_by_Sandro_Halank%25E2%2580%2593062.jpg) Howard withBaskonia in 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| No. 0 – Saski Baskonia | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Shooting guard | ||||||||||||||
| League | Liga ACB EuroLeague | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1999-03-03)March 3, 1999 (age 26) Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 175 lb (79 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | |||||||||||||||
| College | Marquette (2016–2020) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 2020:undrafted | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 2020–present | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| 2020–2022 | Denver Nuggets | ||||||||||||||
| 2021–2022 | →Grand Rapids Gold | ||||||||||||||
| 2022–present | Baskonia | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||
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Stats at NBA.com  | |||||||||||||||
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Markus Anthony Howard (born March 3, 1999) is an American professionalbasketball player forSaski Baskonia of the SpanishLiga ACB and theEuroLeague. He playedcollege basketball for theMarquette Golden Eagles, where he was a two-timeAll-American and led the nation in scoring in the 2019–20 season.
Howard began his high school career atPerry High School inGilbert, Arizona. As a freshman, he started in the backcourt with his brother and averaged 23 points per game, leading his team to the state semifinals.[1] He committed toArizona State following his freshman season.[2] After a sophomore season where he averaged 32.4 points per game, Howard decommitted from Arizona State and reopened up his recruitment.[3]
For his junior season, Howard transferred to national basketball powerFindlay Prep inHenderson, Nevada.[4] During his junior season at Findlay Prep, where he led the team in scoring, Howard announced that he wouldreclassify to the class of 2016 and signed withMarquette.[5]
As a freshman at Marquette University, Howard entered the starting lineup and averaged 13.2 points per game and led the country inthree-point shooting at 54.7%. He was named to the 2017Big East Conference All-Freshman team.[6][7] As a sophomore, Howard became one of college basketball's top scorers. On the season, Howard averaged 20.4 points per game and was named second-team All-Big East.[8] He also finished the season with theNCAA's second-bestfree throw percentage (93.8%).
Going into his junior season of2018–19, Howard earned national preseason recognition, appearing on the watch lists for theWooden Award, theNaismith Award and theBob Cousy Award for toppoint guard. Howard was also selected preseason first-team All-Big East.[9] In Marquette's non-conference schedule, Howard recorded two 45-point games, against ranked teamsKansas State andBuffalo. In the Buffalo win, Howard scored 40 of his total in the second half.[10] He scored a career-high 53 points in an overtime win overCreighton on January 9, 2019, breaking a Big East single-game record.[11]
Howard became Marquette's all-time leading scorer when he contributed 38 points in an 88–53 victory againstLoyola (Md.) in the team's season opener of his senior year. He was named Big East player of the week on November 11, 2019.[12] On November 29, Howard scored 51 points in a 101–79 win overUSC. He became the third player to score 50 points in a game in three straight seasons, joiningWayman Tisdale andPete Maravich. In addition, since he scored 40 points in the previous match, he joined Maravich,Johnny Neumann, andBob Pettit as the only players in major conferences to score 40 points on back-to-back days.[13] Howard sat out a game againstJacksonville on December 4 with a concussion.[14] On February 12, 2020, Howard scored 24 points and had five rebounds and two assists in a 72–71 loss toVillanova. He became the Big East's all-time leading scorer in league games, surpassingLawrence Moten's 1,405 points.[15] At the conclusion of the regular season, Howard was unanimously selected to the First Team All-Big East.[16] Howard averaged 27.8 points and 3.3 assists per game as a senior.[17]During his time at Marquette University, Howard accumulated 2761 points.
After going undrafted in the2020 NBA draft, Howard signed atwo-way deal with theDenver Nuggets[18] whose official announcement was released on November 30, 2020.[19] On May 13, 2021, Howard scored a career-high 15 points in a 114–103 win over theMinnesota Timberwolves.[20][21] He re-signed with the Nuggets on a new two-way contract on August 15, 2021.[22] Howard appeared in 31 games and had two 20-point performances during the 2021–22 season.[23]
On July 17, 2022, the Spanish clubBaskonia announced the signing of Howard into a two-year deal.[24] In October 2022, Howard became the eighth player ever to score 30 points or more in back-to-back games in theEuroLeague.[25] He scored 33 points againstPartizan on October 14, 2022, and 30 points againstCrvena zvezda on October 19, 2022.[26][27]
On October 4, 2023, Howard signed a new contract with Baskonia through 2026 and on May 14, 2024, he agreed upon a further extension through 2028.
