James Blackmon Jr.
James Blackmon Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 25, 1995 |
| Occupation | Professional basketball player |
| Known for | Playing for Stella Artois Leuven Bears in the BNXT League; collegiate career with Indiana Hoosiers |
James Kumar Blackmon Jr. (born April 25, 1995) is a professional basketball athlete currently playing for the Stella Artois Leuven Bears in the BNXT League. He competed at the collegiate level with the Indiana Hoosiers.
High school career
Blackmon attended Bishop Luers High School for three years before transferring to Marion High School for his final year. In his senior campaign, he averaged 33.4 points and 4.2 made three-pointers per game at a 47% clip, surpassing his father’s school record with a single-game high of 54 points. He stands ninth on Indiana’s all-time scoring leaderboard. Rated 20th nationally by ESPN, he attracted significant interest from top programs such as Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Kansas, and Michigan State. Initially pledging to Indiana prior to his freshman year, he reopened his recruitment before senior year but eventually recommitted during a live broadcast on ESPNU. At the 2014 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, Blackmon contributed 13 points and won the three-point shooting contest, while also scoring 23 points in the Jordan Brand Classic. He finished third in the Indiana Mr. Basketball voting, trailing Trey Lyles and Trevon Bluiett.
Freshman year
In Indiana’s five-game preseason tour in Canada, Blackmon led scoring with an average of 18.8 points per game while emphasizing defensive efforts. As a freshman starter alongside Yogi Ferrell, he averaged 15.7 points per contest, ranking sixth nationally among freshmen and second on his team in both scoring and rebounds (5.3). He set a new Indiana freshman record by making 77 three-pointers, surpassing Eric Gordon. His accolades included Honorable Mention All-Big Ten, unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Freshman team, and two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
Sophomore year
Blackmon Jr. began his sophomore season impressively, achieving personal bests in field goal percentage (.480) and three-point accuracy (.463), until a right knee injury prematurely ended his season. In January 2016, he underwent surgery—his second knee operation within six months following a meniscus repair before the season started. Across 13 games, he averaged 15.8 points per game. Despite his absence, Indiana posted a 15–3 record in Big Ten play and secured an outright conference championship.
Junior year
On November 14, 2016, Blackmon Jr. earned National Player of the Week honors from NBCSports.com and was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week. He posted an average of 17.3 points per game during a season where the team finished with a 19–16 record. Following his junior year, he declared for the 2017 NBA draft.
College statistics
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014–15 | style="text-align:left;"| Indiana | 33 || 33 || 30.0 || .420 || .387 || .806 || 5.3 || 1.5 || 0.6 || .1 || 15.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2015–16 | style="text-align:left;"| Indiana | 13 || 12 || 24.5 || .480 || .463 || .852 || 4.2 || 1.7 || 1.2 || .4 || 15.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2016–17 | style="text-align:left;"| Indiana | 30 || 30 || 30.5 || .477 || .423 || .837 || 4.8 || 1.9 || .7 || .0 || 17.0 |- | align="center" colspan="2"| Career | 76 || 75 || 29.3 || .452 || .415 || .824 || 4.9 || 1.7 || 0.8 || .1 || 16.3 |-
Professional career
After going undrafted, Blackmon inked a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers as a free agent on June 23, 2017, following impressive showings during the 2017 NBA Summer League. He earned a spot on the training camp roster on August 30 but was released before the regular season began, on October 14, 2017.
On January 26, 2018, Blackmon was involved in a trade that sent him from the Delaware 87ers to the Wisconsin Herd, with Shannon Brown and Cameron Oliver moving in the opposite direction.
Transitioning to European basketball, Blackmon signed with Italian top-tier team VL Pesaro of the Lega Basket Serie A on August 6, 2018. He continued his career in Italy by joining another LBA club, Aquila Basket Trento, on July 19, 2019.
In October 2020, he secured a one-year contract with Turkish side Beşiktaş, competing in both the Turkish Basketball Super League and the Basketball Champions League.
On July 8, 2021, Blackmon remained in Turkey by signing with Pınar Karşıyaka, a team participating in the Turkish Super League (BSL).
Following a three-year break caused by a knee injury, Blackmon made his professional return by agreeing to a one-year contract with Belgian club Leuven Bears of the BNXT League on July 2, 2025.
Family
Blackmon’s father, James Blackmon Sr., enjoyed a distinguished collegiate career at Kentucky before being selected in the NBA Draft and currently serves as a coach at Marion. His paternal heritage is African-American, while his mother Sailaja is of Telugu origin. He has two siblings: Vijay, who previously walked on to the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball squad and now competes at Lindenwood University, and Jalen, who plays basketball for Stetson University.