Know Your Team: Jaylen Bland
Sudbury Five
6'3
Guard
From Reseda, California
2019 Newcomer of the Year
Jaylen Bland has gone from humble beginnings to one of the star players for both the Sudbury Five and in the NBL Canada.
Having been named to the All-Ohio First Team while playing for Cleveland High School, Bland joined the Murray State Racers in 2012. He played on average just over six minutes per game, but reached the third round of the NCAA Division 1 tournament with the western Kentucky outfit.
Bland then moved on to the COC Cougars in Santa Clartia, California, where he won the Western State Conference championship and was named to the state's first team. The following season he stayed in California, but returned to the NCAA, joining the UC Riverside Highlanders.
In just two seasons with the Highlanders, he set the team record for made three-pointers with 213, 118 of which were made in senior year alone. This total in itself was a team record, and saw him finish third in the nation for threes, as well as leading his team in scoring and steals the same season. He made the Big West second team twice and averaged 13.4 points per game during his UC Riverside tenure.
Bland's professional career began with his being chosen fifteenth overall by the Salt Lake City Stars in the 2016 NBA D-League Draft. He appeared in 39 games for Salt Lake City in the 2016-17 D-League season, starting in 10, and finished on 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Bland then split the 2017-18 season with Culiacan in Mexico and Contern in Luxembourg, for the latter he averaged 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 20 games. In the off-season, he became part of the first team of the newly-formed Sudbury Five, his first NBL Canada team.
He made an incredible statement with 43 bench points in his first appearance. He did not look back after hitting the ground running in Sudbury, and played a big part in their high-flying inaugural season, appearing in 33 games and averaging 19.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest.
After playing for the Fraser Valley Bandits in the off-season, Bland re-joined the Five for the 2019-20 season. After making a great first impression season, he built on it his second year, leading the league with an outstanding 24.2-point scoring average. This included three forty-point performances, the highest being 46 against the Island Storm on February 29th.
Sudbury seems to have a way of bringing out the best in their players; after making a star of Braylon Rayson in 2018-19, Jaylen Bland has seen a massive improvement in all areas which has seen him become a big contender for the MVP award.
