• AJ Lapray is a former professional basketball player and a YouTuber
• He grew up in Oregon and attended the University of Oregon and Pepperdine University
• He has a YouTube channel with 700,000 subscribers and 140 million views in total
• He is married to Symone Sullivan, and they don't have children
• He is 27 years old and has a net worth of over $300,000
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Who is AJ Lapray?
Samson Angelo Jay Lapray, commonly called AJ Lapray, was born in Corvallis, Oregon USA, on 23 September 1993 – his zodiac sign is Libra, and he holds American nationality. He is a former professional basketball player and a YouTuber, probably known best for the time he spent playing for the University of Oregon basketball team.
Early life and education
AJ grew up in Oregon in a working class family, raised by his parents Sam and Sarah Lapray, with his four siblings named Camala, Maci, Jaryn and Alleluia. He expressed interest in sports at a young age, as many of his family members are active in sports. He has cousins who have played football at Brigham Young University, Stanford and Georgetown.
AJ started playing basketball while he was a student at Sprague High School in Salem, Oregon; he was one of the best players on their team, winning the Central Valley Conference co-Player of the Year title in 2009, averaging 21.0 points per game, and earning first team honors in his sophomore and junior years. Upon matriculating, AJ enrolled at the University of Oregon, where he continued his basketball career.
Career as a basketball player
During his first year at University, AJ played in two games but then suffered a series of injuries, including a serious hip injury which kept him off-court for the rest of the season.
Following the injuries, AJ was displeased with the lack of support he received from his coaches, so decided to transfer to a different university, and after finishing his freshman year, he continued his education at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, from which he graduated with a degree in communications. During his first year there, he played for Pepperdine University basketball team in 18 games, setting his record at nine points scored during a game. In the following 2015-16 season, AJ missed 18 games due to his ongoing hip injury, but during the two seasons he spent with the Pepperdine Waves, he played in 32 games, averaging 2.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 11.8 minutes.
After graduating from Pepperdine University, AJ finished grad school at Rice University, and spent the 2017-18 season playing for their basketball team, Rice Owls, averaging 9.1 points per game, but played in only 10 games during this season, before ultimately retiring because of his medical issues.
Despite not playing basketball anymore, he’s still passionate about the sport and has worked several jobs as a basketball coach of children.
Career on YouTube
AJ launched his YouTube channel on 7 October 2011, and the same day posted his first video entitled “A.J. Lapray #20 Class of 2013”, featuring him during a game of high school basketball. In the following few years, he continued uploading short highlights from his games onto his YouTube channel.
In March 2017, AJ changed his content, and began posting vlogs and more casual videos.
The first video on AJ’s channel that went viral is entitled “D1 BASKETBALL PLAYER PRETENDS TO BE SURFER!! DUNKING IN A WETSUIT! VENICE BEACH!”, which he uploaded on 2 April 2017, and has since amassed over nine million views. Following the success of this video, he continued making basketball themed prank videos and fun challenges. It was during this time that he stopped playing basketball, and focus on his YouTube career instead.
The most popular video of AJ’s is “NERD EXPOSES TRASH TALKING STRAGERS IN BASKETBALL!!” from December 2019, which has been viewed almost 20 million times.
In the video, AJ and his friends disguise themselves as nerds, and challenge a group of strangers for a quick basketball game. His channel now numbers more than 700,000 subscribers, and has amassed over 140 million views in total.
AJ is active on Instagram, with his account ‘@ajaylapray’ numbering almost 65,000 followers, and over 530 photos and videos. He usually uploads short clips of himself playing basketball, alongside pictures with his friends and wife.
In May 2010, he launched his Twitter account which currently numbers over 2,000 followers, while AJ has tweeted over 7,000 times. During the last year, he has tweeted numerous times in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
He also manages his Facebook page, followed by more than 2,000 fans, which he mainly uses to promote his YouTube videos.
Love life and relationships
In March 2017, AJ posted a video featuring his girlfriend Symone Sullivan, in which he revealed that he’s in a happy relationship. In October 2018, they launched their YouTube channel ‘Symone and AJ’ onto which they uploaded a video revealing how they met. They explained how they sat next to each other during a Religion 102 class at Pepperdine University, at which AJ immediately developed a crush on Symone, and after a few days asked her out.
In September 2020, the two married in a private ceremony, after having dated for five years. They currently reside in Los Angeles, California; they don’t have children.
Hobbies and interesting facts
Before his YouTube career kicked off, AJ worked a construction job. In one of his videos, he said that the work was very difficult, but that he has learned a lot from this experience.
AJ’s wife Symone is a lookalike of his celebrity crush, Zoe Saldana.
Surfing is one of his favorite hobbies, he picked up during the time he had a leg injury, as a way to stay active, since he wasn’t able to run or play basketball.
He has a pet dog called Charlie.
AJ loves to travel, and often goes on trips with his wife. They have been to Mexico, Egypt and Thailand, as well as to numerous US states.
He visited and filmed the original house from the popular TV comedy series “Two and a Half Men”, for one of his YouTube vlogs.
Appearance, age and net worth
AJ is 27 years old. He has short brown hair and brown eyes, is 6ft 4ins (1.93m) tall, and weighs around 180lbs (82kgs).
As of June 2021, his net worth is estimated at over $300,000.
