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Skylar Mays

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Skylar Mays
Mays with LSU in 2019
No. 4 – Atlanta Hawks
PositionPoint guard / Shooting guard
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1997-09-05) September 5, 1997 (age 27)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school
CollegeLSU (2016–2020)
NBA draft2020: 2nd round, 50th overall pick
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks
Playing career2020–present
Career history
2020–presentAtlanta Hawks
2020–present→College Park Skyhawks
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

Skylar Justin Mays (born September 5, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the College Park Skyhawks of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the LSU Tigers.

Early life and high school career

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 when he in eighth grade.[1] He first began to dunk the basketball 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 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]

College career

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]

Professional career

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]

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  Bold  Career high

College

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

Personal life

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.[20] 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 tennis shoes during the 2019 SEC Tournament in honor of Sims.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b Lopez, Andrew (October 27, 2016). "LSU point guard spot taking shape with Skylar Mays, Jalyn Patterson". NOLA.com. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Lopez, Andrew (November 14, 2020). "How LSU guard Skylar Mays turned a tragedy into fuel for his dreams of being selected in the 2020 NBA draft". ESPN. Associated Press. Retrieved November 14, 2020.
  3. ^ "Skylar Mays: 4 facts about the LSU men's basketball point guard". The Daily Advertiser. February 22, 2019. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  4. ^ Mickles, Sheldon (November 18, 2015). "Former U-High basketball star Skylar Mays signs with LSU". The Advocate. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  5. ^ Paxton, William (July 29, 2017). "Tremont Waters' Game Draws Praise In Pro-Am". Hartford Courant. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  6. ^ Mickles, Sheldon (May 19, 2019). "Basketball and books: How LSU guard Skylar Mays, an Academic All-American, is making it all work". The Advocate. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  7. ^ Mickles, Sheldon (May 22, 2019). "LSU's Skylar Mays says he's not yet ready to make a decision on his basketball future". The Advocate. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  8. ^ Just, Amie (March 12, 2019). "LSU basketball trio racks up All-SEC coaches awards". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  9. ^ Adam, Brandon (February 26, 2019). "Skylar Mays becomes 41st player in LSU history to reach 1000 points". The Daily Reveille. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  10. ^ Just, Arnie (May 28, 2019). "LSU's Skylar Mays, Marlon Taylor withdraw from NBA Draft". The Times Picayune. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  11. ^ Embody, Billy (November 5, 2019). "Skylar Mays, Javonte Smart land on All-SEC preseason teams". 247Sports.com. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  12. ^ Boone, Kyle; Norlander, Matt; Parrish, Gary (October 24, 2019). "Ranking the Top 100 And 1 best players in college basketball entering the 2019-20 season". CBSSports.com. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  13. ^ "LSU basketball lets 19-point lead slip away in brutal Utah State loss". The Advocate. November 22, 2019. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
  14. ^ "Mays scores career-high 30 in No. 18 LSU OT loss to No. 10 Auburn". WAFB.com. February 8, 2020. Retrieved February 9, 2020.
  15. ^ Mickles, Sheldon (March 9, 2020). "LSU's Skylar Mays is chosen Academic All-America of the Year by CoSIDA organization". The Advocate. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
  16. ^ "SEC announces 2020 Men's Basketball Awards" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. March 10, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  17. ^ Crawford, Kirkland (March 16, 2020). "The 2020 NCAA tournament that could have been: South region". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved March 19, 2020.
  18. ^ Moore, CJ (November 18, 2020). "Skylar Mays goes to the Atlanta Hawks: Here's what they're getting". The Athletic. Retrieved November 19, 2020.
  19. ^ "Hawks Sign Onyeka Okongwu, Skylar Mays and Nathan Knight". NBA.com. November 24, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
  20. ^ Norlander, Matt (February 23, 2019). "Forever 44: How a teammate's murder has brought LSU together and fueled the Tigers' inspired season". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  21. ^ "LSU guard Skylar Mays honors former teammate Wayde Sims during game against Vanderbilt". WBRZ. March 10, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
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