Former NBA player Earl Boykins using basketball to give back
EL PASO, Texas (BVM) — At 5-foot-5, Earl Boykins played for over a decade in the NBA. He’s now continuing to teach the game he loves so much as an assistant coach at the college ranks.
High school career
Boykins’ basketball career started on a high note, especially during his senior year of high school. At Cleveland Central Catholic High School, Boykins averaged 24.6 points a game, 4.4 assists, and more than 5 steals. He led Cleveland Central to a regional finals appearance and a 23-2 overall record (best in the school’s history) that season. Boykins was even dropping 50-point games, but his height was one thing holding him back from being recruited by some of the top basketball programs in the nation.
College career
It’d be easy for one to assume why Duke or North Carolina wouldn’t recruit a high school basketball player listed at 5-foot-8. But Boykins’ play on the court and, more importantly, his attitude toward the recruitment process proved those programs wrong. As his recruitment started, only two schools took an interest in his talents, Eastern Michigan and Iowa. However, Iowa would later take back the scholarship offer.
That left the offer from Eastern Michigan and then head coach Ben Braun. Boykins accepted the scholarship, and for four years, he’d helped EMU basketball thrive in the 90s.
“I’m either going to look like a genius or incredibly stupid,” Braun told Sports Illustrated.
Boykins made Braun look very smart, especially with his play in his junior and senior years. During his junior year, in 1996, Boykins led EMU to the NCAA Tournament, where they beat No. 8 ranked Duke 75-60.
Boykins and the Eagles would make it to the NCAA Tournament again in 1998 when they faced off against No.4 ranked Michigan State. Although they would fall to the Spartans, the season was successful for the team, especially for Boykins. He averaged 26.8 points a game that season (2nd best in college basketball). Boykins also finished with 624 career assists, which is still the all-time record at EMU.
After a successful college career, Boykins entered the 1998 NBA draft, where he went undrafted. Still, he would find a way to make his skills useful in the NBA or anywhere he could professionally.
Professional career
Following the 1998 NBA Draft, Boykins found himself without a team. Boykins ultimately signed short-term contracts with several NBA teams, including the Magic, Nets and Cavaliers. However, in 2003 what team was willing to take a shot on Boykins and his skills? That team ended up being the Denver Nuggets. Denver gave him a five-year, $13.7 million deal.
In just one season, it took Boykins to make history. On Nov. 11, 2004, Boykin scored 32 points which made him the shortest player in NBA history to score 30 or more points in a game. Spud Webb scored 30 the last time.
He continued to thrive with the Nuggets until he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in Jan. 2007. After finishing the season there, he opted out of his contract. Boykins would sign with the Charlotte Bobcats halfway through the 2007-08 NBA season.
Following the 2007-08 NBA season, Boykins became an unrestricted free agent. He could have signed it with any NBA team that showed interest. Still, he decided to head overseas and play in Italy for Virtus Bologna.
With Bologna, Boykins signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract, making him the highest-paid player in Serie A. Boykins lived up to the contract as he averaged 16.3 points in 31.7 minutes, shooting 46.4%.
He helped Bologna win the EuroChallenge Cup in 2009, but ultimately, he would find himself without a basketball job after the season. But it didn’t last too long.
The Washington Wizards came calling after Gilbert Arenas was suspended. Boykins would play the rest of the season in Washington until he signed a one-year contract with the Milwaukee Bucks the following season.
He averaged 7.5 points and 2.9 assists in 42 games with the Wizards.
Following the season in Milwaukee, Boykins would head to Houston to play for the Rockets on a 10-day contract in 2012. It’d be the last time Boykins ever stepped foot on an NBA court.
Where is Boykins now?
Boykins is currently coaching at UTEP. However, before moving to UTEP he was coaching with Eric Musselman at the University of Arkansas. Boykins played for Musselman in Golden State and Orlando. There he served as Director of Student-Athlete Development. He’s now currently serving as an assistant coach.
To this day, Boykins remains the second shortest player to play in NBA history. Now he’s doing what he can to show current and future basketball players that nothing can hold them back.
“I just always knew that I could play in the NBA because the game was never hard for me,” Boykins told Mile High Sports.com. “The hardest part about the NBA was overcoming other people’s prejudice about my height and size. I overcame that by just performance alone. I was viewed as a player who shot the ball a lot. My response to that was if you’re a player who is 5-foot-5 and average four points and two assists, you don’t play more than 30 games total in the NBA. Now, if you average 14 points a game, then people recognize you. So, my standards have always been different from everybody else’s.”
