Martell Webster (born December 4, 1986) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who played 10 seasons in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). The sixth player taken in the

2005 NBA draft The 2005 NBA draft took place on June 28, 2005, in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, such as players fr ...

, Webster played for

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

between 2005 and 2015. His best season came in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

when he started 62 games for the Wizards and averaged 11.4 points per game.

High school career

Considered a five-star recruit by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

, Webster was listed as the No. 4 shooting guard and the No. 5 player in the nation in 2005. He had made a commitment to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, but opted to go

prep-to-pro The NBA high school draftees are players who have been drafted to the National Basketball Association (NBA) straight out of high school. The process of jumping directly from high school to the professional level is also known as going prep-to-pro. S ...

Professional career

Portland Trail Blazers (2005–2010)

Webster was selected by the Blazers with the sixth pick in the

after the Blazers' traded their third pick to the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

just hours before the draft. He was assigned to the Fort Worth Flyers of the NBA Development League by the Blazers in January 2006, and in doing so became highest-drafted player (6th overall) to be assigned to the D-League until

Hasheem Thabeet Hasheem Thabeet (born Hashim Thabit Manka on 16 February 1987) is a Tanzanian professional basketball player for the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for UConn before being drafted sec ...

. He later returned to the Portland Trail Blazers in February 2006. He scored a season-high 26 points in a January 5, 2008 win over the

, with 24 of them scored in the third quarter. He is one of the last-ever

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

players to be chosen in an NBA draft due to new draft eligibility rules introduced in 2006. In October 2008, Webster signed a four-year, $20 million contract extension. On February 20, 2009, it was announced by Trail Blazers athletic trainer Jay Jensen that Webster would likely miss the rest of the

2008–09 NBA season The 2008–09 NBA season was the 63rd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals, four games to one. The 2008 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2008, and Derrick Rose ...

with a left foot injury, having only played 5 minutes during the season. On January 23, 2010, he scored a season-high 28 points in a win against the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

Minnesota Timberwolves (2010–2012)

Webster was traded on June 24, 2010, to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Ryan Gomes and the rights to draft pick Luke Babbitt. Webster underwent back surgery in October 2010 and missed nearly half the 2010–11 NBA season, leading Timberwolves general manager David Kahn to charge the Trail Blazers with failure to adequately disclose a known injury. Another back surgery followed in September 2011, limiting Webster to just 47 games for the Wolves in the 2011–12 season. In spring 2013 Kahn's complaint was reportedly settled by the Blazers for $1.5 million just before the matter was brought to a formal hearing before the NBA. It was said to be among the largest cash settlements in such a case. Both teams were sworn to secrecy about the exact terms of the deal, according to basketball journalist Henry Abbott of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. On July 13, 2012, Webster was waived by the Timberwolves.

Washington Wizards (2012–2015)

Webster signed with the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

on August 29, 2012, on a one-year, $1.6 million contract. On March 16, 2013, Webster scored a career-high 34 points in a win over the Phoenix Suns, also tying another career high with seven three-pointers. On July 10, 2013, Webster re-signed with the Wizards. In 2014–15, Webster missed the first 30 games of the season after he underwent surgery in June 2014 to repair a herniated disk in his lower back. He was ruled out for three to five months, as he returned to action on December 30, 2014 against the Dallas Mavericks. On November 20, 2015, Webster was ruled out for the 2015–16 season after undergoing successful surgery to repair the labrum and damaged cartilage in his right hip. He was subsequently waived by the Wizards ten days later.

Retirement

On September 25, 2017, Webster was added to the New Orleans Pelicans' training camp roster. However, five days later, he decided to leave training camp and retire from basketball.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 61 , , 18 , , 17.5 , , .399 , , .357 , , .859 , , 2.1 , , .6 , , .3 , , .2 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 27 , , 21.5 , , .396 , , .364 , , .705 , , 2.9 , , .6 , , .4 , , .2 , , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 75 , , 70 , , 28.4 , , .422 , , .388 , , .735 , , 3.9 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .4 , , 10.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 1 , , 0 , , 5.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , , .0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 49 , , 24.5 , , .405 , , .373 , , .813 , , 3.3 , , .8 , , .5 , , .5 , , 9.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 46 , , 1 , , 23.8 , , .447 , , .417 , , .770 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , .6 , , .2 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 47 , , 26 , , 24.3 , , .423 , , .339 , , .792 , , 3.6 , , .9 , , .7 , , .4 , , 6.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 76 , , 62 , , 28.9 , , .442 , , .422 , , .848 , , 3.9 , , 1.9 , , .6 , , .2 , , 11.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , 13 , , 27.7 , , .433 , , .392 , , .840 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , .2 , , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 0 , , 11.0 , , .264 , , .233 , , .750 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 580 , , 266 , , 24.0 , , .418 , , .382 , , .791 , , 3.1 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .3 , , 8.7

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2010 , style="text-align:left;",

, 6 , , 0 , , 25.3 , , .423 , , .294 , , .556 , , 4.3 , , 0.7 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 11 , , 0 , , 17.7 , , .366 , , .231 , , .667 , , 2.3 , , 0.5 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 3.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 17 , , 0 , , 20.4 , , .398 , , .256 , , .593 , , 3.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 5.9

Personal life

Webster's mother, Cora McGuirk, disappeared in 1990, when he was four years old. Although her body was never found,

Gary Ridgway Gary Leon Ridgway (born February 18, 1949), also known as the Green River Killer, is an American serial killer and sex offender. He was initially convicted of 48 separate murders. As part of his plea bargain, another conviction was added, brin ...

, known as the "Green River Killer", a serial killer who murdered dozens of women and girls in Washington during the 1980s and 1990s, is thought to be responsible for killing her. His cousin is NBA veteran

Jason Terry Jason Eugene Terry (born September 15, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player and current assistant coach for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 19 seasons in the NBA as a combo guard and is ...

. In 2015, Webster co-founded EYRST, an independent record label focusing on hip hop, based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. He released his first mixtape, ''ARTT'', on July 14, 2016, and his first EP on August 12, 2016, entitled ''Emerald District'', which was produced by

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

hip hop producer Jake One.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Martell 1986 births Living people African-American basketball players Basketball players from Seattle Fort Worth Flyers players McDonald's High School All-Americans National Basketball Association high school draftees Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Edmonds, Washington Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players Shooting guards Small forwards Washington Wizards players American men's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people