Shabazz Napier - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Shabazz Napier

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Complete

60%

Born
1991 (33 years old)

Birth Place

Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Position
Point Guard

Status
Active

Ethnicity
White

Team Number
13

Height
185 cm

Weight
78 kg

Outfitter

Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

Player Cutout

Full Body Render

Sport

Basketball

Team
Milano

2nd Team

League
Italian Lega Basket

Creative Commons Artwork
No

Description
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Shabazz Bozie Napier (born July 14, 1991) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player for Olimpia Milano of the Basketball League of Italy (LBA), and the EuroLeague.

He was drafted 24th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2014 NBA draft and immediately traded to the Miami Heat. He played college basketball for the Connecticut Huskies, and won two national championships in 2011 and 2014. Napier was a key player for the Huskies' 2010–11 NCAA championship team, as he made the Big East All Rookie team. Following his junior season, Napier was selected to the All-Big East first team.

In the 2013–14 season, Napier was unanimously selected for the All-AAC first team, and was named the inaugural American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. He was again one of UConn's key players when they won the NCAA tournament for a second time in four years in 2014 and was named as the tournament's most outstanding player.

Napier's mother and manager, Carmen Velásquez, is Puerto Rican, which made him directly eligible to represent Puerto Rico under FIBA regulations.

On February 19, 2012, it was announced that following formal meetings with personnel of the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation, he had presented the required documentation and agreed to join the Puerto Rico national basketball team's practice for its next tournament, the 2012 Centrobasket.

This tournament served as qualifier for the 2013 FIBA Americas Tournament. He did not participate in the 2012 Centrobasket due to injury.

In December 2013, the then Puerto Rico men's national basketball team coach Paco Olmos held a meeting with Napier and Velásquez, where his program was explained. The coach referred to this meeting as "constructive" and later noted that both sides kept good communication.

When questioned about the possibility of joining Puerto Rico in 2014, Napier responded by saying "I would love to go and have that experience. It would be something unique and that will definitely help my game for the goals I have set. It will be an honor. Everything I am today as a player, I owe to . And as a person, to the education of my mother, who would be proud if I play for Puerto Rico."