LJ Cryer
Lionel Cryer Jr. (born October 9, 2001) is an American basketball player from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is also known as LJ Cryer. Cryer’s father, Lionel Sr., played college football as a linebacker for Grambling State, and his younger brother, Justin, played the same position at Royal High School in Brookshire, Texas, where his father served as defensive coordinator. Cryer is 1.83 m tall and weighs 91 kg. He played high school basketball at Morton Ranch in Katy, Texas.
Cryer’s college career spans from 2020 to 2025. He played for Baylor from 2020 to 2023 and then transferred to Houston, where he played from 2023 to 2025. During his college career, he won an NCAA championship in 2021 with Baylor. His performance earned him several accolades, including Third-Team All-Big 12 in 2023, Second-Team All-Big 12 in 2024, and First-Team All-Big 12 in 2025. In 2025, he was also recognized as Third-Team All-American by AP, USBWA, NABC, and SN. Throughout his career, Cryer played a significant number of games, with 31 games started in 2022-23, 37 in 2023-24, and 40 in 2024-25, totaling 111 starts and 147 games played by the end of his college career. He maintained solid statistics, with field goal percentages ranging from 0.411 to 0.476, and scoring averages increasing from 13.5 PPG in 2021-22 to 15.7 PPG in 2024-25. His free throw percentage was consistently high, reaching 0.895 in 2024-25, and his three-point percentage was strong, peaking at 0.424 in 2024-25. He averaged between 28.5 to 32.7 minutes on court per game.
In the 2025 NBA draft, LJ Cryer went undrafted. However, he signed with the Golden State Warriors as an undrafted free agent on an Exhibit 10 contract, which allowed him to compete in the NBA Summer League. This type of contract is a one-year, non-guaranteed minimum salary agreement with the potential for him to remain with the organization for the season or join its G-League affiliate. News in June 2025 highlighted his signing with the Warriors, with “The Daily Cougar” reporting on his Exhibit 10 deal and the opportunity it presented.
Despite signing with the Warriors, the team eventually waived Cryer in October 2025, before the start of the 2025-26 season. According to CBS Sports, this move was made on October 18, 2025, setting him up to join the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League. The Sporting News also reported on the Warriors cutting ties with the “24-year-old NCAA champion guard,” indicating he was deemed unworthy of a spot on the opening-night roster. This means that while he had a brief stint with an NBA team, his professional career is expected to continue in the G League.
