Charles A. Bassey (born October 28, 2000) is a Nigerian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

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of the

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(NBA). He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers are the athletic teams that represent Western Kentucky University (WKU), located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks, competing in the ...

. He was drafted by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...

in the

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Early life

Bassey was born in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, Nigeria, where he played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

until age 12, standing at the time. At that age, he was discovered by a youth

coach while Bassey was selling

fried chicken Fried chicken, also called Southern fried chicken, is a dish consisting of chicken pieces that have been coated with seasoned flour or batter and pan-fried, deep fried, pressure fried, or air fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or ...

on the side of a road and wearing

flip-flops Flip-flops are a type of light sandal-like shoe, typically worn as a form of casual footwear. They consist of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap known as a toe thong that passes between the first and second toes and around ...

that were too small for him. He stopped playing soccer soon after, instead focusing on developing his basketball skills. At age 14, Bassey was named

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

(MVP) of basketball camp Giants of Africa, a program established by

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executive

Masai Ujiri Michael Masai Ujiri (born July 7, 1970) is a professional basketball executive and former player who is the President (corporate title), president of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ujiri was born in the Unite ...

High school career

At age 14, Bassey stood and moved to the United States to continue his basketball career at St. Anthony Catholic High School, a

private school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

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. By then, recruiting analysts considered him one of the best prospects in his class. As a freshman, Bassey averaged 20.2 points, 17.1 rebounds and 5.9 blocks per game, leading his team to the

Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools The Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, or TAPPS, is an organization headquartered in the Lone Star Tower at Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth, Texas. It was formerly headquartered at the Salado Civic Center in Sa ...

(TAPPS) title game. Bassey competed in the

Jordan Brand Classic The Jordan Brand Classic is a high school all star basketball game played annually in April. The game's rosters feature the best and most highly recruited high school boys and girls in the senior class. In 2015, a girl's game was introduced. Th ...

International Game, where he was named MVP. Before his sophomore season, Bassey was ruled ineligible by the TAPPS, with St. Anthony filing an appeal. He still made his season debut, and head coach Jeff Merritt was fired for playing an ineligible player. St. Anthony withdrew from the TAPPS and joined the Texas Christian Athletic League, allowing Bassey to become eligible again. For his junior season, Bassey transferred to DeSales High School in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

and began playing basketball for Aspire Basketball Academy in Louisville. He made the decision after Hennssy Auriantal, his

legal guardian A legal guardian is a person who has been appointed by a court or otherwise has the legal authority (and the corresponding duty) to make decisions relevant to the personal and property interests of another person who is deemed incompetent, ca ...

and an assistant coach at St. Anthony, was dismissed from the program. As a junior, he averaged 19.4 points and 12.8 rebounds per game.

Recruiting

Bassey was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top centers in the 2018 class. On June 13, 2018, he

reclassified ''Reclassified'' is the reissue of Australian rapper Iggy Azalea's debut studio album, '' The New Classic'' (2014). It was released internationally on 21 November 2014 by Virgin EMI Records, and in the United States on 24 November 2014 by Gran ...

to the 2018 class and committed to playing

for

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

College career

On November 18, 2018, Bassey recorded a freshman season-high 25 points and 10 rebounds in a 78–62 loss to UCF. On January 31, 2019, he posted 22 points and 18 rebounds, the most rebounds by a Western Kentucky freshman since 1972. As a freshman, Bassey averaged 14.6 points, 10 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, earning First Team All-

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

, Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors. He recorded the most rebounds, blocks and

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

s by a freshman in program history. Bassey's sophomore season was cut short by a

tibial plateau fracture A tibial plateau fracture is a bone fracture, break of the upper part of the tibia (shinbone) that involves the knee joint. This could involve the medial, lateral, central, or bicondylar (medial and lateral). Symptoms include pain, knee effusion, ...

he suffered against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

that required surgery. Through 10 games, he was averaging 15.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. On November 26, 2020, Bassey recorded 21 points, 14 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks in a 75–69 win over

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

. On December 10, he had a career-high 29 points and 14 rebounds in an 86–84 victory over Gardner–Webb. At the close of the 2020–21 regular season, he was named the Conference USA Player of the Year, while repeating as the league's Defensive Player of the Year. He averaged 17.6 points per game, 11.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game. Following the season, he declared for the

, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.

Professional career

Philadelphia 76ers (2021–2022)

Bassey was selected in the second round of the

with the 53rd pick by the

, subsequently joining them for the

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league c ...

. On September 24, 2021, he signed with the 76ers. On October 13, 2022, Bassey was waived by the 76ers.

San Antonio Spurs (2022–present)

On October 24, 2022, the

announced that they had signed Bassey to a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

, splitting time with the Spurs'

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

affiliate, the

Austin Spurs The Austin Spurs are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cedar Park, Texas, and are affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs. The team plays their home games at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The team has made the po ...

. He was named to the G League's inaugural Next Up Game for the 2022–23 season. On February 14, 2023, the Spurs converted Bassey's deal to a four-year, $10.2 million standard contract. On March 14, 2023, during a 132–114 win over the Orlando Magic, he suffered a left knee injury. The next day, the Spurs announced that Bassey was diagnosed with a fracture of his left

patellar tendon The patellar tendon is the distal portion of the common tendon of the quadriceps femoris, which is continued from the patella to the tibial tuberosity. It is also sometimes called the patellar ligament as it forms a bone to bone connection whe ...

, ending his season. In December 2023, Bassey tore his left

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

(ACL), prematurely ending another season. On July 8, 2024, Bassey was waived by the Spurs only to be re-signed nine days later.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

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, 19 , , 0 , , 10.8 , , .725 , , .000 , , .833 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .9 , , 3.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 1 , , 10.4 , , .581 , , – , , .636 , , 4.2 , , .5 , , .4 , , .8 , , 4.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 113 , , 3 , , 11.1 , , .631 , , .231 , , .648 , , 4.3 , , .8 , , .4 , , .9 , , 4.3

Playoffs

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College

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, 34 , , 34 , , 31.4 , , .627 , , .450 , , .769 , , 10.0 , , .7 , , .8 , , 2.4 , , 14.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 10 , , 10 , , 28.1 , , .533 , , .167 , , .787 , , 9.2 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , 1.6 , , 15.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

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Personal life

Shortly after arriving in the United States at age 14, Bassey's mother died. At the time, Bassey considered moving back to

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, but his father Akpan Ebong Bassey encouraged him to stay for financial reasons. Canadian-born basketball coach, Hennssy Auriantal, who runs the Yes II Success organization that brings international players to American

s, helped bring Bassey to the United States. On March 31, 2017, Auriantal and his wife were granted

conservatorship Under U.S. law, a conservatorship results from the appointment of a guardian or a protector by a judge to manage the personal or financial affairs of another person who is incapable of fully managing their own affairs due to age or physical or m ...

over Bassey. Bassey's father later filed a petition to reopen the case and give Nigerian basketball tournament organizer John Faniran custody over his son, but the petition was dropped due to lack of verification.

References

External links

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassey, Charles 2000 births Living people 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players Austin Spurs players Basketball players from Lagos Centers (basketball) Delaware Blue Coats players DeSales High School (Louisville, Kentucky) alumni Nigerian emigrants to the United States Nigerian expatriate basketball people in the United States Nigerian men's basketball players Philadelphia 76ers draft picks Philadelphia 76ers players Power forwards San Antonio Spurs players Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball players