Jahmai Mashack
Jahmai Hasan Mashack is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association, on a two-way contract with the Memphis Hustle of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers and was selected by the Houston Rockets with the last pick in the second round of the 2025 NBA draft.
Early life and high school career
Mashack was born on November 10, 2002, in Riverside, California. His father, Elton, was a first-team All-West Coast Conference performer in basketball for the Loyola Marymount Lions, while his mother, Meika, competed in track and field for the UNLV Rebels. At age four, he battled Guillain–Barré syndrome, which he recovered from but required years of physical therapy. He attended Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga and was a top basketball player there, excelling on defense. He helped Etiwanda to the CIF Southern California Regional final as a junior and as a senior helped them to the title while being named the Cal-Hi Sports State Senior Player of the Year, the Baseline League Player of the Year and to the Los Angeles Times All-Star team. Ranked a four-star shooting guard prospect and a top-80 recruit nationally, he committed to playing college basketball for Tennessee.College career
As a freshman for the Volunteers in 2021–22, Mashack appeared in 27 games while playing 4.6 minutes per game. He was part of an NCAA Tournament team as a freshman. The following year, he started 13 of 36 games and averaged 4.7 points. He also started all three of Tennessee's NCAA Tournament games, averaging 6.7 points in those games. As a junior in 2023–24, Mashack averaged 4.5 points and 3.1 rebounds while starting eight games and contributing to the team's Southeastern Conference regular season championship. In his last year, he started all 38 games and helped Tennessee reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, averaging six points and 4.2 rebounds. During his collegiate career, he won 109 games for the Volunteers, including nine in the NCAA Tournament, a team-record.Although Mashack did not have significant scoring at Tennessee, he was considered one of the top defensive players in the nation. The Knoxville News Sentinel described him as a "master at knowing an opponent's strengths and weaknesses offensively" and he was often tasked with guarding opponents' best players. In his last year, he ranked fourth nationally in Defensive Box Plus-Minus and was selected to the SEC All-Defensive team, as well as named a finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award. In March 2025, he received Tennessee's Torchbearer award, the highest honor for school students.