Ryan J. Turell (born February 3, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Motor City Cruise of the NBA G League.
Turell played college basketball for Yeshiva University in the Skyline Conference. As a senior in 2021–22, he was the highest scorer across all levels of college basketball with 27.1 points per game and was named NABC DIII National Player of the Year, Skyline Conference Player of the Year, and D3hoops.com Region 3 Player of the Year. He led Yeshiva University to one of the longest winning streaks in NCAA Division III men's college basketball history.
Turell was selected in the first round of the 2022 NBA G League draft by the Motor City Cruise, the affiliate of the NBA's Detroit Pistons. Turell became the first orthodox Jew selected in the G League draft.
Early and personal life
Turell was born in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Valley Village, the youngest of three children of Brad and Laurel Turell (two sons and a daughter). According to a 2021 ESPN story, the Turell children "grew up in a household with twin focuses: basketball and Judaism". As a child, his father Brad had played basketball against future NBA player Kiki VanDeWeghe, in college he had played basketball as a guard at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and as an adult he had performed public relations work for VanDeWeghe. The elder Turells' later choice for their children's education had its roots in the journeys both took to Orthodox Judaism. Brad, who had been raised as a Reform Jew, began studying with an Orthodox rabbi in his late twenties, at the time intending only to learn more about Judaism, but he eventually embraced Orthodox Judaism. Laurel, the daughter of Southern Baptist evangelical singers, was dating Brad at the time. After she met Brad's teacher, she eventually chose to convert to Judaism, and became Orthodox at the same time as Brad.
Brad hired dribbling and shooting coaches for both his sons when Ryan was in kindergarten. The older son, Jack, went on to play basketball at Yeshiva University, an NCAA Division III school.
Ryan is a religious Orthodox Jew, keeps kosher, observes the Jewish Sabbath, and wears a yarmulke on his head—even while playing basketball. Turell said that if he were to play in the NBA he would play on the Sabbath, but would walk to games and practices scheduled for the Sabbath. He heard antisemitic slurs on the basketball court while playing both in high school and in college. His goal is to play in the NBA, and eventually to play in Israel. He practices from the NBA three-point line, shooting daily until he sinks at least 300 three-point shots.
High school career
Turell attended and played as a shooting guard on the varsity basketball team at Valley Torah High School, a Jewish school with a student body of 135. He also played for Earl Watson Elite, a premier Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team. Playing for the high school, as a junior in 2016-17 he averaged 25.3 points per game, and as a senior in 2017-18 he averaged 34.3 points per game. In 2018, he received a McDonald's All-American Game nomination, and was California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division IV State Player of the Year and First Team Division IV.
Turell received several offers from NCAA Division I schools. However, late in his senior year of high school, by which time the family was living in another Los Angeles neighborhood, Sherman Oaks, Ryan surprised both of his parents when he told them that he would attend his brother's alma mater. Brad recalled, "I said, 'Why in the world would you want to go to Yeshiva?' And Ryan said, 'Why in the world did you send me to Valley Torah High School?'" In the same ESPN story, when Ryan heard his father's recalling of the incident, he added, "And Emek", referring to Emek Hebrew Academy, the Jewish day school he attended before Valley Torah.
College career
In 2018, Turell began playing college basketball on the Yeshiva University Maccabees team. Yeshiva University is a small Jewish university in Washington Heights in New York City, with about 2,600 undergrads. Some nicknamed him "the Jewish Larry Bird." He led Yeshiva University to one of the longest winning streaks in NCAA Division III men's college basketball history, a 50-game streak that was broken in December 2021.