Kevin Capers
{{short description|American basketball player}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Kevin Capers
| image =
| caption =
| position = Point guard / shooting guard
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 2
| weight_lb = 170
| league = Liga Leumit
| team = Maccabi Rehovot
| number = 13
| nationality = American
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1993|5|2|mf=y}}
| birth_place =
| high_school = Lake Wales (Lake Wales, Florida)
| college = Florida Southern (2011–2015)
| draft_year = 2015
| career_start = 2015
| career_end =
| years1 = 2015–2017
| team1 = Westchester Knicks
| years2 = 2017
| team2 = Halcones de Ciudad Obregón
| years3 = 2017–2018
| team3 = CSU Sibiu
| years4 = 2019
| team4 = ÍR
| years5 = 2019–2020
| team5 = Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim
| years6 = 2020–2021
| team6 = Atomerőmű SE
| years7 = 2022–2023
| team7 = Maccabi Ironi Ramat Gan
| years8 = 2023–2024
| team8 = Trepça
| years9 = 2024–present
| team9 = Maccabi Rehovot
| highlights =
- Kosovo Superleague champion (2024)
- Liga Unike champion (2024)
- Kosovo Cup (2024)
- CIBACOPA champion (2017)
- NCAA Division II champion (2015)
- NCAA Division II Tournament MVP (2015)
}}
Kevin Jerome Capers (born May 2, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for Maccabi Rehovot of the Liga Leumit. He played college basketball for Florida Southern College before playing professionally in the NBA G League, Mexico, Romania, Iceland, Israel and Kosovo.
Early life and college career
Capers attended Lake Wales High School in Lake Wales, Florida, where he averaged 8.9 points and 7.0 assists per game from his point guard position. Capers helped the Highlanders to go 31–3 win district and regional titles, and finish as the 2011 5A state runner-up to Dwyer High School.{{cite news | url=https://fscmocs.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/capers_kevin_bcdl | title=Kevin Capers - Florida Southern College | work=FSCMocs.com | access-date=October 25, 2019 }}{{Dead link|date=May 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Capers played college basketball at Florida Southern College, where averaged 17.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game during his four years playing for Florida Southern, he led the Moccasins to the NCAA Division II National Championship as a senior as he earned the Finals MVP and All-tournament team honors.
Professional career
=Westchester Knicks (2015–2017)=
Capers went undrafted in the 2015 NBA draft. On October 31, 2015, Capers was selected with the 57th pick of the 2015 NBA Development League draft by the Westchester Knicks.{{cite news | url=https://gleague.nba.com/news/2015-nba-d-league-draft-board/ | title=2015 NBA D-League Draft Board | date=October 31, 2015 | work=NBA.com | access-date=October 25, 2019}} In 48 games played during the 2016–17 season for the Knicks, he averaged 8.9 points, 2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
=Obregón (2017)=
On May 20, 2017, Capers signed with Halcones Ciudad Obregón of the Mexican CIBACOPA.{{cite news | url=https://fscmocs.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20170524ukqwh1 | title=Capers Inks Pro Deal in Mexico | date=May 24, 2017 | work=FSCMocs.com | access-date=October 25, 2019 | archive-date=October 25, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025100121/https://fscmocs.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20170524ukqwh1 | url-status=dead }} On July 5, 2017, Capers recorded a season-high 32 points, while shooting 11-of-18 from the field, along with three rebounds and three assists in a 94–101 loss to Rayos de Hermosillo.{{cite news | url=https://basketball.realgm.com/international/boxscore/2017-07-05/Rayos-de-Hermosillo-at-Halcones-Ciudad-Obregon/268313 | title=Rayos de Hermosillo 101 at Halcones Ciudad Obregon 94 | date=July 5, 2017 | work=RealGM.com | access-date=October 25, 2019}} In 25 games played for Obregón, he averaged 16.1 points and 5.4 assists per game as a complement to forward Glen Rice Jr. and his 28.1 points per game. The Hawks toppled the Hermosillo Rays 111–100 in Game 6 of the league finals to clinch the title.
