R. J. Hunter

Ronald Jordan Hunter (born October 24, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for College Park Skyhawks of the NBA G League. Hunter played college basketball for the Georgia State Panthers under the direction of his father and Georgia State head coach, Ron Hunter. There, he was twice named Sun Belt Player of the Year as well as the Sun Belt Conference Male Athlete of the Year. He holds the school record for most career points with a total of 1,819 after just three seasons of play.

High school career

Hunter attended Pike High School in Indianapolis averaging 20.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.9 steals per game as a senior. That year he led Pike to the Indiana State Championships, ending as a runner up, and in the process earned All-Marion County First Team, a conference player of the year award and an Indiana All-Star mention.

College career

Hunter played three seasons for Georgia State University under his father and head coach, Ron Hunter. After his junior season, he declared for the 2015 NBA draft.

Freshman season

Hunter recorded a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in his collegiate debut against No. 8 Duke. He also scored 20 or more points 12 times during his freshman season, leading GSU in scoring 15 times. He earned Kyle Macy Freshman All-America honors, CAA Rookie-of-the-Year, All-CAA First-Team and CAA All-Rookie Team after becoming the most prolific freshman scorer in Georgia State University history. Hunter finished the year with a school-record 527 points (17 PPG) and was one of just three freshmen in the country to average at least 17.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Sophomore season

Hunter's trend of record setting continued into the rest of his career at GSU. Overall, he averaged 18.4 PPG, scoring 604 for the season and became the first Panther to make 100 3-pointers in a single season. That 3-pointer count was No. 16 in the NCAA. Hunter was excellent from the free-throw line, setting the school record in single-season average by hitting 88.2 percent (No. 1 percentage in the Sun Belt and No. 17 in the NCAA that season). As a part of that effort, he also set a school-record 38-straight free-throws made. On defense, Hunter finished second in the Sun Belt and 49th in the NCAA with his 63 steals.

Many know Hunter from seeing highlights of his clutch buzzer-beater in the second round of the 2015 NCAA tournament, but hitting a shot like that was nothing new for him. In his sophomore year, Hunter scored a career-high 41 points against UTSA, making a school single-game-record 12 3-pointers. The 12 3-pointers were also the most in the country during the year and set a new Sun Belt Conference record. In another game that year, he hit the game-winning shot with 11.1 seconds to play against Arkansas State. Another clutch shot came in a game in which Hunter scored 31 points including a huge 3-pointer with seven seconds left at UT Arlington to send the game to overtime.

Hunter was named Sun Belt Conference Basketball Player of the Year as well as the Sun Belt Conference Male Athlete of the Year. He was also named the Men's Georgia College Player of the Year by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

Junior season

In his final season at GSU, Hunter averaged a career-high 19.7 points, scoring a school-record season total of 688 points (a school-record he broke each season). He also averaged 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. In addition, he made 202 free-throws (No. 7 in the NCAA that year), second-most in school history, while swiping 75 steals, third-most in a single-season in program history. The most noteworthy record he set was total-career-points. Midway through just his third season, Hunter overtook Rodney Hamilton's record of 1,515 points with a basket in front of a GSU home crowd against UL Lafayette on January 24, 2015. Hunter finished the year with a career-total of 1,819 points.

The Panthers finished the 2014–15 season as the Sun Belt Conference regular season and tournament champions. With their Sun Belt Tournament championship win over Georgia Southern, the Panthers received a bid to the NCAA Tournament. In the round of 64, No. 14-seed Georgia State trailed the No. 3-seed Baylor by 12 points with just 2:53 to play. Hunter took over and scored 12 of the Panthers' final 13 points, including a 30-foot 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds remaining to secure their electrifying come-from-behind win. The moment was selected as No. 2 in the NCAA's top 10 moments of the tournament, was included in the "One Shining Moment" montage following the championship game, and was one of three nominees for the 2015 Best Upset ESPY Award.

Hunter was again named both Sun Belt Conference Basketball Player of the Year and the Sun Belt Conference Male Athlete of the Year. R.J. was also the only player from a school in Georgia to be named to the Naismith Trophy watch list that season.

College statistics

College records

• All-time Georgia State University leader in points (1,819)
• All-time Georgia State University leader in free-throws made (448); in free-throw percentage (.853); in consecutive free-throws made (38)
• All-time Georgia State University leader in 3-pointers made (253)
• Single-season Georgia State University leader in 3-pointers made (100, 2013–14)
• Single-season Georgia State University leader free-throw percentage (.882, 2013–14)
• Single-game Sun Belt Conference leader in 3-pointers made (12)
• Single-game Sun Belt Conference leader in free-throw percentage (1.000 16-16, 2015)

Professional career

Boston Celtics (2015–2016)

On June 25, 2015, Hunter was selected with the 28th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics. On July 27, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Celtics. After averaging just 2.8 points per game over his first eight NBA games, Hunter scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting off the bench against the Atlanta Hawks on November 24. During his rookie season, Hunter received multiple assignments to the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics' D-League affiliate. On October 24, 2016, Hunter was waived by the Celtics.

Chicago Bulls (2016)

On October 27, 2016, Hunter signed with the Chicago Bulls. He was waived by the Bulls on December 29, 2016 after appearing in three games. During his time with Chicago, he had multiple assignments to the Windy City Bulls of the NBA Development League.

Long Island Nets (2017)

On January 6, 2017, Hunter was acquired by the Long Island Nets of the NBA Development League. Four days later, he made his debut for Long Island in a 120–112 loss to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, recording 22 points, three assists and two steals in 25 minutes off the bench.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers (2017–2018)

After failing to find a team to participate in training camp under the preseason, he would be assigned to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on October 24, 2017. Hunter made his debut with the team on November 4.

Erie BayHawks (2018–2019)

On January 14, 2018, Hunter signed a two-way contract with the Houston Rockets. On August 18, 2018, Hunter was waived by the Rockets.

On September 7, 2018, Hunter signed with the Atlanta Hawks. On October 13, 2018, Hunter was waived by the Hawks. Hunter was added to the training camp roster of the Erie BayHawks. In his BayHawks debut, Hunter scored a game-high 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting in a win over the Grand Rapids Drive.

Türk Telekom (2019–2020)

On June 27, 2019 he signed with Türk Telekom of the Turkish Basketball Super League.

College Park Skyhawks (2020–present)

On February 7, 2020 he signed with College Park Skyhawks of the NBA G League and an affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association. He missed a game against the Greensboro Swarm on February 28 with an illness.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Personal life

Hunter is the son of Ron Hunter and Amy Hunter. His godfather is Ron Harper, who played with his father at Miami University in Ohio before going on to win five titles over the course of his 15-year NBA career with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers. Hunter is the youngest of his parents' two children. He and his older sister, Jasmine, are very close.