Looking to end concerns around its perimeter players, the Bruins inked a guard on their first day without Malcolm Lee.
De’End Parker signed with UCLA on Wednesday, the start of the NCAA spring signing period. The 6-foot-6-inch, 215-pound Parker, who spent the last two years at City College of San Francisco, will have two years of eligibility as a Bruin.
“He will give us immediate help as a transfer with the loss of our starting wings (Lee and Tyler Honeycutt),” coach Ben Howland said of Parker in a statement. “He is a very good athlete and a great competitor, but most of all, he is an outstanding young man that will represent UCLA to our expectations in all aspects.”
Parker, who averaged 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and one steal per game for CCSF last season, originally committed to California in late February but confirmed to the Los Angeles Daily News less than two weeks later that he had flipped to UCLA.
“When UCLA offered me a scholarship, I was really excited, and I knew it was a no-brainer after speaking with my family,” Parker said in the statement.
“I have spoken to the UCLA coaches and know that I can come in and make an immediate impact.”
Parker will provide depth at shooting guard, a position left without a starter after Lee announced Monday he would forgo his senior season for the NBA.
“I’m excited about getting the opportunity to play because my natural position is on the wing as an off-guard,” Parker said. “UCLA produces the most NBA players, and I’m very thankful to have the chance to come in and compete.”
Parker previously starred at Lincoln High in San Francisco but didn’t academically qualify to play NCAA basketball coming out of high school, and he ended up at CCSF.
In March, Parker’s tip-in with less than three seconds to play was the difference as CCSF won the state title game, 83-81 over Citrus College.
Parker is the fifth transfer to sign with UCLA in the last two years, and the second signed from the junior college ranks.
Rising senior guard Lazeric Jones transferred from John A. Logan College in Illinois last year, while twin rising redshirt sophomore forwards David and Travis Wear and rising senior guard Larry Drew II all transferred from North Carolina.
Drew will sit next season, per NCAA rules on Division I transfers.
The addition of Parker will likely create a competition for the off-guard minutes that were Lee’s. Parker joins two other fairly unproven candidates ““ incoming freshman Norman Powell, who signed in November, and rising sophomore Tyler Lamb, who averaged 12.2 minutes per game his first year.
“I really like Norman Powell, and especially for Tyler Lamb, this opens a lot of opportunities on the wings,” Howland said Monday.
UCLA now has an unexpectedly vacant scholarship spot with the departure of Lee but Howland wouldn’t divulge his plans for recruiting on Monday.
“Anything is possible,” Howland said.