New Orleans Pelicans guard, former Taft High star and USC player Bryce Dejean-Jones shot to death

Bryce Dejean-Jones, a star basketball player at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, who also played at USC and for the New Orleans Pelicans, was shot and killed Saturday moing when he broke into an Dallas apartment he thought belonged to an ex-girlfriend but instead surprised a stranger. He was 23.

Dejean-Jones kicked open a door to an apartment at 3:20 a.m., which awakened a man living there, according to Dallas police. The man grabbed a gun and called out but got no response. When Jones kicked the bedroom door, the man shot Dejean-Jones in the stomach. Dejean-Jones ran out of the apartment and collapsed in a breezeway. He later died at a local hospital, police said.

“We are devastated at the loss of this young man’s life who had such a promising future ahead of him,” the Pelicans said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Bryce’s family during this difficult time.”

Dejean-Jones’ agent, Scott Nichols, told CNN that the player flew to Dallas for his daughter’s first birthday. Nichols said Dejean-Jones never visited his girlfriend’s new apartment and went to the unit directly below her.

Despite not being drafted last year, Dejean-Jones averaged 5.6 points and 3.4 rebounds last season and recently signed a three-year, $2 million contract with the Pelicans. He scored a career-high 17 points against the Lakers on Feb. 4.

“Bryce inspired countless people with his hard work and perseverance on his jouey to the NBA, and he had a bright future in our league,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in the statement.

Dejean-Jones was well known in the Southe Califoia basketball scene and was named City Section Player of the Year his senior year at Taft, when he averaged 16.9 points and 7.5 rebound. He led Taft to the third round of the Division I state playoffs.

He spent his freshman season at USC, where he started the first 10 games and averaged 11.2 points. But his playing time dwindled and his relationship with then-coach Kevin O’Neill soured when he allegedly refused to go into a game against Oregon State. Dejean-Jones also got into an altercation with a teammate and confrontation with a resident advisor at his USC dormitory. He said he experienced hazing on the team.

Dejean-Jones transferred to UNLV and averaged 11.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per in two seasons. But he said he left the program after falling out with a teammate. He transferred to Iowa State and averaged 10.5 points per game in the 2014-15 season.

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