Jerome James

Jerome Keith James (born November 17, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Originally from Tampa, Florida, James played college basketball for the Florida A&M Rattlers for three seasons and was the national leader in blocks per game in the 1997–98 season, his junior year. James declared for the 1998 NBA draft after his junior year, and the Sacramento Kings selected James in the second round of the draft. Over the course of his career, he has played for the Kings, Seattle SuperSonics and New York Knicks. He has also played for KK Budućnost Podgorica and the Harlem Globetrotters.

Early life and college years James was born and raised in the neighborhood of Northview Hills Tampa, Florida, one of ten children. His father Jessie was a Port Of Tampa longshoreman and his mother Ruth, a Hillsborough County school teacher. After graduating from the Pentecostal Church of God Christian Academy of Winter Haven in 1993, James worked driving delivery trucks for Sunny Florida Dairy and also part-time at a local feed lot in the Tampa Bay Area and learned the meaning of hard work from his father. A friend of James's mother saw James playing pickup basketball at a community center and called Ron Brown, coach of the Florida A&M University Rattlers basketball team. Brown came and saw James's basketball skills and immediately offered James an athletic scholarship to Florida A&M.

James redshirted the 1994–95 season and played for Florida A&M from 1995 to 1998. In an interview with The Seattle Times, James said that meeting Shaquille O'Neal at an Orlando Magic practice inspired him to pursue a professional basketball career. In his junior season (1997–98), James led NCAA Division I basketball with 4.63 blocks per game. One class short of a pre-law degree, James declared for the 1998 NBA draft after his junior season.

Seattle SuperSonics (2001–2005) On September 5, 2001, James returned to the NBA and signed with the Seattle SuperSonics. In the season, James played 56 games with 40 starts and averaged 5.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.4 steals and scored on 49.1% of field goal attempts. James also led the team in blocks with 86. He arrived at his first training camp out of shape and in his first season he only averaged 3.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in 9 minutes per game. James missed much of the season due to injury and when he was not injured, he frequently played insignificant minutes. James was suspended on January 2, 2006, for not being prepared to practice.

James is often cited as one of many questionable signings by Knicks general manager Isiah Thomas. He is also sometimes cited as an example of the "contract year phenomenon", where an athlete with impending free agency plays at a higher level than he ever has before, only to return to his normal level of play once he signs a new long-term contract. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated wrote "James was a chronic underachiever who cashed in on a brief moment of excellence".

In the 2007–08 NBA season he played in only two games (January 18 and 21) for a total of five minutes, while earning a salary of $5.8 million. James made his only field goal shot and two free throws of the season at Washington. He played another 2 games the following season, scoring 6 points, but suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon injury.

On February 19, 2009, James was traded by the Knicks along with Tim Thomas and Anthony Roberson to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for Larry Hughes. James never played any minutes for the Chicago Bulls due to injury. He was waived by the Bulls shortly before the 2010 playoffs.

Puerto Rico James returned to professional basketball in 2012, signing with the Caciques de Humacao of the Puerto Rican BSN league on February 28. In 7 games, James made 43% of field goal attempts and averaged 9.1 points and 7.4 rebounds.

James returned to Puerto Rico in 2015, signing with Atenienses de Manatí. He was released by Atenienses on March 18 but stuck around with the club for a further three games pending the arrival of Ekene Ibekwe.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal

James's son Dallas James played basketball for four seasons at South Carolina State from 2020 to 2024, and transferred to Indiana University for the 2024–25 season.