Marcus Capers

Marcus Jerome Capers (born December 21, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the London Lightning of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada). He played college basketball for Washington State.

Capers was born and raised in Winter Haven, Florida, a city in the central area of the state. His parents are Frankie and Gaynell Capers. In his childhood, he had hoped to become a basketball player and then a high school coach. Capers said, "Having played the game brings a different level of respect."

Capers attended Lake Region High School in Eagle Lake, Florida and played high school basketball under head coach David Saltman. As a freshman with Lake Region, Capers led the varsity team with 18 points per game and led them to a second-place finish at the Polk County championship. In his sophomore season, he averaged the second-most points and most rebounds on the team. Lake Region were district champions and regional runners-up that year, and Capers earn All-Polk County honors. He was named a captain as a junior and after averaging 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists per game, his team made an appearance at the district championship for the second straight season. Some of the honors he earned were 2007 Polk County News Chief All-Area Player of the Year, Lakeland Ledger First Team, and class 5A honorable mention. Before his senior season, Capers transferred to Montverde Academy in Montverde, Florida. By the end of the year, he was averaging 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists per contest. He garnered class 2A third-team All-State accolades and was named to the Vince Carter Shootout and Montverde Academy Invitational all-tournament teams. Montverde, as a team, finished the season with an undefeated 30–0 record and were ranked No. 4 nationally by USA Today. Montverde coach Kevin Sutton praised Capers by saying, "He’s a tremendous athlete who can slash and finish at the rim."

Entering college, Capers was rated a three-star recruit, the 10th best in Florida, and the 30th best in the Class of 2008 for his position by Rivals.com. He was interested in joining the college basketball programs at Clemson, George Washington, Ole Miss, Penn State, VCU, and Washington State. He received offers and visited the latter two schools but committed to Washington State on October 5, 2007. Junior Taylor Rochestie intentionally gave up his athletic scholarship, allowing an incoming freshman to join.

Capers made his freshman debut with the Cougars by posting a team-high 9 rebounds against Mississippi Valley State. He appeared in 32 games that season, the fourth-most by a Washington State freshman. By the end of the season, Capers was averaging 1.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists.

Capers started in 28 of his 31 games as a sophomore. On December 31, 2009, in a double-overtime loss to Oregon,

He attended Washington State University in college and played 135 games for the Cougars, the most contests a player from that school appeared in since George Hamilton about sixty years prior. Capers has competed with several professional teams since graduating, including Torpan Pojat and Osaka Evessa.