Early life

Kapono was born in Long Beach, California to Joe and Joni Kapono. Jason prepped at Southern California basketball powerhouse Artesia High School in Lakewood, California, where he was a McDonald's All-American and won several accolades and titles. After a successful high school career, he enjoyed an outstanding college career at UCLA, where he finished as the third all-time leading scorer with 2,095 points, was the first Bruin to earn First Team All-Pac-10 honors all four years, and was the only UCLA player to lead the school in scoring four straight years. He also set a school record for most three-pointers made in a game when he connected on 9 of 11 attempts against Washington State on January 4, 2003. Kapono graduated with a degree in history. He was a second-round draft choice of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA Draft.

Professional career

Kapono only played 41 games and started 3 in his first NBA season, although he led the team in three-point field goal percent at 47.7%. After his rookie season with Cleveland, he was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats in the 2004 expansion draft, where he increased his scoring average from 3.5 to 8.5 points per game. He also made the first block in Bobcats history. Later, he was signed as a free agent by the Miami Heat where he was part of the 2005-06 NBA championship team.

In the 2006-07 season, Kapono's points-per-game average and minutes played significantly increased, and he led the league in three-point percentage with .514, which is close to the all-time single-season three-point percentage record held by Kyle Korver (.536), and is the fourth best percentage in league season history. Kapono also won the Three-Point Shootout in the 2007 All-Star Weekend three-point shoot-out competition by defeating Dirk Nowitzki and Gilbert Arenas in the final round with a score of 24 points which tied Mark Price's record for most points in a final round of the three-point contest.

Kapono repeated the feat in 2008, having led the league in three-point percentage going into the All-Star weekend. In the final round of the contest, he scored 25 points, tying the all-time single round record set in 1986 and also setting a new finals record. On December 14, 2007, he had a career-high 29 points and pulled down 8 rebounds. He also ended the 2007-08 season as the top three-point shooter in the league. He was the first player in NBA history to have the highest three-point percentage in two consecutive seasons. Kapono was later picked for the USA Basketball Select Team which trained with USA Men's Senior National Team in Las Vegas to assist in the buildup to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

On June 9, 2009, Kapono was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Reggie Evans. The Sixers were victims of several starting lineup changes throughout the season. Kapono started the season with sparing minutes off the bench, but was later given the starting SF spot, near the end of the season. However, after losing his starting spot two games into the following season, Kapono was back to coming off the bench for sparing minutes. After the 2010-2011 NBA season came to an end, Kapono's contract with the 76ers expired and he became a free agent.

On December 9, 2011, Kapono signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.

On March 15, 2012, Kapono was traded along with Luke Walton and a 2012 first-round draft choice to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Ramon Sessions and Christian Eyenga. He was then waived by the Cavaliers on March 17.

On November 15, 2012, he signed with Panathinaikos Athens, of the Euroleague and Greek League. However, his arrival in Greece was delayed until December 11, as he remained in the United States, due to complications with his wife's pregnancy. He won the Greek Cup with Panathinaikos in 2013. In March, he decided to leave the team, due to limited playing opportunities.

Kapono reportedly retired in May 2014. However, on October 4, 2014, he signed with the Golden State Warriors. He was later waived by the Warriors on October 24, 2014 after appearing in five preseason games.

NBA record

At one point, Kapono was the most accurate three-point shooter in NBA history. On November 25, 2007, he made his 250th three-point shot, qualifying him for the NBA record in 3-point shooting accuracy. He immediately moved into first place with a .461 ratio of 3-point shots made to shots attempted, moving ahead of Steve Kerr, who had the previous lifetime best at .454. Kapono has since dropped behind Kerr and others.

NBA career statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

†	Denotes season in which Kapono won an NBA championship
	Led the league

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2003-04	Cleveland	41	3	10.4	.403	.477	.833	1.3	.3	.3	.0	3.5
2004-05	Charlotte	81	14	18.4	.401	.412	.824	2.0	.8	.5	.1	8.5
2005-06†	Miami	51	2	13.0	.446	.396	.848	1.4	.7	.1	.1	4.1
2006-07	Miami	67	35	26.4	.494	.514	.892	2.7	1.2	.6	.0	10.9
2007-08	Toronto	81	7	18.9	.488	.483	.860	1.5	.8	.4	.0	7.2
2008-09	Toronto	80	12	22.9	.432	.428	.810	2.0	1.3	.3	.0	8.2
2009-10	Philadelphia	57	12	17.1	.419	.368	.600	1.2	.7	.4	.1	5.7
2010-11	Philadelphia	24	2	4.7	.250	.125	.500	.5	.2	.1	.0	.7
2011-12	L.A. Lakers	27	0	10.0	.382	.296	1.000	.5	.4	.1	.0	2.0
Career		509	87	17.8	.442	.434	.835	1.7	.8	.4	.0	6.7

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2006†	Miami	1	0	2.0	.000	.000	.000	.0	.0	.0	.0	.0
2007	Miami	4	1	19.3	.471	.500	1.000	1.3	.5	.5	.0	5.0
2008	Toronto	5	0	30.4	.585	.542	.750	2.6	.8	.4	.0	15.6
Career		10	1	23.1	.557	.536	.833	1.8	.6	.4	.0	9.8

Personal life

Kapono is of Hawaiian and Portuguese descent. On August 28, 2004, he married Ashley Kapono (née Cline) and together they have two children. He has a sister Jillian, his father-in-law Tony Cline played football at the University of Miami and in the NFL for the Oakland Raiders, while his brother-in-law Tony Cline Jr. played football at Stanford University and with the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]