Darius Denayr Bazley is a professional American basketball player associated with Oklahoma City Thunder under the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Basketball is well-known for having a player of incredible heights; it’s no wonder basketball players’ lean physique seems like swinging wind.
Bazley is also known as one of the tallest basketball players, with a height of 6 feet 8 inches. But, if we see his game, he is a passing breeze with fast movement to catch.
He is famous for bypassing college to join the National Basketball Association (NBA) G League, which also garnered national attention.
During Darius high school, he was a consensus five-star recruit and in top rank in his state, making him gain entitlement of McDonald’s All- American honors in 2018.
Instead of joining the NBA G League, Darius decided to take the year off from professional basketball and utilize his break time to prepare for the NBA draft.
While Darius was preparing for the NBA draft, he simultaneously did an internship at New Balance (A shoe brand & shoe manufacturing Company).
Darius is just 20 years old and ‘A player on the rise and ‘A future of the NBA,’ so there is not much information to share.
But, Let’s check out his early life, how he marked his name in the basketball world at such a young age, his education, parents, net worth & social media presence. Let’s get started!
Quick Facts
Full Name | Darius Denayr Bazley |
Birth Date | June 12, 2000 |
Age | 24 Years Old |
Birth Place | Brockton, Massachusetts, United States of America |
Residence | Springfield, Ohio, United States of America |
Nickname | Baze |
Religion | Christianity |
Nationality | American |
Ethnicity | Black |
Education | Finneytown High School
Princeton High School |
Horoscope | Gemini |
Father’s Name | Not Known |
Mother’s Name | Lynitta Cowan |
Siblings | Four (Two brothers and two sisters) |
Siblings Name | Not Known |
Height | 6 feet 8 inches (2.03 m) |
Weight | 94 kg (208 lbs) |
Build | Lean physique |
Body Measurement | Chest Size: 40 inches
Biceps Size: 15 inches Waist Size: 32 inches |
Shoe Size | 13 (U.S.) |
Eye color | Light brown |
Hair Color | Black |
Profession | Basketball player |
Professional Debut | 2019 |
Merchandise | Rookie Card, Autographed Card |
Club | Oklahoma City Thunder |
Position | Small Forward, Power Forward |
Jersey Number | #7 |
Sexual Orientation | Straight |
Relationship Status | Unmarried |
Girlfriend | Not Known |
Net Worth | $2.3 million |
Social Media | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram |
Last Update | October, 2024 |
Darius Bazley | Early Life, Parents, Education & Horoscope
Darius was born on June 12, 2000, in Brockton, Massachusetts, in the United States of America.
He spent seven years of childhood in Brockton and then moved to Cincinnati with his family.
His mother’s name is Lynitta Cowan, and he has two sisters & two brothers.
There is not much information available about his family. Darius belongs to the black ethnicity and has faith in the Christianity religion.
He also posts an Instagram post about the gods’ belief, which means he keeps faith in the gods.
As of this article, Darius is 20 years old, and last attended Princeton High School in Sharonville, Ohio.
Similarly, Darius played his first two years at Finneytown High School. Later he bypassed college, intending to join the National Basketball Association G League.
The Birth Chart shows that Darius belongs to the Gemini horoscope. Some of Gemini’s characteristics are very experimental & likes to try out new things; they can learn quickly and are very indecisive. So, these traits quite match Darius’s behavior.
Darius was very experimental when he decided to take a gap year and pursue his internship in a new balance.
Similarly, he was pretty indecisive when choosing NBA G League or an internship in a new balance.
Darius Bazley | Basketball Career
Darius started his career in basketball when he was in high school. He played basketball for two years at Finney town high school; he showed incredible performance and drew various colleges’ attention.
Finally, Darius got an offer from Ohio State & attended Princeton high school.
During high school, Bazley was a consensus five-star recruit and top rank in his state. He also won McDonald’s All-American honors in 2018.
In their junior Campaign, Darius was listed as a top-ranked player in Ohio.
In July 2016, he got transferred to Princeton High School. Darius was sidelined for the first 11 games because of the transfer rule.
Similarly, in august, Bazley was rated a four-star recruit at Ohio State by 247 sports. Finally, on January 11, he debuted for Princeton.
After joining Princeton, he recorded 11 points, ten rebounds, five assists, and three steals in a loss.
Bazley revealed his reason for joining Ohio is to desire a big stage & significant exposure. In November, two months after joining Ohio, he signed a letter of intent to Syracuse.
On January 19, he accounted for a big win for the Princeton team with 24 points against top contenders Romeo Langford and New Albany High School in a nationally televised game.
Bazley was also a part of the Jordan Brand Classic and Nike Hoop Summit in April.
