Earl Boykins

Earl Antoine Boykins (born June 2, 1976)^[2] is an American professional basketball player who is currently playing for the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA. Standing at 5 feet, 5 inches in height, he is the second shortest player in NBA history behind Muggsy Bogues, who was 5 feet, 3 inches tall.^[2] His NBA listed weight is 133 pounds. Despite his light weight, he is reportedly able to bench press 315 pounds.
High school
Boykins played high school basketball at Cleveland Central Catholic High School in Cleveland's Slavic Village.

[edit] College

Boykins played college basketball at Eastern Michigan University from 1994 to 1998. He earned All-Mid-American Conference first-team honors in his junior and senior year. Also, during his senior season, Boykins was second in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in scoring, with an average of 26.8 points per game. He holds the career record for total assists (624) at Eastern Michigan University.^[2]

[edit] Pro Career

[edit] NBA

Boykins was never drafted by an NBA team, but he was signed to short-term contracts by various NBA teams. The organization he spent the most time with was the Denver Nuggets, as he played for them from the 2003-04 season to about midway through the 2006-07 season. On November 11, 2004, Boykins scored 32 points in a 117-109 Nuggets' home win over the Detroit Pistons, making him the shortest player in NBA history to score 30 or more points during a game.^[3]

[edit] Italy

Following the 2007–08 NBA season, Boykins was an unrestricted free agent. Instead of signing with an NBA team, he decided to play basketball in Europe, as he signed a one-year, $3.5 million net income contract with Virtus Bologna of the Italian A League.^[4] The one-year deal made Boykins the highest-paid basketball player in the Italian League and included income from Bologna's sponsorship and marketing arms, which is not an option for NBA players because of salary-cap restrictions.^[5]
On December 26, 2008, it was announced by Virtus general manager Claudio Sabatini that Boykins was cut from the club due to behavioral issues after Boykins flew home to the United States in order to see his sick son.^[6][7] However, a few days later it was announced that Boykins was staying with the club.^[8][9] In June 2009 he was released by Virtus.

[edit] Return to NBA

Boykins signed with the Washington Wizards in November 2009, making his return to the National Basketball Association. Boykins was a much needed addition to the Wizards, after guards Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton were suspended for the remainder of the current season after a misdemeanor gun possession charge stemming from a locker room incident. In the December 2, 2009, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Boykins sank two free throws to clinch the Wizards' victory.
On August 19, 2010, the Bucks signed him to a 1 year deal.^[10]

[edit] Career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

[edit] Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1998–99	New Jersey	5	0	10.2	.476	.200	.000	.8	1.2	.2	.0	4.2
1998–99	Cleveland	17	0	10.0	.345	.154	.667	.8	1.6	.3	.0	2.6
1999–00	Orlando	1	0	8.0	.750	.000	.000	1.0	3.0	.0	.0	6.0
1999–00	Cleveland	25	0	10.1	.473	.400	.783	1.0	1.8	.5	.0	5.3
2000–01	LA Clippers	10	0	14.9	.397	.125	.824	1.1	3.2	.5	.0	6.5
2001–02	LA Clippers	68	2	11.2	.400	.310	.770	.8	2.1	.3	.0	4.1
2002–03	Golden State	68	0	19.4	.429	.377	.865	1.3	3.3	.6	.1	8.8
2003–04	Denver	82	3	22.5	.419	.322	.877	1.7	3.6	.6	.0	10.2
2004–05	Denver	82	5	26.4	.413	.337	.921	1.7	4.5	.9	.2	12.4
2005–06	Denver	60	0	25.7	.410	.346	.874	1.4	3.8	.8	.1	12.6
2006–07	Denver	31	4	28.3	.413	.373	.908	2.0	4.3	.8	.1	15.2
2006–07	Milwaukee	35	19	33.0	.427	.419	.886	2.2	4.5	.9	.0	14.0
2007–08	Charlotte	36	0	16.0	.355	.318	.831	.9	2.7	.4	.0	5.1
2009–10	Washington	67	1	16.7	.427	.317	.865	1.1	2.6	.4	.0	6.6
Career		587	34	20.4	.416	.347	.878	1.4	3.3	.6	.0	9.1

[edit] Playoffs

<>

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003–04	Denver	5	0	24.2	.444	.357	.857	2.4	3.8	1.0	.2	13.4
2004–05	Denver	5	1	30.4	.397	.000	.895	1.0	3.8	.8	.2	14.2
2005–06	Denver	5	0	28.0	.322	.211	.765	1.4	4.0	.8	.0	11.0
Career		15	1	27.5	.389	.225	.837	1.6	3.9	.9	.1	12.9