Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. responds to CJ Stroud’s bold basketball claim

Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. pushed back on the notion that Texans quarterback CJ Stroud once scored 40 points on him in high school.

Miami Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. on Friday pushed back on the notion that Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud once scored 40 points on him in a high school basketball game.

Stroud said recently on “The Edge” podcast with Micah Parsons that he dropped 40 points and hit the game-winning shot against Jaquez and Camarillo High School as a junior at Rancho Cucamonga High School. He said the game took place at the varsity level.

But Jaquez didn’t remember it quite like that.

He addressed the claim on Friday at NBA All-Star Weekend ahead of the Rising Stars game in Indianapolis, Indiana. He admitted Stroud hit the game-winner against his team, but he didn’t sign off on him scoring 40 points in the contest.

I don’t think he had 40, but I will give him that he definitely hit the game-winner. That is true: He hit a crazy game-winner (from) halfcourt. The crowd did rush the court. I’m wishing him all of the best from SoCal. I hope he does well.

Stroud may have embellished his side of the story. His coach, Bill Burke, told Sporting News that Stroud actually finished with 28 points that game. Burke went back and found the stat sheet from that game.

Stroud was the second-leading scorer on his team that year. Burke believes Stroud had enough talent to be a Division I player, but the 22-year-old eventually focused solely on football. He attended Ohio State and was the second pick last year in the NFL draft by the Texans.

Jaquez was selected with the 18th pick last year by the Heat. He has emerged as one of the rookies and is among 11 first-year players selected to compete in the Rising Stars game. He will also participate in the Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday.

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