Jerome Keith James (born November 17, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Originally from Tampa, Florida, James played college basketball at Florida A&M for three seasons and was the national leader in blocks per game in the 1997–98 season, his junior year. James declared for the 1998 NBA Draft after his junior year, and the Sacramento Kings selected James in the second round of the draft. Over the course of his career, he has played for the Kings, Seattle SuperSonics and New York Knicks. He has also played for KK Budućnost Podgorica and the Harlem Globetrotters. Early life and college years James was born and raised in the neighborhood of Northview Hills Tampa, Florida, one of ten children. His father Jessie was a Port Of Tampa longshoreman and his mother Ruth, a Hillsborough County school teacher. After graduating from the Pentecostal Church of God Christian Academy of Winter Haven in 1993, James worked driving delivery trucks for Sunny Florida Dairy and also part-time at a local feed lot in the Tampa Bay Area and learned the meaning of hard work from his father. A friend of James's mother saw James playing pickup basketball at a community center and called Ron Brown, coach of the Florida A&M University Rattlers basketball team. Brown came and saw James's basketball skills and immediately offered James an athletic scholarship to Florida A&M. James redshirted the 1994–95 season and played for Florida A&M from 1995 to 1998. In an interview with The Seattle Times, James said that meeting Shaquille O'Neal at an Orlando Magic practice inspired him to pursue a professional basketball career. With Florida A&M, James played 81 games with career averages of 16.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 4.48 blocks, with 49.5% on field goal attempts. In his junior season (1997–98), James led NCAA Division I basketball with 4.63 blocks per game. James was an All-MEAC selection in his sophomore and junior seasons. One class short of a pre-law degree, James declared for the 1998 NBA Draft after his junior season. Professional career Harlem Globetrotters and Sacramento Kings (1998–2000) The Sacramento Kings selected James in the second round as the 36th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft. Due to the NBA lockout, James played for the Harlem Globetrotters in the fall of 1998 in a nine-country tour of Europe. James joined the Kings once the NBA lockout ended in 1999. Playing 16