1. Nerlens Noel was born on April 10,1994 and is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association.
27 Facts About Nerlens Noel
1. 2.
Nerlens Noel's rights were later traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.
3.
Nerlens Noel plays center and power forward, and was one of the top high school basketball players in the class of 2012.
4.
Nerlens Noel repeated his sophomore year at Tilton, reclassifying to the class of 2013, but later reclassified back to the 2012 college recruiting class.
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Nerlens Noel averaged 12.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.9 blocks per game as a senior.
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Nerlens Noel was rated as the No 1 player in the class of 2012 by ESPN and Scout.
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Nerlens Noel was selected to play in the 2012 Nike Hoop Summit and the 2012 Jordan Brand Classic.
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Shortly before his high school graduation, an article in The New York Times described Nerlens Noel as being hailed as one of the best shot blockers of his generation, although he was described as having unrefined offensive skills.
9.
Nerlens Noel made his verbal commitment by revealing the UK logo shaved in the back of his head on national television.
10.
Five of the blocks happened while Nerlens Noel had four personal fouls, and two of them were denials on slam dunk attempts.
11.
On February 12,2013, in a game against the Florida Gators, Nerlens Noel tore the ACL in his left knee after blocking a Florida lay-up, forcing him to sit out the remainder of the season.
12.
Nerlens Noel was honored with many awards, including SEC Freshman of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year, SEC First Team, SEC All Freshman Team, and SEC Community Service Team.
13.
Nerlens Noel was the fifth Kentucky player under coach John Calipari to earn the honor from the USBWA, joining John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
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Nerlens Noel entered the 2013 NBA draft after playing one season at the University of Kentucky and was projected to be one of the top picks, with many considering Nerlens Noel the favorite to be picked first in the draft.
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Nerlens Noel was invited to sit in the "green room", a room of the projected top 10 to 15 collegiate basketball players during the draft and ended up being selected with the sixth overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans.
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Nerlens Noel joined the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2014 NBA Summer League.
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Nerlens Noel participated in the 2015 Rising Stars Challenge as part of the Team USA roster.
18.
On October 22,2016, Nerlens Noel was ruled out for three to five weeks due to an inflamed plica above his left knee that required surgery.
19.
Nerlens Noel scored eight points in 10 minutes off the bench before leaving the game in the second quarter with a left ankle sprain.
20.
On February 23,2017, Nerlens Noel was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Justin Anderson, Andrew Bogut and a 2017 protected first-round pick.
21.
On June 23,2017, the Mavericks tendered a $4.1 million qualifying offer to make Nerlens Noel a restricted free agent.
22.
On July 6,2018, Nerlens Noel signed a two-year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
23.
On November 25,2020, Nerlens Noel signed a one-year contract with the New York Knicks.
24.
On July 11,2022, Nerlens Noel was traded, alongside Alec Burks, to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for the draft rights to Nikola Radicevic and a 2025 protected second-round pick.
25.
On March 6,2023, Nerlens Noel signed a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets.
26.
On July 21,2023, Nerlens Noel signed with the Sacramento Kings, but was waived on September 12.
27.
Nerlens Noel has two older brothers and one younger sister; both of Noel's older brothers played for Division I college football programs.