Malaki Branham

About

Malaki Lamar Branham (born May 12, 2003) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Branham was raised in Columbus, Ohio. Starting in fifth grade, he trained under Jason Dawson in Columbus. He moved to Akron, Ohio where he attended high school at St. Vincent–St. Mary High School. At St. Vincent–St. Mary, he won two state championships in 2018 and 2021. He was named first team All-Ohio in his junior and senior seasons. As a senior, Branham averaged 21.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game. In his senior season, he was named Ohio Mr. Basketball and made the Jordan Brand Classic, which was not played due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Branham was a consensus four-star recruit and ranked as the best player in Ohio. On July 22, 2020, Branham committed to playing college basketball for Ohio State over offers from teams such as Alabama, Baylor and Iowa.

Branham started his college career off the bench, but quickly became a regular starter. He scored a career-high 35 points in a 87–79 overtime win against Nebraska after a nearly month…