Kenneth Lofton Jr.’s journey continues with NBA’s Utah Jazz
Published 12:20 am Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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Port Arthur’s Kenneth Lofton Jr. has a new professional basketball home.
On Monday, The Utah Jazz announced the signing of Lofton.
Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released, according to NBA.com. In a related move, the team has waived forward Otto Porter Jr.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Lofton is signing a three-year non-guaranteed contract.
The 2023-24 season has been a well traveled one for the former Louisiana Tech University and Memorial High School star.
Lofton recently played 11 games with 11 starts with the Delaware Blue Coats, the G League affiliate the Philadelphia 76ers.
He averaged 26.4 points per game on 54.8 percent shooting with 8.9 rebounds per game.
Lofton burst on the professional basketball scene in 2022-23 as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies’ G League affiliate.
In 17 appearances in 2022-23 in the regular season, Lofton averaged 20.2 points per game, 10.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.2 steals.
Lofton scored 20+ points in eight games and 30+ points twice, including a career-high 33 points against Delaware on Feb. 3, 2022.
He was named to the 2023 Jordan Rising Stars as a member of the NBA G League team and also participated in the NBA G League NEXT Up game on Feb. 19, 2022.
Undrafted out of Louisiana Tech in the 2022 NBA Draft, Lofton signed a two-way contract with the Memphis Grizzlies on July 2, 2022.
Lofton began the 2023-24 NBA season on the Grizzlies roster and played in 15 games, scoring 2.6 points per game over 6.6 minutes per game.
The Grizzlies waived Lofton Dec. 18, 2023, to make room for the return of star guard Ja Morant, who had been suspended since the start of the season.
He was named the 2022-23 G League Rookie of the Year and selected to the All-Rookie First Team and All-G League First Team after appearing in 17 games (15 starts), averaging 20.2 points on 54.1 percent from the field, along with 10.4 boards, 3.9 assists, and 1.2 steals in 28.5 minutes per contest.
Additionally, he represented the United States at the 2021 FIBA U19 World Cup in Latvia, where he helped the team earn a gold model while averaging 13.1 points on 64.9 percent shooting and 5.3 rebounds in seven games.