short stints (2017–present)

On March 17, 2017, he signed with the Italian club

Enel Brindisi New Basket Brindisi, for sponsorship reasons named Happy Casa Brindisi or shortly Brindisi, is a professional Italian basketball based in Brindisi, Apulia. It plays in the first division LBA in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 2004, the well-s ...

for the rest of the

2016–17 LBA season The 2016–17 LBA season, was the 95th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), known for sponsorship reasons as the Serie A PosteMobile, the highest-tier level professional basketball league in Italy. The regular season started on 2 October 201 ...

. On August 18, 2017, Samuels signed with the Spanish club Real Betis Energía Plus. On September 21, 2017, he parted ways with Real Betis Energía Plus before appearing in a game for them. On October 16, 2017, Samuels signed with the Serbian club

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: ** AK Partizan, athletics **Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling **Džudo Klub Partizan, judo ** FK Partizan, association fo ...

for the rest of the 2017–18 season. He was suspended by the club on November 15, for the violation of club's discipline and the provisions of the contract, day after Partizan lost in a EuroCup game against

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a German professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Mercedes ...

. The suspension came as a result of his public criticism of the club, head coach Miroslav Nikolić and other inappropriate remarks toward female journalists. Shortly after, he parted ways with the club. On February 14, 2018, Samuels signed with the French club Limoges CSP for the rest of the 2017–18 season. After averaging 11 points and 4 rebounds per game, he re-signed with the club on August 20, 2018. On February 16, 2020, Samuels signed with

Chorale Roanne Basket Chorale Roanne Basket is a professional basketball club that is based in Roanne, France. The club plays in the first division LNB Pro A. Their home arena is Halle André Vacheresse. The club was founded in 1937 and the team's colors are blue an ...

. In December 2020, Samuels signed with Maccabi Hod HaSharon. He played 17 games in the Liga Leumit, the second national tier, and averaged 16.2 points and 7.8 rebounds. On April 18, 2021, he has signed with Hapoel Haifa of the Israel Basketball Premier League. On August 10, 2021, Samuels signed a one-year contract with Dutch club ZZ Leiden of the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

. On August 30, 2021, he parted away with his club without playing a single game. Reason was that the work permit procedure took too long. Samuels subsequently joined

Libertadores de Querétaro Libertadores de Querétaro (English: ''Querétaro Liberators'') is a professional Mexican basketball team, based in Querétaro City, Querétaro. The Libertadores are part of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional, the top professional basket ...

of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , align="left" , , align="left" , Cleveland , 37 , , 10 , , 18.9 , , .456 , , .000 , , .618 , , 4.3 , , .5 , , .4 , , .5 , , 7.8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Cleveland , 54 , , 0 , , 15.3 , , .455 , , .000 , , .701 , , 3.3 , , .4 , , .4 , , .4 , , 5.4 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , Cleveland , 18 , , 1 , , 10.9 , , .367 , , .000 , , .583 , , 1.6 , , .4 , , .2 , , .2 , , 3.2 , - class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 109 , , 11 , , 15.8 , , .445 , , .000 , , .653 , , 3.4 , , .4 , , .3 , , .4 , , 5.9

Career highs

*Points: 23 vs. San Antonio 03/02/11 *Rebounds: 10 3 times *Assists: 3 vs. San Antonio 03/02/11 *Steals: 3 @

L.A. Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

03/19/11 *Blocks: 3 vs. New Orleans 03/06/11

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;", Milano , 25 , , 23 , , 22.2 , , .503 , , .444 , , .730 , , 3.9 , , .2 , , .4 , , .3 , , 9.5 , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;", Milano , 23 , , 21 , , 26.1 , , .548 , , .233 , , .692 , , 5.4 , , .7 , , .4 , , .5 , , 12.9 , , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;", Barcelona , 26 , , 4 , , 13.2 , , .505 , , .000 , , .632 , , 2.8 , , .5 , , .2 , , .4 , , 6.0 , , 6.8 , - class="sortbottom" , align="center" colspan="2", Career , 74 , , 48 , , 24.1 , , .522 , , .250 , , .685 , , 4.0 , , .5 , , .3 , , .4 , , 9.3 , , 9.7

Career highs

*Points: 36 vs. Nizhny Novgorod 26 February 2015 *Rebounds: 12 vs. Anadolu Efes 21 March 2014 *Assists: 3 vs.

Turów Zgorzelec PGE Turów Zgorzelec is a Polish a basketball team based in Zgorzelec. The club played in the Polish League (PLK) and won the Polish championship once, in the 2013–14 season. The club was sponsored by the PGE Group, and they are also the cl ...

13 November 2014 *Steals: 4 vs.

Laboral Kutxa Laboral Kutxa is a Basque credit union that provides banking, savings and investment services. It was created in March 2012 as a result of the merger of two smaller credit unions. The Caja Laboral Popular Sociedad Cooperativa de Crédito (known ...

13 March 2014 *Blocks: 4 vs. Stelmet Zielona Góra 23 October 2015

High school career

College career

Professional career

Cleveland Cavaliers (2010–13)

Several short stints (2013)

Olimpia Milano (2013–15)

Barcelona (2015–16)

Jiangsu Dragons (2016–17)

Several short stints (2017–present)

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

Career highs

EuroLeague

Career highs

References

External links