Free agent | |
---|---|
Position | Point guard |
Personal information | |
Born | Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. | September 5, 1997
Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) |
Listed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) |
Career information | |
High school |
|
College | LSU (2016–2020) |
NBA draft | 2020: 2nd round, 50th overall pick |
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks | |
Playing career | 2020–present |
Career history | |
2020–2022 | Atlanta Hawks |
2021–2022 | →College Park Skyhawks |
2022–2023 | Delaware Blue Coats |
2023 | Mexico City Capitanes |
2023–2024 | Portland Trail Blazers |
2024 | Los Angeles Lakers |
2024 | →South Bay Lakers |
Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Stats at NBA.com | |
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Skylar Justin Mays (born September 5, 1997) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the LSU Tigers.
Mays grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended the Louisiana State University Laboratory School (U-High), where he began playing on the varsity basketball team in eighth grade. [1] He dunked for the first time as a freshman. [2] He was named first-team All-State in his sophomore and junior seasons as he helped lead the Cubs to back to back state championships. As a junior, he averaged 9.1 points, 8.1 assists and 3.2 rebounds. [1] Mays transferred to Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada before his senior year and averaged 10.9 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.7 steals in his only season with the Pilots. [3] Rated a three-star recruit, Mays initially committed to play college basketball at Louisiana State during his sophomore year before re-opening his recruitment to other schools shortly before he transferred to Findlay. Mays eventually re-committed to LSU after considering offers from Baylor, UNLV, Oklahoma State, Memphis, California and Stanford. [4]
Mays became the Tigers' starting point guard during his freshman year, averaging 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.3 steals over 31 games (25 starts). [5] As a sophomore, Mays averaged 11.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists as well as 1.6 steals per game. [6] He averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds 2.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game as a junior and was named second team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the conference's scholar-athlete of the year. [7] [8] Mays scored his 1,000th career point on February 26, 2019 against Texas A&M. [9] After the season, Mays declared for the 2019 NBA draft but ultimately opted to return to LSU. [10]
Mays was named preseason first team All-SEC and to the watchlists for the Jerry West and the Naismith Player of the Year awards. [11] He was also named the 45th-best collegiate basketball player going into the 2019–20 season by CBS Sports. [12] Mays scored a career-high 30 points on November 22, 2019 in an 80–78 loss to Utah State. [13] Mays tied his career high with 30 points along with eight assists and seven rebounds on February 8, 2020 in a 91–90 overtime loss to Auburn. [14] At the end of the regular season he was again named a first team Academic All-American and was selected as the Academic All-American of the Year as well as First Team All-SEC and was named the scholar-athlete of the year for a second straight season. [15] [16] Mays averaged 16.7 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. [17]
On November 18, 2020, Mays was selected with the 50th pick in the 2020 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks. [18] Mays signed a two-way contract with the team on November 24, 2020, meaning he would split time between the Hawks and their NBA G League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks. [19] On February 13, Mays scored a career-high 20 points against the San Antonio Spurs, cutting a 45-point deficit to just 11 in the second half.
Mays played for the Hawks in the 2021 NBA summer league, scoring 13 points in 30 minutes on 4-of-11 shooting at his debut in an 85–83 loss against the Boston Celtics. [20] On August 26, 2021, Mays signed a second two-way contract with the Hawks. [21] On April 7, 2022, the Hawks converted his previously signed two-way contract into a standard NBA contract. [22]
On November 4, 2022, Mays was named to the opening night roster for the Delaware Blue Coats. [23]
On February 4, 2023, Mays was traded along with Justin Robinson and Raphiael Putney to the Mexico City Capitanes in exchange for Jahlil Okafor, Shabazz Napier, Bruno Caboclo, and Matt Mooney. [24]
On March 30, 2023, Mays signed a 10-day contract with the Portland Trail Blazers [25] and on October 1, he signed a two-way contract with them. [26] After a strong showing in an overtime loss to the Sacramento Kings on November 9 in which Mays scored 18 points and had 11 assists in 37 minutes off the bench [27] he started 5 games for the injury depleted Trail Blazers in which he averaged 12 points and 8.2 assists per game. [28] On November 12, he signed a standard contract with Portland. [29] On January 6, 2024, he was waived by Portland. [30]
On January 8, 2024, Mays signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. [31]
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 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020–21 | Atlanta | 33 | 0 | 8.2 | .449 | .350 | .880 | 1.1 | .9 | .4 | .1 | 3.8 |
2021–22 | Atlanta | 28 | 5 | 7.9 | .500 | .320 | .889 | .9 | .6 | .3 | .0 | 2.9 |
2022–23 | Portland | 6 | 6 | 31.5 | .500 | .462 | .923 | 3.2 | 8.3 | 1.0 | .2 | 15.3 |
2023–24 | Portland | 21 | 5 | 17.0 | .384 | .286 | .765 | 1.8 | 3.6 | .7 | .1 | 6.3 |
L.A. Lakers | 17 | 0 | 4.5 | .476 | .400 | — | .4 | .6 | .4 | .1 | 1.3 | |
Career | 105 | 16 | 10.6 | .445 | .345 | .859 | 1.2 | 1.7 | .5 | .1 | 4.3 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2022 | Atlanta | 1 | 0 | 3.3 | 1.000 | – | – | .0 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | 2.0 |
Career | 1 | 0 | 3.3 | 1.000 | – | – | .0 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | 2.0 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Atlanta | 7 | 0 | 2.4 | .800 | — | — | .3 | .1 | .3 | .0 | 1.1 |
2022 | Atlanta | 2 | 0 | 4.5 | 1.000 | — | — | .5 | .5 | .5 | .0 | 1.0 |
Career | 9 | 0 | 2.9 | .833 | — | — | .3 | .2 | .3 | .0 | 1.1 |
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016–17 | LSU | 31 | 25 | 22.9 | .411 | .328 | .812 | 2.2 | 3.6 | 1.3 | .1 | 8.3 |
2017–18 | LSU | 33 | 30 | 31.1 | .443 | .351 | .837 | 4.0 | 2.9 | 1.6 | .2 | 11.3 |
2018–19 | LSU | 35 | 35 | 33.1 | .421 | .313 | .860 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 1.9 | .2 | 13.4 |
2019–20 | LSU | 31 | 31 | 34.4 | .491 | .394 | .854 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 1.8 | .2 | 16.7 |
Career | 130 | 121 | 30.5 | .445 | .345 | .845 | 3.6 | 2.9 | 1.6 | .2 | 12.4 |
Mays' best friend and LSU teammate, Wayde Sims, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head and neck on September 28, 2018. Mays served as the pallbearer at the funeral. [32] He gave an 11-minute speech in Sims's honor at an on-campus vigil outside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in front of a crowd of hundreds. [2] Mays wore customized Nike basketball shoes by artist Michael Anderson during the 2019 SEC Tournament in honor of Sims. [33]
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