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Trajan Langdon

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Trajan Langdon
Langdon with CSKA Moscow, in March 2011.
New Orleans Pelicans
PositionGeneral manager
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1976-05-13) May 13, 1976 (age 48)
Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight211 lb (96 kg)
Career information
High schoolEast Anchorage (Anchorage, Alaska)
CollegeDuke (1994–1999)
NBA draft1999: 1st round, 11th overall pick
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Playing career1999–2011
PositionShooting guard
Number21
Career history
1999–2002Cleveland Cavaliers
2002–2003Benetton Treviso
2003Long Beach Jam
2003–2004Efes Pilsen
2004–2005Dynamo Moscow
2005–2011CSKA Moscow
Career highlights and awards
As player
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Medals
Men’s basketball
Representing  United States
FIBA World Cup
Bronze medal – third place 1998 Athens
FIBA Americas U18 Championship
Gold medal – first place 1994 Santa Rosa Under-18

Trajan Shaka Langdon (born May 13, 1976) is an American basketball executive and former professional player. He is the current general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1][2] and 211 lb (96 kg)[3] shooting guard, he first gained fame in the U.S. while playing college basketball at Duke University.

Following a three-year NBA stint, Langdon had a very successful career in Europe. A three-time All-EuroLeague Team member and the EuroLeague Final Four MVP in 2008, he won two EuroLeague titles with CSKA Moscow in 2006 and 2008.

In March 2016, he was named the assistant general manager of the Brooklyn Nets, serving in the role until May 2019, when he was named the general manager of the Pelicans.

Early career

Born in Palo Alto, California, Langdon moved to Anchorage, Alaska soon after. During his high school career, Langdon attended Steller Secondary School, and played with East Anchorage High School. He set the Alaska 4A state record of 2,200 career points scored, and was a 3-time Alaskan State Player of the Year.

He led East Anchorage to the 1994 Alaskan State Championship, and he played in the McDonald's All-American Game, where he won the 3-point shooting contest.

Langdon also played high school baseball. Although his seasons were only twelve games long, as a senior he hit .333 with four home runs and 12 RBIs. In the league championship game, he gave up only four hits and struck out eleven batters.[4]

College career

After high school, Langdon moved on to play NCAA Division I college basketball at Duke, where he set the school record for the most career 3-point field goals made (which was broken by JJ Redick in 2006), earning him the nickname, "The Alaskan Assassin".[5] A major knee injury kept him sidelined for his entire sophomore year, so he finished his college career as a fifth year guard.[6][7]

In the 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament championship game, with Duke down 1 point to the UConn Huskies, with 5.4 seconds to go in the game, Langdon attempted to drive the ball into the lane, and committed a traveling violation that turned the ball over to UConn. Analysts, as well as Langdon himself, credited the defense of Ricky Moore, who was considered the top defensive player in the tournament, for forcing the travel.[8][9][10][11][12]

Baseball career

A baseball scout discovered Langdon playing catch with his father in the parking lot of their hotel during Langdon's recruiting trip to Duke and was immediately impressed.[4] Langdon was selected in the 6th round of the 1994 Major League Baseball draft out of high school by the San Diego Padres, ahead of such eventual All-Stars as Carl Pavano and Plácido Polanco.[13] At the time he was the highest drafted player ever out of Alaska.[14] He signed with the Padres and received a $230,000 signing bonus. Because NCAA rules at the time prevented a player from receiving a scholarship in one sport while playing another professionally, Langdon had to play basketball at Duke without a scholarship while playing Minor League Baseball during the summer.[15] In three seasons in the minors, he played in 50 games for the Spokane Indians and Idaho Falls Braves.[16]

Professional career

Langdon was selected by the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1999 NBA draft. Langdon made his professional debut with the Cavaliers on November 2, 1999, when he became the first Alaskan to play in the NBA. Following a three-year career with the Cavaliers, Langdon moved to Europe to play for the Italian League club Benetton Treviso for the 2002–03 season.

The following season, after being waived by the Los Angeles Clippers in the preseason, he originally signed with and briefly played for the Long Beach Jam before he moved to the Turkish League powerhouse Efes Pilsen. For the 2004–05 season, he moved on to the Russian League club Dynamo Moscow, before moving across town to CSKA Moscow for the 2005–06 season. Langdon was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team for the 2005–06 season. CSKA won the EuroLeague championship that same season.