=CSU Sibiu (2017–2018)=
On August 25, 2017, Capers signed with CSU Sibiu of the Romanian Liga Națională.{{cite news | title=BC CSU Sibiu signs Kevin Capers | url=http://archive.sportando.basketball/en/europe/romania/245155/bc-csu-sibiu-signs-kevin-capers.html | date=August 25, 2017 | work=Sportando | access-date=October 25, 2019}} In 11 games played for Sibiu, he averaged 10.8 points and 1.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 40.6 percent from three-point range.
=ÍR (2019)=
On January 3, 2019, Capers signed with ÍR of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild.{{cite news | title=Kevin Capers signed deal with BC IR from Iceland | url=http://www.guerrillabasket.com/blog/kevin-capers-signed-deal-with-bc-ir-from-iceland/ | date=January 3, 2019 | work=GuerrillaBasket.com | access-date=October 25, 2019}} In 24 games played for ÍR, he finished the season as the league second-leading scorer with 22.3 points, to go with 4.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2 steals per game. Capers led his team to the Úrvalsdeild Finals, where they eventually lost to KR in a five-game series. He missed the fifth and deciding game of the series after breaking a bone in his arm in game four.{{cite news |author1=Henry Birgir Gunnarsson |title=Kevin Capers er handleggsbrotinn |url=https://www.visir.is/g/2019190509605 |accessdate=25 October 2019 |work=Vísir.is |date=3 May 2019 |language=Icelandic}}
=Hapoel Ramat Gan (2019–2020)=
On October 16, 2019, Capers signed a one-year deal with Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim of the Israel National League.{{cite news | url=http://www.guerrillabasket.com/blog/kevin-capers-signed-1-year-deal-with-israel-team-hapoel-ramat-gan/ | title=Kevin Capers signed 1 year deal with Israel team Hapoel Ramat Gan | date=October 16, 2019 | work=GuerrillaBasket.com | access-date=October 25, 2019}} On October 22, 2019, Capers set an Israeli State Cup-record 57 points, while shooting 20-of-32 from the field in a 94–104 loss to Hapoel Haifa in the first round.{{cite news | title=צפו: 57 נקדוות לקייפרס בהפסד ר"ג/גבעתיים להפועל חיפה | url=https://www.sport5.co.il/HTML/Articles/Article.415.326301.html | date=October 22, 2019 | work=Sport5.co.il | access-date=October 25, 2019 | language=he}} He finished as the top scorer in the league with 24.2 points per game, and recorded 4.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
=Atomerőmű (2020–2021)=
On August 8, 2020, Capers signed with Atomerőmű SE of the Hungarian League.{{cite web |last1=Gabor |first1=Winter |title=Atomeromu lands Kevin Capers, ex H.Ramat Gan |url=https://www.eurobasket.com/Hungary/news/639592/Atomeromu-lands-Kevin-Capers,-ex-H.Ramat-Gan |website=Eurobasket |accessdate=August 24, 2020 |date=August 8, 2020}}
=Trepça (2023–2024)=
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://fscmocs.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/capers_kevin_bcdl Florida Southern Moccasins bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191025100119/https://fscmocs.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/capers_kevin_bcdl |date=2019-10-25 }}
- [https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Kevin-Capers/Summary/35198 RealGM profile]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Capers, Kevin}}
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Iceland
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Israel
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Mexico
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Romania
Category:American expatriate basketball people in Kosovo
Category:American men's basketball players
Category:Basketball players from Polk County, Florida
Category:Florida Southern Moccasins men's basketball players
Category:Halcones de Ciudad Obregón players
Category:Hapoel Ramat Gan Givatayim B.C. players
Category:ÍR men's basketball players
Category:Sportspeople from Winter Haven, Florida
Category:Úrvalsdeild karla (basketball) players
Category:Westchester Knicks players