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Alcorn State names former NBA guard and Lanier alum Monta Ellis as men’s basketball general manager LORMAN, Miss. (WLBT) - Alcorn State has named former NBA guard and Lanier star Monta Ellis as the general manager of its men’s basketball program, the university announced Friday. Ellis, a Jackson native who played 12 seasons in the NBA, will assist with roster construction, player evaluation, recruiting strategy, transfer portal decisions, NIL opportunities and alumni and donor relations, according to the school. Ellis starred at Lanier before jumping to the NBA Ellis attended Lanier High School in Jackson, where he averaged 38.4 points per game as a senior and led the Bulldogs to the Class 4A state championship — the program’s second title in four years. He was named both Mississippi Mr. Basketball and Mr. Basketball USA in 2005 and earned McDonald’s All-American honors before the Golden State Warriors selected him in the second round of the 2005 NBA Draft, 40th overall. Ellis entered the league directly out of high school, one of the last players to make that jump before the NBA implemented its age eligibility rule. A 12-year career as one of the league’s top scorers Ellis played for the Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers over 12 seasons, finishing with 14,858 career points and a 17.8 scoring average. He won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in 2006-07, when he increased his scoring average by 9.7 points per game. His time in Golden State included a stretch alongside a young Stephen Curry before the Warriors built their championship core. Ellis speaks on the hire Ellis said he was initially uncertain about the role but came to see it as a chance to give back to his home state. “I was kind of shaky about it at first, but I looked at it as a great opportunity for me to be able to give back to the state that shaped me into the person that I am today,” Ellis said. Ellis said his background in training and coaching informed his decision. “I’ve been around kids. I’ve been training and coaching for the last 13 years, so I’m very familiar when it’s talking about the kids,” he said. “I want everybody to know this is not a gimmick. This is something that I’m really gonna be putting my time and my effort, my energy in trying to build and turn this program around.” Ellis said recruiting within Mississippi is among his early priorities. “I talked to Coach about starting back to recruit inside the state of Mississippi,” Ellis said. “We haven’t talked about it really, but I had some ideas, and I know Coach got some ideas, and we just gonna put everything together and go from there.” On the program’s goals for the coming season, Ellis pointed to a conference championship as the benchmark. “We get to conference championship or win the conference — that’s a successful season,” Ellis said. “We always gonna aim for the ceiling, and we gonna hold our athletes to that standard.” Ellis joins a growing trend of NBA names in college front offices The hire follows a wave of NBA players taking on GM-style roles at college programs. Damian Lillard serves as general manager at Weber State, Stephen Curry as assistant GM at Davidson, Trae Young in a similar capacity at Oklahoma and Shaquille O’Neal as general manager at Sacramento State. Ellis’s role differs from most of those in that Alcorn State is not his alma mater — he never played college basketball. Alcorn State finished 9-23 overall and 7-11 in SWAC play in 2025-26 under Morton. Ellis is expected to be based near Lorman, roughly two hours from his hometown of Jackson. Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter. See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email. Copyright 2026 WLBT. All rights reserved.