BIOGRAPHY
Ben McLemore III was born on February 11, 1993, in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a shooting guard in the NBA.
McLemore played high school basketball at Wellston High School in St. Louis, Missouri for three years, before his school was shut down in 2010. He then attended both Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, and Christian Life Center in Humble, Texas during his senior year of high school.
Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, McLemore was listed as the No. 9 shooting guard and the No. 34 player in the nation in 2011. At the beginning of his college career, McLemore was considered to be either a late first-round or early second-round prospect. However, during his first season as a redshirt freshman, McLemore averaged 15.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.0 assists, with 49.5% shooting from the field and 87% shooting from the foul line and was named a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award.
McLemore was selected with the seventh overall pick by the Sacramento Kings in the 2013 NBA draft. On July 13, 2013, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Kings and joined them for the 2013 NBA Summer League. He was named the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for November 2013. In his rookie season, he played all 82 games (55 starts), averaging 8.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 26.7 minutes per game.
He started in all 82 regular-season games for the Kings in 2014–15 while averaging 12.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 32.6 minutes per game.
On July 7, 2017, McLemore signed a multi-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies. On July 17, 2018, McLemore was traded, along with Deyonta Davis, a 2021 second-round pick and cash considerations, to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Garrett Temple. On February 7, 2019, McLemore was waived by the Kings.
On July 23, 2019, McLemore signed with the Houston Rockets.
On December 5, 2019, McLemore led the Rockets in scoring with a season-high 28 points, on top of career-best 8-of-17 shooting from behind the three-point arc in a 119–109 win against the Toronto Raptors. On December 7, 2019, McLemore finished with 27 points on 10-of-15 field goal shooting (5-of-9 from beyond the arc) in a 115–109 win against the Phoenix Suns, which is the first time he has contributed more than 25 points in consecutive games in his career. On April 3, 2021, the Rockets waived McLemore.
On April 6, 2021, McLemore signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. On April 8, he made his debut in a loss against Miami Heat, scoring 6 points off the bench.
