KELOWNA, B.C. – UBC Okanagan Heat men's basketball guard Jalen Shirley was selected in third-round, 28th overall by the Edmonton Stingers during the 2025 Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) draft on Thursday evening.
 
Shirley, a native of Brampton, Ont., becomes the first UBCO men's basketball player to be drafted into the league and was one of nine Canada West players selected out of 30 players chosen by the league's 10 teams.
 
"I'm so excited for Jalen's opportunity with the Edmonton Stingers," commented Heat head coach Clay Pottinger on the selection. "Jalen has put in the work and has definitely earned this opportunity. Everyone with our program is extremely happy for him. The Stingers are a storied CEBL franchise from my hometown so this is extra special for me."
 
Shirley is coming off another impressive season for the Heat in which he finished 10^th in Canada West in scoring, averaging 16.7 points per game. He also finished fifth in the conference in assists per game, posting 4.5 per contest this season, a new single-season career best. He would add a career-best 3.8 rebounds per night along with 22 steals and six blocks.
 
Late in the season, the health and exercise sciences major became the third UBCO player in school history to reach 1000 points for their career, accomplishing the feat against the Heat's Interior BC rivals, the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
 
For the first time in the league's history, the selections were unveiled live on CEBL+ (plus.cebl.ca) via the '2025 CEBL Draft Reveal Show' that began at 7 p.m. ET. The full replay of the show can be watched on CEBL+ Video-on-Demand as of April 12.
 
Each CEBL club made three selections total (one in each round) of either returning or graduating Canadian post-secondary players. The priority of selection in round one was the reverse order of how each team finished the 2024 regular season, and the following rounds reverted to a 'snake format' in reverse order of the previous round.
 
Shirley and the Stingers will be part of the tip-off of the league's seventh season when Edmonton hosts their provincial rivals, the Calgary Surge, on May 11. A total of 120 regular season games fill the 2025 campaign, leading to playoffs that begin August 14. Championship Weekend, which features the league's top four teams during the regular season vying for the league title, will be held at Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, August 22-24.

2025 CEBL Draft Results (By Round):
 

OVR	TEAM	PLAYER	HOMETOWN		SCHOOL
ROUND 1
1	Montréal Alliance	Sultan Haider Bhatti	Laval, QC		Brandon University (U SPORTS)
2	Brampton Honey Badgers	Yohann Sam	Brampton, ON		University of Windsor (U SPORTS)
3	Saskatchewan Rattlers	Declan Peterson	Bentley, AB		University of Calgary (U SPORTS)
4	Ottawa BlackJacks	Justin Ndjock-Tadjoré	Gatineau, QC		University of Ottawa (U SPORTS)
5	Winnipeg Sea Bears	Geoffrey James	Edmonton, AB		University of Victoria (U SPORTS)
6	Calgary Surge	DJ Jackson	Mississauga, ON		St. Francis Xavier University (U SPORTS)
7	Scarborough Shooting Stars	David Walker	Toronto, ON		Toronto Metropolitan University (U SPORTS)
8	Edmonton Stingers	Aaron Rhooms	Toronto, ON		Toronto Metropolitan University (U SPORTS)
9	Niagara River Lions	Gatluak James	Windsor, ON		St. Francis Xavier University (U SPORTS)
10	Vancouver Bandits	Nikola Guzina	Vancouver, BC		University of British Columbia (U SPORTS)
ROUND 2
11	Vancouver Bandits	Mikyle Malabuyoc	Vancouver, BC		Western University (U SPORTS)
12	Niagara River Lions	Charles Robert	Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC		Bishop's University (U SPORTS)
13	Edmonton Stingers	Liai Tong	St. John's, NL		Cape Breton University (U SPORTS)
14	Scarborough Shooting Stars	Koat Thomas	Waterloo, ON		St. Francis Xavier University (U SPORTS)
15	Calgary Surge	Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow	Brampton, ON		Toronto Metropolitan University (U SPORTS)
16	Winnipeg Sea Bears	Mason Kraus	Winnipeg, MB		University of Manitoba (U SPORTS)
17	Ottawa BlackJacks	Alvin Icyogere	Ottawa, ON		Nipissing University (U SPORTS)
18	Saskatchewan Rattlers	Isaac Simon	Regina, SK		University of Alberta (U SPORTS)
19	Brampton Honey Badgers	Conner Landell	St. Catharines, ON		University of New Brunswick (U SPORTS)
20	Montréal Alliance	Liam Rietschin	Toronto, ON		York University (U SPORTS)
ROUND 3
21	Montréal Alliance	Jaheem Joseph	Ottawa, ON		Concordia University (U SPORTS)
22	Brampton Honey Badgers	Mike Demagus	Scarborough, ON		McMaster University (U SPORTS)
23	Saskatchewan Rattlers	Easton Thimm	Saskatoon, SK		University of Saskatchewan (U SPORTS)
24	Ottawa BlackJacks	Malik Grant	Brampton, ON		Humber Polytechnic (CCAA)
25	Winnipeg Sea Bears	Brendan Amoyaw	Winnipeg, MB		McMaster University (U SPORTS)
26	Calgary Surge	William Tong	Calgary, AB		Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (CCAA)
27	Scarborough Shooting Stars	Samuel Wong	Toronto, ON		Centennial College (CCAA)
28	Edmonton Stingers	Jalen Shirley	Brampton, ON		University of British Columbia Okanagan (U SPORTS)
29	Niagara River Lions	Thierry Tshibola	Québec City, QC		Brock University (U SPORTS)
30	Vancouver Bandits	David Mutabazi	Delta, BC		Trinity Western University (U SPORTS)