If the whole football thing doesn't work out for Heisman Trophy winner and first-overall pick in the NFL Draft Kyler Murray, he can fall back on playing for the Harlem Globetrotters.
The world famous basketball team held their 13th annual player draft and selected five players: Murray, University of Tulsa's DaQuan Jeffries, WNBA forward Kristine Anigwe, UCF center Tacko Fall, and two-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali.
Jeffries was the 2019 College Slam Dunk Champion.
“The Globetrotters have always tried to draft athletes who are superstars on and off of the court,” said longtime director of player personnel and head coach Sweet Lou Dunbar. “It is important for players to excite fans with their outstanding athletic ability, but our players need to be more than that, too. This year’s group of draftees really has what it takes to be Globetrotters.”
Recap of all the players drafted by the Globetrotters:
- Mahershala Ali is a Golden Globe winner and two-time Academy Award-winner and was also selected as one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2019. Standing at 6-3, Ali played four years of Division I college basketball as a guard at St. Mary’s (Calif.), where he averaged 7.0 points per game during his senior season.
- Kristine Anigwe, 6-4, was a star forward for the University of California-Berkeley before being picked 9th overall in the 2019 WNBA Draft by the Connecticut Sun. The England-born Nigerian-American rookie, who can dunk, was the recipient of the 2019 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award and 2016 USBWA National Freshman of the Year award. The Phoenix native was the lone female player to participate in the 2015 McDonald's All-American Game dunk contest.
- Tacko Fall, a 7-6 center for the University of Central Florida, led the team to its first NCAA tournament victory in program history in 2019. The Senegal native’s stature made him a social media sensation during the tournament, and he was named AAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2017 and was third-team All-AAC in 2019. Fall moved to the United States from Dakar at age 16. Initially, he played soccer and had no interest in basketball.
- DaQuan Jeffries, the 2019 National Slam Dunk Champion during Final Four Weekend, was a third-team American Athletic Conference pick as a senior in 2018-19. He finished his collegiate career at the University of Tulsa ranked 14th on the program’s all-time blocks list with 74. In his senior year, he led the team in points, blocks and steals. The 6-5 forward was a four-year letterwinner at Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Okla., where he earned 2015 Oklahoma Class 6A All-State honors.
- Kyler Murray, 5-10, became the first athlete ever to be selected in the first round of both the MLB Draft (by the Oakland A’s in 2018) and the NFL Draft (by the Arizona Cardinals in 2019, when he was taken first overall). He was awarded the Heisman Trophy in 2018 after quarterbacking Oklahoma to the Big 12 Championship. Murray led Allen High School in Allen, Texas to three straight state championships and 43 wins in a row.
To purchase tickets to Globetrotters games click here.
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