Jimmer Fredette

Jimmer Fredette: biography

James Taft Fredette (better known as Jimmer Fredette) is an American basketball player that at the current moment is a part of Phoenix Suns. He has also played for Sacramento Kings (2011–2014), Chicago Bulls (2014), New Orleans Pelicans (2014–2015), Westchester Knicks (2015–2016), New York Knicks (2016) and Shanghai Sharks (2016–2019).

James has been developing in basketball since childhood, and his success became admitted especially after the match between BYU and San Diego State when his team won.

Childhood and youth

James was born in Glens Falls, New York; he was the youngest of three children in his family. His mother, Kay, wanted to give him a special nickname and she started to call him Jimmer.

Since childhood, the kid showed some talent in athletics. His older brother TJ taught him to play basketball before kindergarten. Jimmer has often played with TJ and TJ's friends on their backyard. Although Jimmer was the youngest kid on the field, he could make a three-point field goal and find some ways to get ahead the rivals.

His other relatives were also supportive. His father, Al, has been taking Jimmer to Hartford and New York City for some competitions, his mother, let her son play basketball in the house and built a special studio for training. Lee Taft, Jimmer's brother, has been training with the young sportsman a lot and they still work together.

In high school, Jimmer was one of the nation's top 75 shooting guards (by ESPN.com). He was called first-team all-state by the New York State Sportswriters Association, and that's not the end of the list of his achievements. After graduation, he got offers from twelve schools and eventually chose to go to BYU – Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

College basketball career

At BYU James studied American civilization. While playing in the BYU Cougars men's basketball team, his jersey number was 32. In 2007 – 2008 he played in 35 games, his average score was 7.0 points per game. Next season, he was a part of 33 games; James was the first in steals (1.5) and assists (4.1) and second in scoring (16.2 points per game). He became BYU's first point guard who earned the first team all-conference honors, the latest sportsman who did this was Marty Haws in 1990. In 2009 – 2010 James upgrades his skills again, and his average score became 22.1 points per game. He was thinking of entering the draft after the junior year, but he decided to stay and play in a senior year.

Speaking about Fredette’s success during the senior year, he became the co-captain of his team (other captains were Jackson Emery and Logan Magnusson). Jimmer was the national leader in the number of points per game. In 2010, he went to Glens Falls, his hometown, to play Vermont Catamounts men's basketball team, and his arrival attracted around 6 300 people who were almost the half of the town's population (14 354). In 2011, there was a match between BYU and Utah, and Fredette scored 47 points which were a season-high. Also that year, Jimmer receiver the name of both the Mountain West Conference's player of the year and the CBSSports.com National Player of the Year.

In 2011, Fredette’s team was lucky to beat San Diego State which was previously called undefeated. Jimmer scored 43 points, and the match ended with 71-58 result in favor of BYU. The video of this game was broadcasted, and after that, the attention to J. Fredette became incredible high. His name has even become a verb: those who were beaten by Jimmer were considered "Jimmered." Barack Obama said about him: “Unbelievable. Best scorer obviously in the country. Great talent”.

Professional basketball career

After the senior year at BYU, Milwaukee Bucks, an American professional basketball team, selected Jimmer for the 2011 NBA draft. In the match, in February 2014 he beat the famous New York Knickerbockers with the score 106 – 101. After that, Milwaukee Bucks made a deal with Sacramento Kings, who bought out the contract with Fredette.

That period of time, when Jimmer became really successful and recognizable, was called “Jimmermania." Thanks to him, there was a 540 % increase of merchandise sales of Sacramento Kings. His jersey “No. 7 Kings” was sold out both offline and online.

After that, Jimmer has been signing and re-signing a lot of contracts. Let’s see:

For the end of the 2013–2014 season, he was with the Chicago Bulls. There are no vast Bulls highlights because that time was a Derrick Rose era and Jimmer didn’t work with them that much. In summer 2014, the New Orleans Pelicans got him, then, in a year he signed with the San Antonio Spurs who removed him in autumn. That season, he was picked by Westchester Knicks. After that, he re-signed with the Pelicans just for a week; they needed help because of a big amount of members' injuries.

At the end of 2015, Fredette was again with the Westchester Knicks. On January 2016, he was named to the East All-Star team for the 2016 NBA D-League All-Star Game. In February he got a 10-day contract with the N. Y. Knicks. In March Knicks didn’t offer him a second contract and made him a free agent. Also that month, he was taken back to the Westchester Knicks.

In summer 2016, Fredette got a contract with the Shanghai Sharks, a basketball team in China that belongs to the CBA. Next year, he got 73 points in the 135–132 double-overtime loss to Zhejiang Guangsha Lions. His average score made him the first in the CBA. Jimmer has been with the Sharks for three years.

This year, in spring, Fredette signed a contract with Phoenix Suns for two years. Speaking about money, Jimmer’s salary at Phoenix Suns is $1,988,119 for the 2019–2020 season. Besides that, Fredette has his own merch; for instance, he released new shoes this spring – shoes 361 Degree.

Career stats

Let’s summarize the career results of Jimmer Fredette. When he was in Shanghai Sharks, he played 82 games, and his average score was 37.6 points per game (in 2016–2017) and 36.9 (in 2017–2018). From 2011 to 2016, Jimmer has played for Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, and New York Knicks. The total amount of his games during this period is 235, and the average score is 6.0 points per game.

Personal life

In 2012, Jimmer married Whitney Wonnacott, a cheerleader; he announced the news on his Twitter. In 2017, Whitney was giving birth to their first child, Wesley; Jimmer missed the first game in the CBA playoffs and went to Denver to be with his wife. Then he returned and got his team 39 points and, eventually, they won. The latest news about Fredette and Wonnacott is that they just had the second baby, at the end of March 2019. They named their kid Taft.

If we speak about opinions that consider James, we can hear a lot of positive words. Lots of NBA players (and not only they) say that Fredette puts his heart in the game; he is aggressive and ambitious while he’s playing. The most popular phrase that is said about James is that he is the best scorer in the world, and if we look at the results of his matches, we can make sure of that. Jimmer's biggest fan is still his older brother, TJ, who, by the way, wrote a song named Amazing and it’s dedicated to Jimmer.

At present, Jimmer's net worth is amounted at $2 million.

Achievements

We suggest you look at Fredette’s career highlights:

• 2010 – Third-team All-American – NABC, TSN
• 2011 – National college player of the year; Consensus first-team All-American; NCAA Division I scoring leader; MWC Player of the Year and Senior CLASS Award
• 2016 – All-NBA D-League Second Team; NBA D-League All-Star; NBA D-League All-Star Game MVP
• 2017 – CBA International MVP
• 2017 (also 2018 and 2019) – 3 × CBA All-Star
• 2019 – CBA season scoring leader