Jamal Mashburn

Jamal Mashburn is a retired American professional basketball player. Nicknamed the "Monster Mash," Mashburn was a prolific scorer as a small forward in his 12 seasons in the league, with a career scoring average of 19.1 points per game. After attending Cardinal Hayes High School in The Bronx, Mashburn had a very successful basketball career in college, playing for the University of Kentucky. He was the fourth-leading career scorer for the Wildcats and a consensus First Team All-American by his junior year, in which the Wildcats made it to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. Following the tournament he declared for the 1993 NBA draft, with Mashburn being selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the fourth pick.

Mashburn's best overall NBA season took place in the 2002-03 season, and he played in all 82 games averaging 21.6 points per game. He played in his first and only All-Star game, scoring 10 points in the 2003 NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta, won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month award in March and made the All-NBA Third Team. The season also featured some high scoring games for Mashburn, including a 50-point performance against Memphis on February 21 and a 40-point game against Orlando on March 26. The Hornets won 47 games and faced the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the playoffs, but Mashburn played in only four games of the series which went to six games. Mashburn, who averaged 20.8 points per game in 2003-04, is one of only six players since 1970 to have averaged at least 20 points per game in his final NBA season.

Since retiring from basketball, Mashburn has worked for ESPN as an analyst and launched a number of successful business ventures.