Shabazz Muhammad
Shabazz Muhammad
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Shabazz Muhammad

Shabazz Nagee Muhammad (born November 13, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Piratas de La Guaira of the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto (SPB). He played one season of college basketball for the UCLA Bruins before being selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft.

Muhammad went to Bishop Gorman High School, where he was named Mr. Basketball USA and Naismith Prep Player of the Year in his senior year. He was one of the top rated college basketball recruits in the class of 2012. In his only season with UCLA, he earned All-American honors and was named to the all-conference first team in the Pac-12; he was also voted Pac-12 co-Freshman of the Year.

Muhammad was born in Long Beach, California to Ron Holmes and Faye Muhammad. Ron Holmes was a 6-foot-5-inch (1.96 m) standout, four-year starting point guard for the USC Trojans men's basketball program in the 1980s. Muhammad's mother, Faye, was a point guard and track star at Long Beach State.

Shabazz Muhammad is the second of three children. His older sister Asia is a professional tennis player, and his younger brother Rashad played basketball in high school. When Muhammad was six years old, he was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.

Muhammad attended high school in Las Vegas Valley in Nevada at Bishop Gorman High School, a Catholic high school with a $12,000 annual tuition that possessed a competitive athletics program. He became one of the few freshman to make their varsity basketball team. In his junior year, Muhammad led Bishop Gorman averaging 25.1 points and 7.7 rebounds for the season. Muhammad was also named the 2011 Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Nevada.

Muhammad was the 2011–12 high school diary keeper for SLAM Magazine.

Muhammad played in the 2012 McDonald's All-American game, where he led the West team to a 106–102 victory over the East team, and was named the MVP of the game with 21 points and 6 rebounds. Muhammad also participated in and won the 2012 Powerade Jam Fest Dunk Contest. He was rated as the No. 2 player in the class of 2012 in the ESPNU 100, the No. 2 player by Scout.com, and the No. 1 player by Rivals.com. CBS college basketball analyst Greg Anthony called Muhammad a "once-in-a-generation talent."

Boasting scholarship offers from scores of basketball programs, Muhammad's final list of schools was Duke, Kentucky, and UCLA. On April 11, 2012, Muhammad announced he would attend UCLA. Muhammad was declared ineligible to play hours prior to UCLA's 2012–13 season opener against Indiana State due to alleged violations involving the NCAA's amateurism rules surrounding unofficial university visits. The NCAA ruled he had received benefits for travel expenses and lodging from family friend Benjamin Lincoln, who had befriended Muhammad's father when Muhammad was in seventh grade, during unofficial visits to Duke and North Carolina. After missing three games and an appeal by UCLA, he was reinstated, and his family was required to repay approximately $1,600. Days before his reinstatement, several media outlets reported the boyfriend of the NCAA's lead investigator boasted publicly that the NCAA would find him ineligible eight days after the investigation commenced. The NCAA subsequently fired the investigator that was involved in the case.

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