Dalano Banton

Dalano Banton was born in Toronto, Canada on November 7th, 1999. He is the son of Damian Banton and Suzanne English. Banton grew up in the Toronto neighborhood of Rexdale and played basketball at multiple local community centers. As a kid, he once attended a Rexdale basketball camp hosted by former Raptor DeMar DeRozan. Banton played ball at three different high schools. He started at Central Toronto Academy, then transferred south to first MacDuffie School in Granby, Massachusetts and then Redemption Christian Academy in Northfield, Massachusetts. As a senior at Redemption, he was named the conference MVP. In the fall of 2017, Banton committed to Western Kentucky University. The guard played one season (2018-19) for WKU, then transferred to the University of Nebraska. After sitting out the 2019-20 season, Banton appeared in 27 games for the Cornhuskers in 2020-21 and averaged 9.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.0 steal and 0.9 blocks over 27.3 minutes per game. He also had two triple-double games. In July of 2021, the guard declared for the 2021 NBA Draft. Banton was selected with the 46th overall pick by his hometown Toronto Raptors and quickly signed a multi-year contract.