Jalen Harris Signs With CEBL Team, Will Apply For NBA Reinstatement

Former NBA second-round pick Jalen Harris signed this week with the Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, the team announced in a press release.

The Shooting Stars, an expansion team in the CEBL, will begin their season on Thursday night and play 20 games over the course of the season, which wraps up with the playoffs in August. Harris is one of a handful of notable signings made by the Scarborough club, which also added rapper J. Cole and shooting guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who appeared in five NBA games for the Grizzlies in 2018.

Since the CEBL schedule doesn’t overlap with the NBA season, Harris would still have an opportunity to go to training camp with an NBA team this fall, but he’ll need to be reinstated to the league first. The former Nevada guard, who will turn 24 in August, was dismissed and disqualified from the NBA last year after violating the terms of the league’s anti-drug program.

Harris intends to apply for reinstatement once he’s eligible to do so on July 1, he said during an appearance this morning on Sportsnet 590 The Fan in Toronto (Twitter link via Blake Murphy). He believes that application will be approved based on the treatment and aftercare he has undergone, as prescribed by the league.

The 59th overall pick in 2020, Harris spent his first professional season on a two-way contract with the Raptors, then signed with Vanoli Cremona in Italy for the 2021/22 campaign following his suspension from the NBA.

He averaged 7.4 PPG on .500/.472/.778 shooting in 13 NBA games (13.2 MPG) and put up 17.6 PPG on .457/.500/.667 shooting in seven NBAGL contests (29.4 MPG) as a rookie in ’20/21. In 18 games in Italy, he led Vanoli Cremona with 13.8 PPG, but his shooting percentages dipped to .385/.295/.700.

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