Hamilton Honey Badgers guard Jean-Victor Mukama walked into the 2020 CEBL Summer Series as a little-known product out of Ryerson whose biggest

claim to fame in Canada was being the last player cut in training camp by the Toronto Raptors NBA G League affiliate, Raptors 905, in October of 2019.

  Two weeks later, he left the series as a decorated All-CEBL First team honouree and was arguably the most improved player of the single-site

competition that brought all seven CEBL clubs to St. Catharines, Ont. to compete for the 2020 league championship.

  Mukama averaged a team-high 14.1 points and shot .488 from the floor in Hamilton’s eight games last summer. That breakthrough has the 6-foot-8 guard

entering the 2021 campaign as one of the CEBL’s brightest stars. His offence has obvious upside, but it was also Mukama’s versatility, athleticism, and ability to defend multiple positions that turned heads.

  “Coach told me last year to be confident and shoot my shots,” said Mukama. “Hearing that definitely sparked something in me. This year I’m going

into the season with that mindset from the jump.”

  “To me he’s what I would call a Swiss army knife in basketball,” said Honey Badgers head coach Ryan Schmidt. “You can do a lot of different things

with him because of his size, and skill set. It was just instilling confidence in him because he always had offensive ability. It was just getting JV to believe in

himself and telling him that he can be one of the top players in this league."

  For Mukama though, it took a little while for him to get fully into form last season. Schmidt and his coaching staff pushed Mukama to find that offensive

drive. It got to the point where Schmidt would stop practice during training camp last year and single out Mukama.

  “I would call him out to shoot the ball,” Schmidt said. “I would tell him you’re here to shoot. We want you to score. I’m going to be mad at you when you

don’t shoot.”

  Mukama probably won’t ever have a coach like that again, so it was definitely the perfect opportunity for him. He is forever grateful for his coaching

staff giving him that confidence boost.

  “They made me understand that they needed me to score, they just wanted me to shoot and be confident,” said the 26-year-old Hamilton native.

  “Once it clicked for JV you could see based on his performances he had ultimate confidence, and the green light to shoot,” said Schmidt. “He hit some

shots where if you’re not confident you wont be taking those shots let alone making them. It was great to see.”

  It was also the circumstances that allowed Mukama to blossom as a player. During the third game of the 2020 season Hamilton team captain Duane

Notice suffered an Achilles tendon tear, which opened things up for Mukama. Notice had been shouldering the offensive load for the Honey Badgers, but once he was out Mukama pounced at the opportunity.

  “I think when Duane went down, it gave me the green light to be more aggressive offensively,” said Mukama. “I just knew what Duane was bringing to

the team at the point, and when he went down, I knew there was a void that needed to get filled. I told myself I need to step up offensively.”

  Mukama took the humblest of approaches, he knew how important Notice was to the team, and his play in a way was out of respect for his fallen teammate.

  “I felt it would be kind of disrespectful if I didn’t step up with the same energy that Duane had. I just went out there with the mentality that he had,” said

Mukama.

  Honey Badgers General Manager Jermaine Anderson believes Mukama’s experience playing in the Raptors 905 training camp in 2019 helped him to

improve as a player.

  “I think it started in training camp with the 905 where he was one of the last cuts and played extremely well,” Anderson said. “Being there and realizing

he can play at that level I think helped propel him to transition that into the summer."

  “JV is extremely long, talented, he can score, and shoot the ball,” Anderson added. “The most important thing is he wants to work and get better.”

  Not only did Mukama train with the Raptors G League affiliate, but also after the 2020 Summer Series he took his talents to Aris Leeuwarden of the

Dutch Basketball League. To take that next step he acted as a sponge learning in every way he could while overseas. He believes he added more to his

offensive arsenal and developed a better understanding of what he’s looking for while playing on offence.

“I think I got better in reading the game in multiple positions,” he said. “I played at the point guard spot a lot. Overall, my basketball IQ went up, so I’m

excited to see how it’s going to translate over to this season.”

Hamilton Honey Badgers fans are also excited to see how JV continues to take his game to even greater heights as the 2021 season unfolds.