Anthony Jordan Price (born October 7, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player. He was born in Orange, New Jersey and raised in East Massapequa, New York.[1] He is the son of former NBA player Tony Price.[2]

A. J. Price
Price during a Timberwolves vs. Pelicans game on January 1, 2014
Personal information
Born (1986-10-07) October 7, 1986 (age 37)
Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High schoolAmityville Memorial
(Amityville, New York)
CollegeUConn (2006–2009)
NBA draft2009: 2nd round, 52nd overall pick
Selected by the Indiana Pacers
Playing career2009–2017
PositionPoint guard
Number22, 12, 21, 1
Career history
20092012Indiana Pacers
2012–2013Washington Wizards
2013–2014Minnesota Timberwolves
2014Indiana Pacers
2014–2015Cleveland Cavaliers
2015Phoenix Suns
2015–2016Shanghai Sharks
2016–2017Shandong Golden Stars
Career highlights and awards
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

High school career edit

Price attended Amityville Memorial High School, where he led the Warriors to three straight Long Island Championships and state titles in his sophomore and junior seasons. As a junior (2003) he averaged 25.4 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals. His numbers continued to increase as a senior; he averaged 28.5 points and eight rebounds. He finished his three-year career with 130 career three-pointers and 1,394 career points. He was a two-time Newsday Suffolk County Player of the Year.[3]

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Price was listed as the No. 7 point guard and the No. 32 player in the nation in 2004.[4]

College career edit

Price chose UConn over Florida State, Kansas and St. John's.[5] He missed his freshman (2004–05) season after a life-threatening battle with AVM, which caused bleeding in his brain.[6] He underwent radio-surgery treatment in February 2005 and spent more than 14 months recovering from his illness.[7] It was not until May 2006 that he received clearance from his doctors to return to the court.

However, Price was suspended by the university for the 2005–06 academic semester due to violations of the University Student Code of Conduct.[8] He was arrested, along with fellow basketball player Marcus Williams in August 2005 on charges of trying to sell stolen laptops. He pleaded not guilty to larceny charges.[9] Price was not permitted to take classes during the Fall 2005 semester, but returned to classes in the Spring 2006 semester.[10]

He returned to the court for the 2006–07 season as a sophomore. He appeared in all 31 games, starting at point guard in 23 contests. For the season he averaged 9.4 points per game with 113 assists and 37 steals to his credit in 23.9 minutes per game. In the 2007–08 season, Price started all 33 games at point guard and was UConn's second leading scorer. He won many awards and was named to the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's All-America Team. He was also a unanimous selection to the First Team All-BIG EAST squad and selected as USBWA District Player of the Year and member of All-District First Team, named a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award, and was chosen as one of ten finalists for the USBWA Player of the Year Award, the Oscar Robertson Trophy and named to the NABC All-District 1 First Team. In the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament against San Diego Price played nine minutes before tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament. The team would go on to lose the game by one point in overtime.

The next season 2008–09 was the best season for Price. Coming off the ACL injury he was the Huskies' leading scorer with 14.7 points a game and was critical in their run to the final four. In a game versus Gonzaga he hit a falling down three-pointer to force the game into overtime.[11] In the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament he was named the most outstanding player in the West Region, but the Huskies fell in the semi-finals to the Michigan State Spartans.[12] He was a liberal arts major at Connecticut.

College statistics edit

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2006–07 Connecticut Huskies 31 23 24.0 .387 .273 .690 3.0 3.7 1.2 .1 9.4
2007–08 Connecticut Huskies 33 33 32.1 .437 .369 .746 3.5 5.8 1.3 .1 14.5
2008–09 Connecticut Huskies 35 35 31.8 .408 .402 .721 3.5 4.7 .7 .0 14.7
Career 99 91 29.4 .413 .365 .722 3.3 4.7 1.1 .1 13.0

Professional career edit

 
Price with the Wizards

Price was selected in the second round of the 2009 NBA draft at number 52 overall by the Indiana Pacers on June 25, 2009.

Midway through the 2009–10 season, Price, along with Earl Watson, moved ahead of T. J. Ford on the team's depth chart. In December, Watson became the starter and Price became the primary backup point guard.

In the 2011–12 season, Price backed up Darren Collison when George Hill was injured; however, when the Pacers acquired Leandro Barbosa, he received fewer minutes.

On July 24, 2012, Price signed with the Washington Wizards.[13]

On September 30, 2013, Price signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves.[14] On April 3, 2014, he was waived by the Timberwolves.[15]

On September 26, 2014, Price signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers.[16] On November 1, 2014, he was waived by the Cavaliers before playing in a regular season game for them.[17]

On November 6, 2014, Price signed with the Indiana Pacers to help the team deal with numerous injuries. Indiana had to use an NBA hardship exemption in order to sign him as he made their roster stand at 16, one over the allowed limited of 15.[18][19] On November 28, 2014, he was waived by the Pacers.[20] Two days later, he was claimed off waivers by the Cavaliers.[21] On January 7, 2015, he was waived again by Cavaliers.[22] On March 21, he signed a 10-day contract with the Phoenix Suns and made his debut for the team later that night, recording 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in a 117–102 win over the Houston Rockets.[23][24] He was not retained by the Suns following the expiration of his 10-day contract on March 31.[25]

In September 2015, Price signed with the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association.[26] He then spent the 2016–17 season with the Shandong Golden Stars.

