Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Taylor Hendricks was born November 22, 2003, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is a center in the NBA. 

Hendricks entered his freshman season at UCF as the Knights' starting power forward. On November 8, 2022, he opened the season with a 23-point, 2-steal and 3-block effort against UNC Asheville. He was named the American Athletic Conference (AAC) Rookie of the Week for a conference record four consecutive weeks (November 21 through December 12). The only other player to win the American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week award three weeks in a row was Austin Nichols. When Hendricks won his sixth American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week on January 16, 2023, he tied Jalen Duren, Precious Achiuwa and Dedric Lawson for the conference single-season record. On February 6, Jarace Walker won his sixth AAC Rookie of the Week award, tying the group. Hendricks won for a seventh (February 13), eighth (February 27), and ninth time (March 6) to move ahead of the pack and up his career-high to 25 points on February 26 against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Hendricks was named to the All-AAC 2nd team and the All-Freshman team. Following the end of the season he entered the 2023 NBA draft and signed with an agent, forgoing the remainder of his collegiate eligibility.

The Utah Jazz selected Hendricks with the ninth overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft. Hendricks became the highest NBA draft pick, the first lottery pick, and the first one-and-done player in UCF history.