James Blackmon Jr. Signs Pro Contract in Turkey

Blackmon was playing in Italy for the previous two years, but he's excited for his opportunity to play in Turkey.

Dylan Wallace | Oct 17, 2020

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Former Indiana guard James Blackmon Jr. has found his next basketball destination.

According to Ben Stinar of Forbes, Blackmon has signed a contract to go play for Beşiktaş J.K. in Istanbul, Turkey.

Blackmon will be heading to Turkey on Sunday.

James Blackmon Jr. tells me he signed the contract and is headed to Istanbul, Turkey on Sunday to play for Beşiktaş J.K. https://t.co/ua9suhleZ5
— Ben Stinar (@BenStinar) October 16, 2020

""I've put in a lot of work this summer," Blackmon told Stinar. “I'm excited for the next step in the journey."

The last two years, Blackmon has played professional basketball in Italy. He went overseas after going undrafted in 2017.

Blackmon spent some time on the Philadelphia 76ers' Summer League team, where he had some impressive performances. He played well enough to where he earned a training camp contract with them on Aug. 30, 2017. But, he was then waived on Oct. 14.

His professional career came after an impressive three-year stint at Indiana. Blackmon, who played high school ball at Marion, was a part of the cream and crimson from 2014-2017.

He averaged 16.3 points per game over his three years with Indiana while shooting 41.5% from three. He also helped the Hoosiers reach two NCAA Tournaments.

With this recent signing, Blackmon joins a number of former Indiana players set to play professionally overseas this season.

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