NBA career statistics edit

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

Regular season edit

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Indiana 56 2 15.4 .410 .345 .800 1.6 1.9 .6 .1 7.3
2010–11 Indiana 50 0 15.9 .356 .275 .667 1.4 2.2 .6 .0 6.5
2011–12 Indiana 44 1 12.9 .339 .295 .800 1.4 2.0 .5 .0 3.9
2012–13 Washington 57 22 22.4 .390 .350 .790 2.0 3.6 .6 .1 7.7
2013–14 Minnesota 28 0 3.5 .413 .273 .000 .4 .5 .0 .0 1.6
2014–15 Indiana 10 0 19.3 .438 .385 .667 1.4 2.7 .4 .0 10.5
2014–15 Cleveland 11 0 7.9 .265 .000 .667 1.4 1.2 .3 .0 2.0
2014–15 Phoenix 5 0 8.8 .214 .000 .000 .6 1.2 .0 .0 1.2
Career 261 25 15.1 .380 .316 .742 1.4 2.2 .5 .0 5.8

Playoffs edit

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011 Indiana 5 0 16.0 .371 .438 .900 1.4 1.2 .6 .0 8.4
2012 Indiana 4 0 1.8 .500 .000 .000 .5 .3 .0 .0 .5
Career 9 0 9.6 .378 .438 .900 1.0 .8 .3 .0 4.9

Personal life edit

Price is the older of two children born to Tony and Inga Price. His younger sister's name is Raven. His father Tony was a standout basketball performer at the University of Pennsylvania, helping the team advance to the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and eventually into the Final Four. Tony was the top scorer of the tournament with 142 points and earned a spot on the 1979 East Regional All-Tournament Team.[27]

References edit

  1. ^ "UConn's Price cleared to play".
  2. ^ They'll never Penn another Cinderella story like the Quakers'. Knapp, Gwen (March 19, 2009). CBS Sports.
  3. ^ "A. J. Price - Yahoo! Sports".
  4. ^ A. J. Price Recruiting Profile
  5. ^ "A. J. Price Profile - Basketball Recruiting". Basketballrecruiting.rivals.com. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  6. ^ "UConn's Price pursues deal to erase criminal record". ESPN.com. October 27, 2005.
  7. ^ Brady, Erik (2005-01-12). "67k". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  8. ^ "Connecticut suspends Price for entire 2005-06 season". ESPN.com. October 28, 2005.
  9. ^ "UConn guard Price pleads not guilty to larceny charge". ESPN.com. August 30, 2005.
  10. ^ "UConn guard Price gets probation in laptop case - Men's College Basketball - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2005-11-15. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  11. ^ "Connecticut Huskies vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs - Recap - December 20, 2008 - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. 2008-12-20. Retrieved 2009-06-14.
  12. ^ "A.J. Price, Connecticut, 2010 NBA Draft - CBSSports.com Basketball".
  13. ^ "Wizards Sign A.J. Price". NBA.com. July 24, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  14. ^ "Timberwolves add A.J. Price to training camp roster". Archived from the original on 2017-07-05. Retrieved 2013-10-01.
  15. ^ "Press Release: Wolves Waive Guard A.J. Price". www.nba.com.
  16. ^ "Cavaliers Announce 2014-15 Training Camp Roster". NBA.com.
  17. ^ "Cavs Waive A.J. Price". www.nba.com.
  18. ^ "Pacers Sign A.J. Price". www.nba.com.
  19. ^ "Pacers sign Price, give up on Israel's Mekel". ESPN.com. November 6, 2014.
  20. ^ "Pacers Waive A.J. Price". NBA.com. November 28, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  21. ^ "Cavs Claim A.J. Price off waivers, Waive Will Cherry". www.nba.com.
  22. ^ "Cavaliers Waive A.J. Price". NBA.com. January 7, 2015. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
  23. ^ King, Dave (March 21, 2015). "The Price is right". Bright Side Of The Sun.
  24. ^ "Bledsoe scores career-best 34 as Suns beat Rockets 117-102". NBA.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-03-22.
  25. ^ "Suns Sign Jerel McNeal to 10-Day Contract". www.nba.com.
  26. ^ Source: NBA veteran guard A.J. Price signed...
  27. ^ "Penn's 1979 Final Four Team - PennAthletics.com—The Official Website of University of Pennsylvania Athletics". Archived from the original on 2017-06-09. Retrieved 2009-06-26.

External links edit