American professional basketball player Jonny William Flynn was born on February 6, 1989 in Niagara Falls, New York, USA. He attended Niagara Falls High School and became part of the team who won the 2005 New York state public high school and federation championships. During his senior year, he was named New York State Mr. Basketball.

Flynn graduated with the class of 2007 and was ranked the No. 22 overall recruit and No. 4 point guard by Rivals.com as well as the No. 23 overall and the No. 4 point guard by Scout.com. He was named 2007 McDonald’s All-American and to the 2007 USA Basketball Junior National Select Team that competed against the World Select Team in the 10th annual Nike Hoop Summit in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Jonny Flynn attended Syracuse, where he also played basketball. During his first game on November 12, 2007, he scored 28 points which surpassed the record of former Orange standout Carmelo Anthony for the most points in a freshman’s debut. Averaging 15.7 points and 5.3 assists per game, he was the co-Big East Rookie of the Year awardee during his freshman. He and Donte Greene were the second-highest scoring freshman duo in the country with a combined average of 33.4 points per game. He was also a former high school and college teammate of Paul Harris.

On June 26, 2006, Flynn was named a 2006 USA Men’s U18 National Team member at the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men in San Antonio, Texas. He averaged 8.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and a team-high 5.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He also played on Team USA in the 2007 USA Basketball U19 World Championships. The team won silver and he averaged 9.6 points per game in their nine games.

Jonny Flynn was the sixth overall pick during the 2009 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He made his professional debut on October 28, 2009 and led a victory over the New Jersey Nets. He was selected to the All-Rookie 2nd team at the end of the season. He was traded to the Houston Rockets during the 2011 NBA Draft along with Donatas Motiejunas in exchange for Brad Miller. He was again traded to the Portland Trailblazers on March 15, 2012 along with Hasheem Thabeet and a future second round pick for Marcus Camby.

Flynn signed with the Detroit Pistons on October 1, 2012. He was waived by the Pistons by October 22. He joined the Indiana Pacers for the 2013 Orlando Summer League and later joined the Los Angeles Clippers for the Las Vegas Summer League. He signed with the Melbourne Tigers of the Australian National Basketball League on November 5, 2012. It was reported in September 2013 that he was joining the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association.