Tari Jordan Eason (born May 10, 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for 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 team of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Divisio ...

of the

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

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

and the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

. Eason was selected 17th overall in the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. T ...

by the

High school career

Eason started his high school career at Garfield High School in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

under head coach Brandon Roy, and played sparingly during his first two years. For his junior season, he transferred to Federal Way High School in

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 census. Federal Way is the tenth-largest city in Washington and the fifth-larg ...

, where he played alongside top recruit

Jaden McDaniels Jaden McDaniels (born September 29, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Washington Huskies men's basketball, Washin ...

. Eason returned to Garfield for his senior season as Roy came back following a one-year break. He led his team to a 3A state title, recording 21 points and 14 rebounds against

Paolo Banchero Paolo Napoleon James Banchero ( , ; born November 12, 2002) is an American-Italian professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils. Bancher ...

and

O'Dea High School O'Dea High School is a Catholic all boys high school founded in 1923 and is located in Seattle's First Hill neighborhood. The school is named after Edward John O'Dea who was bishop of Seattle when the school was built. O'Dea is a part of the Arc ...

in the final, and received tournament MVP. Eason averaged 23 points, eight rebounds, and three steals per game as a senior, and was named 3A Player of the Year. A four-star recruit, he committed to playing college basketball for

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

over offers from

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and USC.

College career

On February 26, 2021, Eason posted a freshman season-high 20 points, 13 rebounds, and three blocks in a 91–71 win over

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

. As a freshman at Cincinnati, he averaged 7.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game, earning

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

All-Freshman Team honors. For his sophomore season, Eason transferred to LSU. He was named to the First Team All- SEC as well as SEC Sixth Man of the Year. Eason averaged 16.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game. On March 25, 2022, he declared for the

, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

Houston Rockets (2022–present)

Eason was selected with the 17th overall pick by the

in the

. Eason joined the Rockets'

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 camp ...

roster. In his Summer League debut, Eason tallied 14 points and 13 rebounds in a 77–91 win over the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was estab ...

. On July 18, 2022, Eason was named to the All-NBA Summer League First Team, averaging 17.2 points on 44.7 percent shooting from the field along with 1.8 steals and a block. On October 2, Eason made his preseason debut, scoring 21 points off the bench in addition to securing ten rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block in a 134–96 win against the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

. On October 19, 2022, he made his NBA debut with an eight-point and seven-rebound performance in a 117–107 loss to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

Personal life

Eason has three siblings: Tega, Angel, and Avante. While at LSU, he majored in interdiscplinary studies.

Career statistics

College

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

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 ...

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

, 23 , , 8 , , 19.6 , , .462 , , .241 , , .574 , , 5.9 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , 1.3 , , 7.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", LSU , 33 , , 4 , , 24.4 , , .521 , , .359 , , .803 , , 6.6 , , 1.0 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , 16.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 56 , , 12 , , 22.4 , , .504 , , .327 , , .757 , , 6.3 , , 1.1 , , 1.6 , , 1.2 , , 13.0

References

External links

LSU Tigers bioCincinnati Bearcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eason, Tari 2001 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Seattle Basketball players from Virginia Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball players Garfield High School (Seattle) alumni Houston Rockets draft picks Houston Rockets players LSU Tigers basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Portsmouth, Virginia