Howard has represented the United States inFIBA play on two occasions. In 2015, he was a member of the gold medal-winning US team in the2015 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship. Howard then won a gold medal at the2016 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Zaragoza, Spain.[28] In the U17 tournament, Howard averaged 11.9 points and 2.6 assists per game.[29]
| 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 | PIR | Performance index rating |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | Denver | 37 | 1 | 5.5 | .377 | .277 | .778 | .6 | .5 | .1 | .0 | 2.8 |
| 2021–22 | Denver | 31 | 0 | 5.7 | .386 | .400 | .870 | .4 | .2 | .3 | .0 | 4.1 |
| Career | 68 | 1 | 5.6 | .382 | .341 | .844 | .5 | .4 | .2 | .0 | 3.4 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Denver | 9 | 0 | 12.4 | .405 | .423 | .500 | .8 | .4 | — | .1 | 4.7 |
| Career | 9 | 0 | 12.4 | .405 | .423 | .500 | .8 | .4 | — | .1 | 4.7 | |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–23 | Baskonia | 33 | 16 | 20.5 | .400 | .365 | .886 | 1.4 | 1.2 | .6 | — | 14.2 | 8.4 |
| 2023–24 | 39 | 18 | 23.0 | .431 | .400 | .837 | 1.2 | 1.6 | .5 | .0 | 19.5* | 11.0 | |
| 2024–25 | 32 | 18 | 22.4 | .372 | .339 | .850 | 1.3 | 1.5 | .3 | — | 12.1 | 6.8 | |
| Career | 104 | 52 | 22.0 | .40.7 | .374 | .856 | 1.3 | 1.5 | .5 | .0 | 15.5 | 8.7 | |
| * | Led the League |
| Year | Team | League | GP | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 |  Grand Rapids Gold | G League | 2 | 25.4 | .367 | .368 | 1.000 | 4.5 | 3.5 | — | — | 16.5 |
| 2022–23 |  Baskonia | ACB | 32 | 19.1 | .463 | .424 | .777 | 1.1 | 1.3 | .6 | — | 16.5 |
| 2023–24 | Baskonia | ACB | 30 | 22.3 | .439 | .410 | .893 | 1.3 | 1.3 | .6 | — | 19.4* |
| 2024–25 | Baskonia | ACB | 34 | 23.5 | .391 | .383 | .822 | 1.7 | 1.2 | .9 | — | 15.0 |
| * | Led NCAA Division I |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–17 | Marquette | 31 | 27 | 22.0 | .506 | .547 | .889 | 2.2 | 2.3 | .8 | .1 | 13.2 |
| 2017–18 | Marquette | 34 | 31 | 31.5 | .464 | .404 | .938 | 3.2 | 2.8 | 1.0 | .1 | 20.4 |
| 2018–19 | Marquette | 34 | 34 | 33.5 | .420 | .403 | .890 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 1.1 | .0 | 25.0 |
| 2019–20 | Marquette | 29 | 29 | 33.2 | .422 | .412 | .847 | 3.5 | 3.3 | .9 | .0 | 27.8* |
| Career | 128 | 121 | 30.1 | .444 | .427 | .882 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 1.0 | .0 | 21.6 | |
Howard's older brotherJordan Howard played college basketball forCentral Arkansas and was the 2018Southland Conference Player of the Year. The brothers were teammates for one season at Perry High.[30] He is of Puerto Rican descent.[31]
Howard is very public about his Christian faith. Howard explained the reason why he wears number 0 by saying, "First and foremost, I'm a Christian before anything else. I'm a son [of God], so I want to be sure that my number meant something and it represented something. It truly represents that without my relationship with Christ, I feel like I am not the person that I'm meant to be."[32] In 2018, Howard started aFellowship of Christian Athletes club at Marquette.[33]Mother is Noemi Santana HowardFather is Clarence "Chuck" Howard
Both Markus Howard (15 points) and Vlatko Cancar (14) enjoyed career-highs and helped offset Karl-Anthony Towns' 20-point, 11-rebound effort for Minnesota.
