Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. (, ; born February 18, 2001) is a Mexican-American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference.

Jaquez was named a consensus second-team All-American and voted the Pac-12 Player of the Year as a senior in 2023.

He earned three All-Pac-12 selections, including first-team honors twice.

Jaquez was also a two-time member of the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

He was selected by the Heat in the first round of the 2023 NBA draft with the 18th overall pick.

He is nicknamed ”Juan Wick” for his Mexican heritage and perceived resemblance to John Wick.

Jaquez is the son of Angela (née Sather) and Jaime Sr., who met while playing basketball at Concordia University.

Jaquez is the third generation of his family to have played college basketball; his paternal grandfather, Ezequiel, who came to California with his family from Mexico as a child, played at Ventura Community College and Northern Arizona University.

Jaquez was born in Irvine, California, and has a younger brother Marcos and younger sister Gabriela.

Jaquez grew up in Camarillo and attended Camarillo High School.

As a freshman, he averaged 15.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.6 steals per game and led the team to a 25–7 record and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) semifinals.

As a sophomore, Jaquez earned all-Ventura County second-team honors, averaging 24.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.6 steals per game, despite missing 12 games with an ankle injury.

Jaquez averaged 31.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 2.1 steals per game as a senior and helped the team finish 25–4 and win its first Coastal Canyon League title.

He earned first-team All-CIF Southern Section honors and finished his high school career with 2,653 points.

Jaquez broke the school single-game scoring record with a 54-point outing against Royal High School.

Jaquez was also a pitcher on the high school baseball team.

Jaquez was recruited to the University of California, Los Angeles, by then-Bruins' coach Steve Alford, who offered him a scholarship at the end of his junior year.

However, Alford was fired in 2018, replaced later by Mick Cronin, who had recruited Jaquez while coaching at Cincinnati.

Jaquez did not seriously pursue another school, and remained committed to UCLA.

He became a starter for the Bruins during the Maui Jim Maui Invitational in November 2019, after he scored 17 points and had 12 rebounds in a win against Chaminade on November 26.

On December 1, he scored a season-high 18 points in a 93–64 win over San Jose State.

He scored 18 points on February 27, 2020, and hit the game-winning three-pointer with 0.6 seconds remaining in a 75–72 win over Arizona State.

As a freshman, Jaquez averaged 8.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

He was named honorable mention Pac-12 All-Freshman team.

On February 18, 2021, Jaquez scored 25 points on his 20th birthday in a 74–60 win over Arizona, the Bruins' fifth straight in its rivalry with the Wildcats.

For the season, he was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection and was named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team.

In UCLA's First Four play-in game of the 2021 NCAA tournament, he led the Bruins in scoring with 27 points in a 86–80 overtime win against Michigan State.

UCLA advanced to the Final Four, losing to Gonzaga.

In 2021–22, Jaquez was restricted by ankle injuries throughout most of the season.

He suffered from synovitis in one ankle and began wearing braces on both ankles as a preventative measure.

He bounced back from a three-game stretch in mid-February 2022 in which he scored a combined 13 points.

On February 28, Jaquez scored a career-high 30 points in a 77–66 win over Washington.

In the following game, he scored 27 points in the regular-season finale against USC, helping UCLA end its five-game losing streak in their crosstown rivalry with the Trojans.

He was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week after averaging 28.5 points on 64 percent shooting along with 7.5 rebounds, as the Bruins clinched the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 tournament.

Jaquez was named to the All-Pac-12 first team and was voted again to the conference's defensive team.

He was one of five finalists for the Julius Erving Award, given to the top small forward in the country.

In the second round of the 2022 NCAA tournament, he scored 15 points in a 72–56 win over Saint Mary's, but exited the game and did not return after spraining his right ankle with seven minutes remaining in the second half.

He was averaging 20.5 points in his last eight games, with the Bruins going 7–1.

The stretch coincided with his being able to resume practicing, while UCLA's leading scorer, Johnny Juzang, was in a scoring slump.