Marcus Lee

Marcus Andrew Lee was born on September 14, 1994, in San Francisco, California, and grew up in the Bay Area alongside his three older brothers. He attended Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California, where he excelled in basketball. During his junior year, Lee averaged 13.9 points, 13.1 rebounds, 9.1 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game. In his senior season, he further developed, averaging 17.7 points, 19.5 rebounds, and 6.7 blocks per game, leading Deer Valley to the 2013 CIF North Coast Sectionals championship. His high school performance earned him recognition as a consensus top 20 player in the 2013 class, and he participated in both the McDonald’s All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic, also being named a First-team Parade All-American.

Lee continued his basketball career at the University of Kentucky, committing in 2012. He was part of a highly touted recruiting class and initially played behind other talented centers. A turning point came during the 2014 NCAA Tournament’s Elite 8 game against Michigan, where he stepped up due to an injury to a teammate, scoring 10 points, grabbing 8 rebounds (7 offensive), and making two blocked shots without committing any fouls or turnovers. This performance earned him a spot on the Midwest Regional All-Tournament team. After three seasons with Kentucky, playing in 25, 39, and 36 games respectively, and averaging 6.4 points and 6.0 rebounds in his final collegiate year with the Wildcats, he transferred to the University of California for his redshirt senior season. There, he started all 32 games, averaging 11.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and 1.3 assists per game, achieving the eighth-highest single-season blocks in the school’s history with 52.

Following his collegiate career, Lee entered the professional arena in 2018. He joined the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the NBA G League for the 2018–19 season, averaging 8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. He played a second stint with the Skyforce in 2019–20, improving his averages to 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game. Lee’s international career includes playing for Vanoli Cremona in Italy (2020–21), Semt77 Yalovaspor in Turkey (2021–22), Leones de Ponce in Puerto Rico (2022), Bàsquet Manresa in Spain (2022), Melbourne United in Australia (2022–23), Pallacanestro Reggiana in Italy (2023), and the Tasmania JackJumpers (2023–24), where he won an NBL championship. He subsequently rejoined Melbourne United for the 2024–25 NBL season and is set to play for Wilki Morskie Szczecin in Poland in March 2025, and the Cairns Taipans in Australia for the 2025–26 NBL season.