The following season, he helped CSKA return to the EuroLeague championship game, where they lost to Greek power Panathinaikos, on the Greek team's home court.[a] In the process, he was named to the All-EuroLeague First Team for the 2006–07 season, a feat that he repeated in the 2007–08 season. On May 4, 2008, he was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP, after again winning the EuroLeague title with CSKA.[17]

On October 7, 2006, Langdon led his CSKA Moscow team to a 94–75 win over the Clippers, in an NBA Europe Live Tour exhibition game. Coincidentally, he played against his former Duke University teammate Elton Brand, who was playing for the Clippers at that time. He led all scorers in the game with 17 points.[18]

In June 2011, he announced his retirement from playing professional basketball. He made his announcement two days after helping CSKA to its ninth consecutive Russian championship.[19][20]

National team career

After graduating from Duke, with degrees in mathematics and history, Langdon played for the USA national basketball team at the 1998 FIBA World Championship, winning the bronze medal.[21]

Post-playing career

After his playing days ended, Langdon was a scout for the San Antonio Spurs, from 2012 to 2015.[22] On March 8, 2016, he was named the assistant general manager of the Brooklyn Nets.[22] On May 19, 2019, Langdon was named the general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans.[23]

Career statistics

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  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high
† Denotes seasons in which Langdon's team won the EuroLeague
Led the league

NBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1999–00 Cleveland 10 0 14.5 .375 .421 1.000 1.5 1.1 .5 .0 4.9
2000–01 Cleveland 65 5 17.2 .431 .411 .895 1.4 1.2 .6 .1 6.0
2001–02 Cleveland 44 0 10.8 .398 .365 .913 1.3 1.4 .3 .1 4.8
Career 119 5 14.6 .416 .396 .910 1.3 1.3 .5 .1 5.4

EuroLeague

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2002–03 Benetton 21 19 28.6 .540 .511 .759 2.7 1.7 1.6 .1 14.8 13.4
2003–04 Efes Pilsen 20 19 33.1 .461 .391 .864 3.0 1.6 1.5 .2 14.3 13.0
2005–06† CSKA Moscow 24 24 31.8 .453 .390 .860 3.1 1.5 1.3 .2 12.8 11.6
2006–07 25 25 29.5 .475 .420 .925 4.0 1.0 1.6 .2 13.5 14.6
2007–08† 25 25 29.1 .512 .458 .884 3.3 .9 1.2 .1 12.6 13.0
2008–09 21 21 28.8 .494 .432 .878 2.7 1.3 1.0 .0 10.6 11.2
2009–10 21 21 32.2 .505 .470 .913 3.0 1.1 1.4 .0 15.0 15.6
2010–11 10 9 27.5 .397 .229 .708 2.2 .5 .2 .0 8.3 4.5
Career 167 164 30.2 .486 .427 .868 3.1 1.3 1.3 .1 13.0 12.7

Personal life

Langdon is the son of social worker Gladys, and Dr. Steve Langdon, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska Anchorage.[24] Trajan traveled with his father on many anthropological trips within southeastern Alaska. His father studied the Indigenous Nation of southeastern Alaska known as the Tlingit Nation.

Notes

  1. ^ The EuroLeague determines the site for each year's Final Four shortly before the previous year's Final Four, before it can possibly be known who will advance. The 2008 event was held in Madrid.

References

  1. ^ Club, CSKA Moscow Professional Basketball. "Error 404 - CSKA Moscow". www.cskabasket.com. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  2. ^ "LANGDON, TRAJAN - Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL". www.euroleague.net. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  3. ^ "Legabasket". 195.56.77.208. Archived from the original on July 4, 2011. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Garrity, John (July 11, 1994). "Beating the Bushes". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  5. ^ Trajan Langdon. Archived October 1, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Where are they now? Duke basketball edition: Trajan Langdon, The Duke Chronicle, Bobby Colton, April 19, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  7. ^ Following his father's vision, Alaska's Trajan Langdon made it to Duke by learning to take the road less traveled, USA Today, Jill Lieber, March 26, 1999. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  8. ^ "UConn Had 'Moore' Than Enough Talent To Beat Duke". The Salina Journal. March 30, 1999. p. 27. Retrieved August 26, 2014 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  9. ^ Battista, Judy. "N.C.A.A. TOURNAMENT: MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP; Langdon's Journey Is a Step Too Long". Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  10. ^ "sports02". www.umich.edu. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  11. ^ "Six seconds can't define Langdon's Duke career". Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  12. ^ Rhoden, William C. "Sports of The Times; No Mystery at the End: Known Factors, Not an X Factor, Won It". Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  13. ^ "6th Round of the 1994 MLB June Amateur Draft". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  14. ^ "MLB Amateur Draft Picks who came from Alaska". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  15. ^ Keech, Larry (June 24, 1994). "Duke Recruit Gets Unique Baseball Deal". Greensboro News and Record. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  16. ^ "Trajan Langdon Minor Leagues Statistics & History". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  17. ^ Euroleague feature: King of the Final Four on YouTube
  18. ^ "Ex-Duke star Langdon leads Moscow team past Clippers". ESPN.com. October 7, 2006. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  19. ^ "CSKA icon Langdon announces retirement". Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  20. ^ "Trajan Langdon retires from basketball". Inside Hoops. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  21. ^ 1998 USA Basketball. Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ a b "Brooklyn Nets Name Trajan Langdon Assistant General Manager". NBA.com. March 8, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2016.
  23. ^ "Pelicans hire Trajan Langdon as General Manager". NBA.com. May 19, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  24. ^ Lieber, Jill (March 26, 1999). "Following his father's vision, Alaska's Trajan Langdon made it to Duke by . . ". USA Today. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
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