Royce O'Neale

Royce Khalil O'Neal was born in Killeen, Texas in 1993. O'Neal broke out as a high school basketball player at Killeen's Harker Heights, where he averaged 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a senior. That year, he led Harker Heights to a 28-6 record and a Texas 5A regional quarterfinals appearance, all while setting school records for career rebounds with 364 and recording 18 double doubles. O'Neale moved on to play the first two years of his collegiate basketball career at the University of Denver before finishing up with two more years at Baylor University. At Baylor, the general studies major was named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll in both seasons he played there. O'Neale was named to the Academic All-Big 12 Team as a senior and made the Dean's List in the Spring of 2015. Since matriculating to the NBA, O'Neal has worked to spread a zest for basketball in his hometown of Killeen, and in 2019, he hosted a youth basketball camp at the Harker Heights gym. You can follow O'Neal on Twitter (@bucketsoneal00) and Instagram (@rolls_royce00). O'Neale played two seasons at Baylor after transferring from the University of Denver. He averaged 10.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game during the 2014-15 season. O'Neale ranked 11th in rebounds per game in the Big 12. O'Neale helped the Baylor Bears to the program's first-ever back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2014 and 2015. In his first season with Baylor (2013-14), he helped lead the team to the 2014 Big 12 Tournament Championship Game, which they lost to Iowa State. The Killeen, Texas resident averaged 11 points and 9.5 rebounds in the 2014 Big 12 tournament. O'Neale played professionally in Germany and Spain following his college career before signing with the Utah Jazz in July 2017 due to a clause existing in his contract with Lithuanian club Zalgiris Kaunas, a team that would've been his third franchise in Europe.