Playing career
Ceballos attended college at Ventura College and later Cal State Fullerton.
His career highlights include winning the NBA Slam Dunk Contest with a blindfolded dunk in 1992. He also led the NBA in field goal percentage (57.6) in 1992–93 with the Suns. Ceballos played a major role for the Suns during the playoffs, leading the team to a Western Conference Finals Game 1 win over the Seattle SuperSonics with a team high 21 points. After beating Seattle in a seven-game series, the Suns reached the Finals, before losing to the Chicago Bulls. He also led the Lakers in scoring in 1994–95 with a 21.7 average and made the All-Star team, but couldn't participate due to an injury. That season, on December 20, 1994, Ceballos set a career high with 50 points scored, including a 3-point shot to secure the win with 5.7 seconds left, in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. [1] [2] The following season, on December 3, 1995, Ceballos recorded a career high 6 steals, along with scoring 19 points, in a 104–96 win over the Indiana Pacers. [3] That year, Ceballos again led the Lakers with a 21.2 scoring average.
In 2002, Ceballos signed with Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv, but was waived after a couple of games. Shortly after, he moved to Russia and was signed by BC Lokomotiv Mineralnye Vody. He also played for the San Miguel Beermen in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
In late 2004, he signed with the Los Angeles Stars from the ABA. Ceballos later became employed by the Phoenix Suns as their in-arena emcee and host of a weekly webcast, "Nothin' but Net". He also hosted a morning music program for Phoenix, Arizona rhythm & blues radio station MEGA 104.3 FM.
In March 2007, the Phoenix Flame of the IBL announced the signing of Ceballos [4] for its inaugural season in the league, but he quickly moved behind the lines as an assistant coach the next month. [5]
Ceballos has toured with the "USA Legends". On June 19, 2011, the USA Legends defeated the Indonesian NBL All Star team 97–79, with Ceballos being the unofficial MVP of the game. A notable highlight of Ceballos' performance during the game was when he donned one of the Indonesian player's jerseys and played for the Indonesian team over a stretch of a few possessions, scoring a breakaway dunk during one of them.
Ceballos later became part owner of the American Basketball Association's Arizona Scorpions, and also played for the team.
Personal life
Ceballos was invited to play for the Mexico national basketball team in the 1992 Summer Olympics. [6] He is also a second cousin of his former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant. Their grandfathers were brothers. [7]
In 2011, Ceballos suffered "a series of small heart attacks", as described by his publicist. [8] He successfully recovered by undergoing an angioplasty with two stents placed in his heart. [9]
In 2021, he contracted COVID-19 and posted photos of himself in the intensive care unit. On September 13, he tweeted that he was free of COVID-19, but was still having difficulty breathing and walking. [10]
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