Even at age 36, former UTM men’s basketball superstar Lester Hudson is still getting buckets.
Hudson, who stormed onto the national scene as a Skyhawk in 2007, passed his former Washington Wizards teammate Yi Jianlian for the most points in Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) history after another spectacular performance today. The Memphis, Tennessee native poured in 24 points to up his career total to 11,842 points in his 10th season playing in the CBA – a league that was formed in 1995 and is considered the premier professional league in Asia.
The 6-3 combo guard is in his second season with the Shandong Heroes, who are currently 19-11 and sit in fifth place in the 19-team CBA standings. Hudson is averaging 23.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.9 steals per contest so far this season and just last month, he garnered back-to-back triple-doubles (27 points, 17 rebounds, 11 assists against Liaoning; 37 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists at Guangzhou).
Over the last decade, Hudson has emerged as one of the best players in Asia. He claimed CBA International Most Valuable Player accolades in back-to-back seasons (2013-14, 2014-15), becoming the only player to ever win that award twice. He was also named the CBA Finals MVP in 2017-18 after leading the Liaoning Flying Leopards to its first-ever CBA championship. He is averaging 28.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.5 steals per outing in his CBA career.
Hudson was a two-time All-American, two-time Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Male Athlete of the Year and two-time OVC Player of the Year from 2007-09 at UTM. As a senior, he helped lead the Skyhawks to a school-record 22 wins, their first-ever OVC regular season championship and first postseason appearance (NIT) at the Division I level.
In only his third career game in a UTM uniform, Hudson compiled the first quadruple-double in NCAA Division I history with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals against Central Baptist on Nov. 13, 2007. He also shattered the OVC record for three-pointers made (124) as a junior. The next season, he set the OVC record for most points in a single season (880), ranking second nationally in scoring with 27.5 points per game (trailing only Davidson’s Stephen Curry, who would eventually become a two-time NBA MVP).
Hudson became the first Skyhawk to ever be selected in the NBA Draft when the Boston Celtics chose him in the second round (58th overall) in 2009. He played four seasons in the NBA with the Boston Celtics (2009-10), Memphis Grizzlies (2009-10, 2011-12), Washington Wizards (2010-11), Cleveland Cavaliers (2011-12) and Los Angeles Clippers (2014-15) before joining the CBA.
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