Former KU basketball forward Jalen Wilson has career NBA game from 3 vs. Hawks
Former Kansas small forward Jalen Wilson converted a career-high six 3-pointers in the Brooklyn Nets’ 133-109 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in a late-season NBA game Thursday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The 6-foot-8, 225-pound, 24-year-old Wilson, a member of KU’s 2022 NCAA title team, came off the bench to score a season-high tying 20 points with four rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes.
He was 6-of-10 shooting, all of his shots 3s. He went 2-of-4 from the line. His previous career high in 3s was five against Charlotte back in November. He’d hit four 3s on four occasions. He also had 20 points against Washington on March 29 in a road contest. As a rookie in 2023-24, the second-round draft pick scored his career high in points (21) in a December home game versus Milwaukee.
The Nets, who fell to 26-54 as the season winds down, were never in this one, trailing 33-14 after one quarter.
“Wilson was on fire shooting the ball from 3-point range and when his shot is falling, it seems to open up the rest of his game when he decides to drive” wrote Sharif Phillips-Keaton of Nets Wire. “Due to Wilson hitting a few shots from deep, he was able to get past his defender and that led to him generating points at the free-throw line. Wilson also made some nice decisions with the ball in his hands as a secondary ball-handler within the offense.”
Wilson, a native of Denton, Texas, has averaged 9.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists while playing in 76 games during his second year in the NBA. He has started 20 games.
Wilson has hit 229 of 587 shots for 39%. He’s made 107 of 336 3s for 31.8%. He converted 132 of 158 free throws for 83.5%.
“I think it was a great year. I had a lot of fun as far as getting to play, especially starting off from year one trying to find my way to get to be able to play and now in year two to be able to get a lot of good minutes,” Wilson said Thursday in an interview with YES Network. “We had some great wins, some great battles. I just learned a lot.”
He saw improvement in year two.
“I think just learning the game more and more. The more you play the more you learn different parts of the game,” Wilson said. “It definitely slowed down some. I’m just eager to continue to learn. Every single game you learn something new about yourself and how you can play and impact winning. How can I get better? How can I better myself to be able to win?”
This summer he said he will “continue to put up a lot of shots, work on my body, keep health and nutrition No. 1 of course and continue to listen to the coaches and do what they want me to do to get better.”