Darius Bazley | Professional Career
Big news drew national attention when Darius bypassed the college he signed to and committed to joining the NBA G League.
At that time, he was signed to Syracuse. He also hired sports agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group for NBA G league preparation.
Later, he decided to train on his while also doing an internship for New Balance for the 2019 NBA draft season.
Besides that, the basketballer’s defense improved immensely in the 2020-21 season. Furthermore, he seemed aggressive in his approach and even made a career-best point tally of 26 points.
Darius Bazley | Career Stats
Year | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
Playoffs | 7 | 0 | 18.0 | .419 | .500 | .900 | 6.7 | .9 | .0 | .4 | 6.6 |
Career | 116 | 64 | 24.5 | .395 | .309 | .700 | 5.5 | 1.2 | .4 | .6 | 9.4 |
You can learn more about his projections, game log, and box scores on Number Fire, ESPN, and NBA.
New Balance Internship
Bazley took a gap year and signed a five-year endorsement deal with the New Balance brand in October.
Bazley must meet specific requirements, such as winning the Rookie of the Year or final MVP, to justify the contract’s whole deal.
Now Bazley is associated with Oklahoma City for his rookie season. However, he says his New Balance internship helped him reach his current position.
New Balance has now started to manufacture the basketball shoe after forty years since endorsing James Worthy in the 1980s and tackling with basketball market.
He plans to work with New Balance even after the termination of his contract. The agreement between Bazley and New Balance has been beneficial for both parties.
After Darius Bazley, they also added Kawhi Leonard and manufacturing the OMN1S product sold out quickly.
Darius Bazley | New Balance Internship Highlights
On skipping college and joining an internship with New Balance, Darius told the New York Times, “This is my Risk. I will do it this way, and I will still succeed, even when others say I won’t.”
Sports agent Rich Paul quotes in an interview with ESPN, “It was the right thing for Darius Bazley to take up that internship.
As he might understand the Company’s business prospect that has a direct linkage to the sports.”
In a recent interview with ESPN, Darius said it was an excellent opportunity to have his New Balance internship.
Now, he is pursuing to take forward his academics, probably in Master of Business Administration (MBA), and has learned a lot about the professional culture.
Darius Bazley | Body Measurement & Playing Style
Darius has an incredible height of 6 feet 8 inches and looks like he is made up to play basketball. He has a lean physique weighing 94 kg.
Darius’s body measures 40 inches in the chest, 15 inches in the biceps, and 32 inches in the waist.
As a result, he requires 13 sizes of shoes. Similarly, he has light brown eyes and black hair.
Darius plays in small forward & power forward and is known for his fastest speed, clean finish & sharp shoot.
Sports agent Rich Paul often compares his style with the late Kobe Bryant. His tall height has also benefitted him as a forward.
Darius Bazley | Net Worth, Earnings, and Endorsements
It has not been more than two years of Darius’s professional basketball debut, but he seems to have collected a large sum of worth already.
Various articles have estimated his net worth at $2.3 million.
There is a rare provision of incentives to the players during high school, so this is the sum he accumulated in two years.
Besides basketball, he signed an endorsement contract with New Balance worth up to $14 million with $1 million guaranteed.
At just 20 years of age and a short period, Darius has successfully raised his career and net worth.
Furthermore, he is represented by LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul. Hence, we can say that the player is in good hands.
Not to mention, Darius has even been in LeBron’s House with other rookies and played basketball with him and his son.
Darius Bazley | Social Media Presence
Darius Bazley is not so active in the usage of social media. He is on Instagram as @dariusbazley and has more than 100k + followers.
Darius usually shows off his stylish outfits on his posts and shares some basketball-related posts on Instagram.
In addition to that, some promotional kinds of stuff for the New Balance shoe.
Similarly, Darius is on Twitter as @Bazley Darius and has more than 16k + followers. On the contrary to Instagram, he posts and tweets about basketball stuff on Twitter.
Two weeks ago, a short documentary called ‘Gap Year’ was released on YouTube, where many sports analysts talked about Darius Bazley’s decision to take the gap year, its pros, and cons. So, where could it lead him?
Darius has talked about why he chose to take this internship & how it has benefitted him.
Below is the Gap Year documentary trailer based on the real-life event of Basketball player Darius Bazley. Please have a look at it!
Darius Bazley | FAQs
Is Darius Bazley injured?
Yes, the basketballer recently sustained a shoulder injury that caused him to miss almost a month of the 2020-21 season. Nevertheless, he is well recovered as of now.
Is Darius Bazley in for a trade?
As of now, there is no definite news regarding his trade. However, the Thunders don’t want to lose him anytime soon.