James Palmer Jr.

James Palmer Jr.
Palmer at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in April 2019
No. 12 – Galatasaray Ekmas
PositionShooting guard
LeagueBasketbol Süper Ligi
Personal information
Born (1996-07-31) July 31, 1996 (age 28)
Washington, D.C.
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight207 lb (94 kg)
Career information
High school
College
NBA draft2019: undrafted
Playing career2019–present
Career history
2019–2021Agua Caliente Clippers
2021–2022Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski
2022–2023JL Bourg
2023–2024Türk Telekom
2024–presentGalatasaray Ekmas
Career highlights and awards
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

James Alfred Palmer Jr. (born July 31, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for Galatasaray Ekmas of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He played college basketball for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

High school career

[edit]

Palmer started his freshman year at St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C. After his freshman year, he transferred to Dr. Henry A. Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. After attending his sophomore year at Wise HS he was recruited back to St. John's by new coach Sean McAloon, where he continued his junior and senior year. As a senior, he averaged 15.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game as he led his team to a 27–4 record and an appearance in D.C. State Athletic Association semifinal. For his efforts, he earned first-team all-conference in the highly-competitive Washington Catholic Athletic Conference. Palmer played summer ball for Team Takeover, one of the top AAU teams in the region.

Recruiting

[edit]

Palmer was ranked in the top 100 players in the class of 2014 by both Scout and Rivals. He was ranked the number one player in the D.C. region by ESPN.[1] Palmer committed to Miami on August 5, 2013.

College recruiting information
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
James Palmer Jr.
SG
Washington, D.C. St. John's College High School 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Aug 5, 2013 
Star ratings: Scout:4/5 stars   Rivals:4/5 stars   247Sports:3/5 stars    ESPN grade: 79
Overall recruiting rankings:   Rivals: 99, 12 (SG)  ESPN: (PG)
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "2015 Nebraska Basketball Commitment List". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  • "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  • "ESPN - Miami Hurricanes Basketball Recruiting 2014". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  • "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.
  • "2015 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2018-01-16.

College career

[edit]
Palmer in 2014

Freshman

[edit]

Palmer started five of 38 games played in the 2014–2015 season, averaging 3.7 points, 1.4 rebounds in 13.3 minutes per game.[2]

Sophomore

[edit]

Palmer played in 34 of 35 games in the 2015–2016 season, averaging 3.4 points, 1.1 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.4 steals in 11.6 minutes per game. In the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, he scored six points against eventual national champion Villanova.

On May 17, 2016, Palmer transferred to Nebraska.[2]

Junior

[edit]

After transferring from Miami, Palmer became the go-to scoring option at Nebraska and led the team to a 22-win season and NIT appearance. He averaged 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Following the season, Palmer declared for the 2018 NBA draft but did not hire an agent. On May 26, he announced he was returning to the Cornhuskers.[3]

Senior

[edit]

As a senior, Palmer averaged 19.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He set school single-season records for points (708), free throws made (215) and minutes played (1,269).[4] Palmer was named to the Third Team All-Big Ten.[5]

Professional career

[edit]

Palmer was not selected in the 2019 NBA draft but was signed by the Phoenix Suns for the 2019 NBA Summer League.[6]

Palmer signed an Exhibit 10 training camp deal in August 2019 with the Los Angeles Clippers before being waived in October.[7][8] This deal eventually resulted in him playing for the Agua Caliente Clippers for the 2019–20 NBA G League season. In his first game with the Clippers, Palmer scored 40 points on 15-of-19 shooting to go with five rebounds in a 121–120 win over the Northern Arizona Suns.[9] He averaged 19.1 points, 2.7 assists, and 4.0 rebounds per game during the 2019–20 season.[10] During the 2020–21 season, Palmer averaged 16.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

On July 19, 2021, he signed with Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski of the Polish Basketball League for the entire season.[11] On February 24, 2022, his NBA G League rights were traded from the Agua Caliente Clippers to the Cleveland Charge, in exchange for Trevon Scott.[12]

On June 29, 2022, he has signed with JL Bourg of the French LNB Pro A.[13]

On June 26, 2023, he signed with Türk Telekom of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL).[14]

On June 15, 2024, he signed with Galatasaray Ekmas of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL).[15]

Career statistics

[edit]
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

College

[edit]
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2014–15 Miami 38 5 13.3 .413 .365 .652 1.4 .7 .1 .2 3.7
2015–16 Miami 34 0 11.6 .364 .277 .676 1.1 .7 .4 .1 3.4
2016–17 Nebraska Redshirt Redshirt
2017–18 Nebraska 33 33 31.0 .444 .309 .738 4.4 3.0 1.0 .5 17.2
2018–19 Nebraska 36 36 35.2 .369 .313 .762 4.2 3.0 1.4 .4 19.7
Career 141 74 22.6 .398 .315 .742 2.7 1.8 .7 .3 10.9

Personal life

[edit]

Palmer was born in Washington, D.C., and is the son of Demetra McFadden and the late James Palmer Sr. His father died on May 29, 2009. Palmer has one sister, Tijisha, and one brother, Tijree.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "James Palmer Jr. Player Profile". Hurricanesports.com. 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Duber, Vinnie (May 17, 2016). "Huskers land Miami transfer guard James Palmer". NBC Sports. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  3. ^ Phillips, Scott (May 26, 2018). "Nebraska's James Palmer Jr. returning to school". NBC Sports. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  4. ^ "Former Husker James Palmer reportedly joins Phoenix Suns summer league roster". News Channel Nebraska. June 27, 2019. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
  5. ^ "Big Ten Unveils Men's Basketball Postseason Honors on BTN". BigTen.org. March 11, 2019. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  6. ^ Phoenix Suns Announce 2019 Summer League Roster
  7. ^ "L.A. Clippers 2019-2020 Player Previews: James Palmer". 4 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Clippers sign Derrick Walton Jr. To add depth at point guard". Los Angeles Times. 21 October 2019.
  9. ^ Withey, Jake (November 10, 2019). "Free Throws Doom NAZ Suns In Season Opening Loss". Prescott eNews. Archived from the original on November 11, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  10. ^ German, Jordan (April 8, 2020). "LA Clippers: Agua Caliente standouts of 2019-2020". Clipperholics. FanSided. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  11. ^ "James Palmer jr inks with BMSlam Stal Ostrow". Sportando. July 19, 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  12. ^ "2021-22 NBA G League Transactions". gleague.nba.com. February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  13. ^ "James Palmer Jr, nouvel ailier de la JL". jlbourg-basket.com (in French). June 29, 2022. Retrieved September 12, 2022.
  14. ^ @basketsuperligi (June 28, 2023). "James Palmer yeni sezonda Ankara Basketbolu için mücadele verecek" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ "Galatasaray'a hoş geldin James Palmer Jr" (in Turkish). Galatasaray. June 15, 2024. Retrieved June 15, 2024.
[edit]