Jaylen Joseph Hands (born February 12, 1999)[1] is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Varese of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).

As a high school senior in 2017, he was selected to play in the McDonald's All-American Game,[2] and was ranked as a consensus five-star prospect and the No.

He was selected in the second round of the 2019 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 56th pick before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets.

He played a season in the NBA G League with Brooklyn's affiliate, the Long Island Nets before beginning his European career in 2021.

Instead, Hands enrolled at Balboa City, a prep school that operated outside of the Section's jurisdiction, where he was teammates with Deandre Ayton, the future top prospect of the class of 2017.

For his senior season, he completed his transfer to Foothills Christian, where he played for coach Brad Leaf, father of UCLA star T. J.

[6] Ranked a consensus five-star college recruit,[7] Hands received many offers from teams such as Arizona, Louisville and San Diego State, but eventually committed to UCLA on September 16, 2015.

[15][16] On December 3, 2017, Hands scored a career-high 23 points and added nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and only one turnover in 24 minutes in a 106–73 win over Detroit Mercy.

[15] After playing 14 games as a reserve with coach Steve Alford staggering the minutes of his two main ballhandlers, Hands returned to the starting lineup on January 25, 2018, against California, replacing forward GG Goloman.

[a][26][28] On February 9, 2019, Hands scored a career-high 27 points against Utah, but the Bruins blew a 22-point lead with 12:10 remaining in the game and lost 93–92 on a three-point field goal at the buzzer.

Hands conceded that he committed an intentional foul too early with 6.9 seconds left in the game, helping to set up the Utes' game-winning shot.

[38] Brooklyn used the draft rights player rule to have Hands sign with their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.