Shaq Buchanan

Leroy "Shaq" Buchanan (born January 30, 1997) is a professional basketball player for the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for Murray State after transferring from Northeast Mississippi Community College.

Shaq Buchanan

No. 11 – Memphis Hustle
Position	Shooting guard
League	NBA G League
Personal information
Born	(1997-01-30) January 30, 1997
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school	Madison Central (Madison, Mississippi)
College	Northeast Mississippi CC (2015–2017) Murray State (2017–2019)
NBA draft	2019 / Undrafted
Playing career	2019–present
Career history
2019–present	Memphis Hustle
Career highlights and awards
First-team All-OVC (2019)

High school career

Buchanan is the son of Stephanie Latiker and has a younger brother, Shunn, who plays for New Mexico State. He grew up in Madison, Mississippi, and attended Madison Central High School where he was a standout basketball player.[1] As a senior, he scored 23 points in the 6A playoffs to defeat defending champion Murrah High School.[2] Buchanan was not highly recruited and chose to attend Northeast Mississippi Community College.[1]

College career

Buchanan averaged 14 points and 5.7 rebounds as a freshman at Northeast Mississippi and helped the Tigers capture the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 23 title and reach the national tournament. Buchanan was a MACJC All-State selection as a freshman. As a sophomore, he averaged 18.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game, shooting 45.8 percent on field goals and 31.5 percent from beyond the arc. Buchanan had his best performance in the NJCAA Region 23 title game with a career-high 34 points on 11-of-17 shooting. He was a NJCAA All-American and signed with Murray State.[3]

As a junior at Murray State, Buchanan averaged 9.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game. He teamed with Ja Morant to lead the Racers to a 26–6 record and appearance in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.[4] As a senior, Buchanan was named to the First Team All-Ohio Valley Conference as well as conference Defensive Player of the Year.[5] He started all of his 33 games and averaged 13.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.82 steals per game, helping lead the Racers to the 2019 NCAA Tournament.[6] After the season, Buchanan competed in the Dos Equis 3X3 National Championship.[7] As a 12 seed, Murray State defeated Marquette 83-64 behind 14 points and six rebounds from Buchanan.[1] He finished his career at Murray State with 722 points scored, 110 career steals and 63 starts in his 65 career games.[8] In two seasons at Murray State, Buchanan shot 48.4% from the field, 32.4% from behind the arc and 70.1% from the free throw line.[9]

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2019 NBA draft, Buchanan played for the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA Summer League. On October 17, Buchanan signed a one-year contract worth $898,310 with the Grizzlies.[6] He was assigned to the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G-League.[10] On December 5, he had 10 points and five rebounds in a 116–110 win over the Northern Arizona Suns.[11] On February 8, 2020, Buchanan scored a career-high 36 points to go with five assists, four rebounds and two steals in Memphis' 127-119 win over the South Bay Lakers.[12] On February 29, Buchanan posted a career-high 18 rebounds to go along with 22 points and 6 assists in a 123-120 loss to the Salt Lake City Stars.[13] He averaged 11.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.[14]

Career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	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		Led the league

Year	Team	League	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2019-20	Memphis Hustle	NBA G-League	33	22.4	.480	.375	.600	4.8	1.5	.8	.2	11.1
Career		All Leagues	33	22.4	.480	.375	.600	4.8	1.5	.8	.2	11.1

References

1. Cleveland, Rick (March 22, 2019). "In this Madison family, March Madness is real". Mississippi Today.
2. Dumlao, Ros (February 25, 2014). "Slam-dunk effort: Buchanan's play leads Madison Central in 6A". Clarion Ledger. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
3. "Buchanan Becomes Seventeenth Tiger to Earn All-American Recognition". Northeast Mississippi Community College. April 17, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
4. "OVC Basketball Media Day Powered by Vectren Video: Murray State". Ohio Valley Conference. November 1, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
5. "Murray State's Morant and Buchanan, Belmont's Muszynski and Byrd Earn 2018–19 OVC Men's Basketball Top Honors" (Press release). Ohio Valley Conference. March 5, 2019. Retrieved March 5, 2019.
6. "Memphis Grizzlies sign Shaq Buchanan". NBA.com. October 17, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
7. "Buchanan set to play in 3-on-3 event at Mall of America". Murray Ledger. March 28, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
8. Kendall, Nick (October 20, 2019). "Former Racer Buchanan signs with Memphis Hustle". The Murray State News. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
9. Marlowe, Edward (June 23, 2019). "MSU's Buchanan bound for Grizzlies summer league". Paducah Sun. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
10. Sharber, Corey (October 17, 2019). "Shaq Buchanan Signs With Memphis Grizzlies G-League Affiliate". WKMS. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
11. "Shaq Buchanan: Earning more minutes". CBS Sports. December 5, 2019. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
12. "Shaq Buchanan: Turns in career night". CBS Sports. February 9, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
13. "Salt Lake City Stars 113 - Memphis Hustle 110". G-League Stats. February 29, 2020. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
14. "Shaq Buchanan: Posts fourth-straight double-double". CBS Sports. March 9, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

External links

• Murray State Racers bio