St. Catharines, ON – The Niagara River Lions announced today the signing of 6’9 American forward Antonio Lee “AJ” Davis presented by Deep Relief . The 27-year-old from Burford, Georgia will join the team for the 2022 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) season after most recently playing for the Nurnberg Falcons of the German Pro A League, where he averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
“AJ is easily one of the most versatile players in this league,” said Antwi Atuahene, Head of Basketball Operations and Co-General Manager of the River Lions. “He has an extremely high basketball IQ and takes pride in leading by example. He can play all 5 positions on the floor offensively and defensively. We are excited to have AJ in a River Lions uniform.”
Davis began his collegiate career at the University of Tennessee and transferred to University of Central Florida (UCF) after his freshman year. In three seasons with the Knights he averaged 10.8 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Over the course of his career, Davis scored 1030 points (33 at Tennessee, 997 at UCF) and finished 8th in UCF history with 633 rebounds and 7th with 319 made free throws. He earned Second Team All-Conference honours from NBC Sports and was named to The American Weekly Honour Roll five times during his senior year.
Davis comes from a basketball family, where his father, Antonio, was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft (45th overall). He went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA with Indiana, Toronto, Chicago, and New York before becoming President of the NBA Players Association and now an analyst for ESPN. A.J.’s twin sister, Kaela, plays for the Atlanta Dream of the WNBA.
Davis began his professional career in 2018 with KB Prishtina of the Kosovo Basketball Superleague, where he averaged 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists. He went on to play for the Brisbane Bullets of the NBL Australia before returning home to the United States for a short stint with the Delaware Blue Coats and then the Stockton Kings, both of the NBA G League. In 2020, Davis signed with BC Lulea of the Swedish Basketligan and then Charilaos Trikoupis Mesologiou in the Greek A2 Basket League.
Davis becomes the third American signed for the upcoming season after Khalil Ahmad and EJ Onu, and will join returning River Lions Daniel Waldin-Mullings, Jake Babic, Jaylen Babb-Harrison, Olu Ashaolu, and Phil Scrubb, along with Tidjan Keita and Alonzo Walker.
“Firstly, I’d like to say thank you to this club,” said Davis. ��I’m always appreciative of another opportunity to play the game I love. I’m looking forward to getting started with the team and most importantly winning games.”
The Niagara River Lions are one of the original six teams of the CEBL. Playing out of Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines, the River Lions represent the twelve municipalities of the Niagara Region while living up to the River Lions moniker of pride and strength of community. Season tickets, voucher & marquee match-up packs, group tickets and single game tickets are on sale now. Visit www.riverlions.ca/tickets for more information.