Rakeem Christmas

Rakeem Christmas

Christmas with Syracuse in 2013
No. 25 – Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Position Power forward / Center
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1991-12-01) December 1, 1991
Irvington, New Jersey
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
High school Academy of the New Church
(Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania)
College Syracuse (2011–2015)
NBA draft 2015 / Round: 2 / Pick: 36th overall
Selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves
Playing career 2015–present
Career history
2015–present Indiana Pacers
2015–present →Fort Wayne Mad Ants
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Rakeem Maleek Christmas (born December 1, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League, on assignment from the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Syracuse Orange.

High school career

Christmas attended Northeast Catholic High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between 2007 and 2009, before his junior year he transferred to Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. As a junior he averaged 13.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, during his senior season he averaged 11.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game.

He was rated as the #21 player in the class of 2011 by Scout.com.[1] He was rated as the #27 player by Rivals.com.[2] He was named to the Class A first team as a junior.[3]

College career

Christmas committed to Syracuse basketball on August 6, 2010[4] after his junior season in high school. He started playing for Syracuse in the 2011–12 season.[5]

College statistics

Year GP-GS MPG PPG FG% RPG APG TPG SPG BPG
2011–12 37-35 11.5 2.8 57.3% 2.9 0.2 0.6 0.3 0.8
2012–13 40-40 20.8 5.1 53.0% 4.6 0.2 0.9 0.5 1.8
2013–14 34-34 23.6 5.8 61.3% 5.1 0.7 0.8 0.5 1.9
2014–15 31-31 34.3 17.5 55.2% 9.1 1.5 2.5 0.9 2.5

College career highs

Professional career

Indiana Pacers (2015–present)

On June 25, 2015, Christmas was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 36th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft. His rights were then traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers along with those of Cedi Osman and a future second round pick in exchange for the rights of Tyus Jones.[6] He later joined the Cavaliers for the 2015 NBA Summer League, where he averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in four games. On July 23, his rights were traded again, this time to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick.[7] Four days later, he signed with the Pacers.[8] On November 14, he made his professional debut in the Mad Ants' 83–80 win over Raptors 905, recording 24 points, seven rebounds, one steal and one block in 32 minutes.[9] On January 29, he was named in the East All-Star team for the 2016 NBA D-League All-Star Game.[10] In the Pacers' 2015–16 regular season finale, Christmas made his NBA debut, scoring four points and making both his field-goal tries off the bench in a 97–92 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.[11]

During his rookie and sophomore seasons, he has had multiple assignments with Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League.[12][13]


NBA career statistics

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

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2015–16 Indiana 1 0 6.0 1.000 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .0 4.0
Career 1 0 6.0 1.000 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .0 4.0

Personal life

Christmas and his mother Landra Hamid moved to St. Croix when he was 2 years old. While he lived in the Virgin Islands, his mother died due to renal failure at the age of 28. After his mother died, he remained in St. Croix and was raised there by his grandmother, Evelyn Hamid. When he was 13 years old he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to live with his aunt, Amira Hamid, who became his legal guardian.[14]

Christmas was initiated as an honorary member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity during his sophomore year at Syracuse University.[15] Christmas is thought to be the first player in Syracuse men's basketball history to finish his undergraduate degree in 3 years.[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Scout.com: Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scouthoops.scout.comaccessdate=August 26, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Yahoo Sports: Rivals.com Ranking - Rivals150 for the class of 2011". Rivals.yahoo.com. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Liberty High School's Darrun Hilliard named first team all-state; Chad Landis is Class AAAA co-coach of the year". The Express-Times. April 7, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Rakeem Christmas commits to Syracuse - ESPN". Sports.espn.go.com. August 6, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Syracuse University Athletics – Rakeem Christmas". Cuse.com. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Cavaliers Acquire Draft Rights to Cedi Osman and Rakeem Christmas from Minnesota". NBA.com. June 25, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Pacers Acquire Rakeem Christmas From Cleveland in Exchange for Draft Pick". NBA.com. July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Pacers Re-Sign Whittington and Sign Christmas and Robinson". NBA.com. July 27, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Thames' Buzzer-Beater Spoils Raptors 905's First-Ever Game". NBA.com. November 14, 2015. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Sixteen NBA Veterans Headline Rosters for NBA Development League All-Star Game Presented By Kumho Tire". NBA.com. January 29, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Solomon Hill scores 25, Pacers beat Bucks 97-92". NBA.com. April 13, 2016. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
  12. ↑ "All-Time NBA Assignments". NBA.com. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  13. ↑ "2016-17 NBA Assignments". NBA.com. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Christmas Comes Early At North Catholic". Phillyhoops.wordpress.com. December 15, 2008. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  15. ↑ "Rakeem Christmas Joins Syracuse AEPi". barstoolsports.com. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Rakeem Christmas Earns Degree in Just Three Years". bleacherreport.com. May 8, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2014.

External links

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