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Jai Lucas

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Jai Lucas
Lucas with Texas in November 2010
Duke Blue Devils
PositionAssociate head coach
LeagueAtlantic Coast Conference
Personal information
Born (1988-12-05) December 5, 1988 (age 35)
Houston, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight160 lb (73 kg)
Career information
High schoolBellaire (Houston, Texas)
College
NBA draft2011: undrafted
Playing career2011–2013
PositionPoint guard
Coaching career2016–present
Career history
As player:
2011–2012BK Valmiera
2012–2013Idaho Stampede
2013Sioux Falls Skyforce
2013Canton Charge
As coach:
2016–2020Texas (assistant)
2020–2022Kentucky (assistant)
2022–2023Duke (assistant)
2023–presentDuke (associate HC)
Career highlights and awards

Jai Powell Lucas (born December 5, 1988)[1] is an associate head coach for the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team and a former American professional basketball player, as well as a former NCAA college basketball player for the Texas Longhorns.

Playing career

As a 5’10” point guard in the Houston suburb of Bellaire, Lucas was a McDonald's All American and was rated 20th by ESPN in the high school class of 2007.[2] Lucas was initially recruited to play for the University of Florida. Lucas averaged 8.5 points and 2.3 assists per game during his freshman year. Prior to his second season with the Gators, Lucas announced he would transfer and, as per NCAA rules at the time, would sit out the 2008-9 season. A month later, he announced he would next play for the University of Texas. [3] He played two seasons for the Longhorns, averaging about 3 points and 1 assist per game.

Lucas’s pro career lasted from 2011 and 2013 and included one season with BK Valmiera, then stints in the G League with the Idaho Stampede, [4] the Sioux Falls Skyforce, [5]and the Canton Charge.[6]

Coaching

In August 2013, almost immediately after leaving his last pro team, the Texas Longhorns hired Lucas as an assistant coach on the staff of Rick Barnes. Lucas assisted in all internal operations of the basketball program.[7] Lucas was retained by Barnes' successor, Shaka Smart, in 2015.

Lucas was hired by John Calipari in 2020 to be a special assistant and lead recruiter at the University of Kentucky. [8] During the 2021-22 season at Kentucky, Lucas was rated the second best recruiter in the country, behind only Jon Scheyer, who was the associate head coach at Duke .[9]

After Scheyer took over as the Duke head coach at the end of the 2021-22 season, he hired Lucas as an assistant coach, the first Duke assistant who hadn’t played for the Blue Devils in 30 years.

Family

Lucas is from a well-known basketball family. His father, John Lucas II, was an All-American at Maryland who went on to a 14-year career in the NBA and was later head coach of three NBA teams. His older brother, John Lucas III, was a star at Baylor and Oklahoma State who played two seasons for the Houston Rockets, then continued his career in Italy, and most recently played for the Minnesota Timberwolves.[10]

References

  1. ^ Jai Lucas Stats, Bio – ESPN
  2. ^ ESPN - Rosters set for 2007 McDonald's All-American Games - College Sports
  3. ^ Lucas decides to transfer from Florida
  4. ^ STAMPEDE TRADE FOR BROWN, DRAFT PICK Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Skyforce Acquires Lucas
  6. ^ Charge Acquire Jai Lucas
  7. ^ Texas Longhors basketball: Jai Lucas hired as special assistant
  8. ^ "Jai Lucas Added to UK Men's Basketball Staff". Kentucky Wildcats. August 31, 2020. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  9. ^ Pilgrim, Jack (November 2, 2020). "Jai Lucas on Calipari's shuffling of coaching roles: "We have to stay ahead of the curve"". Kentucky Sports Radio. Retrieved December 4, 2020.
  10. ^ Lucas O'Neill, "Profile: Jai Lucas (Bellaire, Texas)", Sports Illustrated, December 5, 2006.
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