Sam Vincent

James Vincent
Born	(1963-05-18) May 18, 1963 Lansing, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Basketball player, coach
Years active	1985–present
Known for	NBA player, head coach of MBB in the Basketball Africa League, former head coach of Charlotte Bobcats

James Samuel Vincent (born May 18, 1963) is a former American professional basketball player and coach, presently serving as the head coach of MBB in the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

Vincent was honored as Mr. Basketball of Michigan in 1981 prior to his four-year collegiate career at Michigan State. He entered the professional ranks in 1985 and secured an NBA champion title with the Boston Celtics in 1986. Upon retiring from playing, Vincent embarked on a coaching journey across Europe.

Playing career

In 1981, Vincent became the first recipient of Michigan’s "Mr. Basketball" award while attending Lansing's Eastern High School. There, he established a new city scoring record by amassing 61 points in a single game, surpassing the previous record held by Magic Johnson.

Standing 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) and playing as a point guard, Vincent followed his brother Jay Vincent to enroll at Michigan State University, where he earned Sporting News All-America recognition in 1985. Selected 20th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1985 NBA draft, he spent two seasons with the team, earning an NBA Championship ring in 1986 as a bench player. Following periods with the Seattle SuperSonics and Chicago Bulls, he was picked by the Orlando Magic during the 1989 NBA expansion draft, concluding his NBA tenure there in 1992. Throughout seven seasons, Vincent accumulated 3,106 points and 1,543 assists.

After his playing career ended, Vincent worked at Disney's Wide World of Sports and took coaching roles internationally in South Africa, Greece, the Netherlands, Nigeria, and within the NBA Developmental League. He guided his team to two NBADL finals appearances and secured one championship. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he coached Nigeria’s women's basketball squad to their inaugural Olympic victory against South Korea.

Coaching career

Vincent served as head coach for the Fort Worth Flyers during the 2005–06 season and led Nigeria’s men's national team into the second round of the 2006 FIBA World Championship, highlighted by an upset over Serbia and Montenegro. Subsequently, he joined the coaching staff of the Dallas Mavericks as an assistant.

On May 25, 2007, Vincent was appointed head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats. His tenure ended on April 26, 2008. Later that year, he assumed head coaching duties for the Anaheim Arsenal in the NBA Development League.

Nigerian national team

Vincent began his tenure with D'Tigress at the 2004 Summer Olympics, steering them to a groundbreaking 68–64 victory over South Korea, marking Africa’s first Olympic win in women’s basketball. In 2005, he led Nigeria to claim their second FIBA African Basketball Championship (Afrobasket) crown.

Reappointed as head coach in 2017, Vincent directed the team to an undefeated championship run at Afrobasket held in Bamako, Mali. They secured their third title by defeating Senegal 65–48 and earned qualification for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Spain.

His contract with the Nigerian Basketball Federation was unexpectedly terminated on August 2, 2018, amid preparations for the World Cup.

Following this, Vincent transitioned to coaching roles in Bahrain, taking charge of their national men's basketball squad after coaching club teams including Riffa, Manama, and Al-Ahli Manama.

In September 2022, he was named as the first-ever head coach of Beacon College's men's basketball program based in Central Florida. By March 2025, former Magic player Pat Burke succeeded him as both head coach and director of athletics at Beacon.

On February 4, 2025, Vincent accepted the head coaching position at South African side MBB, competing in the Basketball Africa League (BAL). Despite his guidance, MBB concluded with a 2–4 record and were eliminated during the group stage. On June 4, Vincent joined Rwandan club APR as defensive coach ahead of the 2025 BAL playoffs while indicating his intention to continue leading MBB as head coach.

Libyan national team

Vincent was named the head coach of the Libyan national basketball team for the 2025 FIBA AfroBasket tournament.

Personal

Vincent is a father to children who possess South African citizenship.

NBA

|- | align="left" |Charlotte | align="left" | |82||32||50||.390|| align="center" |4th place in Southeast Division||—||—||—||— | align="center" |Did not qualify for playoffs |-class="sortbottom" | align="left" |Career | ||82||32||50||.390|| ||—||—||—||—

External links

• NBA.com coaching profile