Marcus Lee
Lee in 2015
No. 24 – Tasmania JackJumpers
PositionPower forward / center
LeagueNBL
Personal information
Born (1994-09-14) September 14, 1994
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Listed height211 cm (6 ft 11 in)
Listed weight99 kg (218 lb)
Career information
High schoolDeer Valley (Antioch, California)
College
NBA draft2018: undrafted
Playing career2018–present
Career history
2018–2020Sioux Falls Skyforce
2020–2021Vanoli Cremona
2021–2022Semt77 Yalovaspor
2022Leones de Ponce
2022Manresa
2022–2023Melbourne United
2023Pallacanestro Reggiana
2023–presentTasmania JackJumpers
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

Marcus Lee (born September 14, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for the Tasmania JackJumpers of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats and University of California Golden Bears.

High school career

Lee attended Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California, where he was a starter on the varsity basketball team. As a junior, he averaged 13.9 points, 13.1 rebounds, 9.1 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game. During his senior year he averaged 17.7 points, 19.5 rebounds, and 6.7 blocks per game.

He led Deer Valley to the 2013 CIF North Coast Sectionals to defeat De La Salle High School from Concord, California.

Lee was a consensus top 20 player in the high school class of 2013 according to various recruiting services. He played in the 2013 McDonald's All American and Jordan Brand Classic games and was named 3rd team USA Today and first-team Parade All-American.[1]

College career

Lee dunking in the 2013 McDonald's All-American Boys Game

On October 18, 2012, Lee committed to play at the University of Kentucky. He joined Julius Randle, twins Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison, James Young, and Dakari Johnson as one of six Kentucky signees to be selected in the 2013 McDonald's All-American Boys Game as well as the 2013 Jordan Brand Classic.

Although Lee was behind 7-footers Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson in the rotation for much of the 2013 season, Lee found his way in the starting lineup over Cauley-Stein for four games in the beginning of the year. Lee scored 17 points shooting 7 for 8 in the regular-season opener vs. UNC Ashville on November 8, 2013, and 10 points shooting 4 for 5 against Texas-Arlington on November 19. However, he was not used very often throughout the season, appearing in only 25 of 40 games and averaging just 2.4 PPG in 6.3 minutes per game. When Cauley-Stein suffered an injury against arch-rival Louisville in the Sweet 16 of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, Marcus Lee stepped up in the following game vs. the Michigan Wolverines in the Elite 8 and scored 10 points, grabbed 8 rebounds (7 offensive), and had two blocked shots, all while committing zero fouls or turnovers. Because of his performance in the Elite 8, Lee was named to the Midwest Regional All-Tournament team, along with teammates Aaron Harrison and Midwest Regional Most Outstanding Player Julius Randle. That year Wildcats made it to the finals but lost to Connecticut. During the 2013-14 season Lee played 25 games, averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.[2]

On April 18, 2014, Lee announced he would return to the University of Kentucky for his sophomore year to join a front court including Cauley-Stein, Johnson, Alex Poythress, Karl-Anthony Towns, Trey Lyles, and Derek Willis.[3] During the 2014-15 season Lee played 39 games, averaging 2.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.[4] During 2015-16, he played in 36 games, starting 20 of them. He had the highest number of rebounds in his team in 12 games. He finished the season with 6.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.[5]

During the month of April, Lee was announced as one out of 162 underclassmen to enter his name for the 2016 NBA draft. Furthermore, Lee was one of 63 participants for the 2016 NBA Draft Combine as one of only two or three alternates being a part of the event. However, he would withdraw his name from the draft on the May 25 deadline, announcing he would also transfer out of Kentucky. While playing at Kentucky, Lee became known for regularly participating in charitable activities, head coach John Calipari noted that “Marcus is one of the most conscientious and considerate people I’ve ever been around.”[6]

In June 2016, Lee joined the University of California Golden Bears.[7] In his redshirt senior season at California, Lee started all 32 games and averaged 11.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and 1.3 assists per game. He had the eight-highest single-season blocks in school history with 52.[8]

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft, Lee played for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Summer League and spent preseason with the Miami Heat.[8][9] He subsequently joined the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA G League for the 2018–19 season.[10] In 19 games, he averaged 8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 73.3 percent from the field.

After short preseason stints with Aris Thessaloniki in Greece[11] and Bnei Herzliya in Israel,[12][13] Lee re-joined the Skyforce for the 2019–20 season.[14] He averaged 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.6 blocks per game in 2019–20.[15]

On August 9, 2020, Lee signed with Vanoli Cremona of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) for the 2020–21 season.[16]

On July 2, 2021, Lee signed with Semt77 Yalovaspor of the Turkish Basketball Super League.[17] Following the 2021–22 season, he joined Leones de Ponce in Puerto Rico for the 2022 BSN season.[18]

On July 30, 2022, Lee signed with Baxi Manresa of the Liga ACB.[19] In November 2022, he left Manresa and signed with Melbourne United in Australia for the rest of the 2022–23 NBL season.[20] On February 8, 2023, he signed with Pallacanestro Reggiana of the Lega Basket Serie A.[21]

On June 22, 2023, Lee signed with the Tasmania JackJumpers for the 2023–24 NBL season.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Marcus Lee - Basketball Recruiting - Player Profiles - ESPN".
  2. ↑ "2013-14 Kentucky Wildcats Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". July 24, 2017. Archived from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ↑ "Marcus Lee to return to Kentucky for sophomore season". USA TODAY. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  4. ↑ "2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". July 24, 2017. Archived from the original on July 24, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ↑ "2015-16 Kentucky Wildcats Roster and Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". July 25, 2017. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ↑ "Former Kentucky Wildcat Marcus Lee at home with Cal Bears". January 2, 2018. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ↑ "Men's Basketball Adds Marcus Lee - CalBears.com | University of California Official Athletic Site". January 3, 2018. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. 1 2 "HEAT Signs Marcus Lee". NBA.com. August 15, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Miami Heat sign Charles Cooke, DeAndre Liggins". NBA.com. October 7, 2018. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  10. ↑ "SKYFORCE ANNOUNCE 2018-19 OPENING DAY ROSTER". NBA.com. November 1, 2018. Archived from the original on November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Marcus Lee signs with Aris Thessaloniki". Sportando. September 11, 2019. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  12. ↑ "הסנטר מרכוס לי חתם בהרצליה עד תום העונה" (in Hebrew). ONE.co.il. September 26, 2019. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  13. ↑ "ג'אקים דונאלדסון חתם לעונה הקרובה בהרצליה" (in Hebrew). ONE.co.il. October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Skyforce Announces 2019–20 Training Camp Roster". NBA.com. October 27, 2019. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  15. ↑ Varney, Dennis (March 26, 2020). "Catch up with 36 ex-Cats playing pro basketball in leagues outside the NBA". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Marcus Lee è un giocatore della Vanoli Cremona" (in Italian). vanolibasket.com. August 9, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Yalova'ya blokçu uzun" (in Turkish). basketfaul. July 2, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Marcus Lee signs with Leones de Ponce". Sportando. June 2, 2022. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  19. ↑ Skerletic, Dario (July 30, 2022). "BAXI Manresa lands Marcus Lee". Sportando. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Melbourne United add American center Marcus Lee". melbourneutd.com.au. November 16, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
  21. ↑ Maggi, Alessandro (February 8, 2023). "Pallacanestro Reggiana officially signs Marcus Lee". Sportando. Retrieved February 9, 2023.
  22. ↑ "JackJumpers sign big man Marcus Lee". jackjumpers.com.au. June 22, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
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