William Percey Wennington (born April 26, 1963) is a Canadian former professional basketball player who won three

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

(NBA)

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s with the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

. A center, he represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the 1984 Olympics and 1983 World University Games, where the team won gold. He was also on the Canadian team that narrowly missed qualification for the 1992 Olympics. Wennington has been inducted into the Quebec Basketball Hall of Fame and the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Amateur career

Born in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Wennington later attended

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's Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School, where he played under coach Bob McKillop, and led the Crusaders to, at one time, a No. 1 ranking in the northeast region, and a top 10 ranking in the nation. He then was recruited to St. John's University, and he played on one NCAA

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team under basketball coach

Lou Carnesecca Luigi P. Carnesecca (January 5, 1925 – November 30, 2024) was an American men's college basketball coach at St. John's University. Carnesecca also coached at the professional level, leading the New York Nets of the American Basketball Assoc ...

Professional career

He was drafted 16th in the first round of the

1985 NBA draft The 1985–86 NBA season, 1985 NBA draft took place on June 18, 1985. It was also the first NBA draft of the "NBA draft lottery, lottery" era. It was also around this time where the league decreased the amount of rounds the draft spent, with the ...

by the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

, where he played his first several seasons. Wennington made his NBA debut on October 29, 1985. On June 26, 1990, he was traded to the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

along with two 1990 first-round draft picks in exchange for Rodney McCray and two future second-round draft picks. Before signing as a free agent with the

in 1993, he spent a few years in Italy playing for Virtus (Knorr) from

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. In 1998, Chicago-area

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restaurants sold a sandwich named after Wennington called the Beef Wennington. After the break-up of the highly successful Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, Wennington played his final NBA season with the

. He played alongside Ron Harper,

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

Scottie Pippen Scotty Maurice Pippen Sr. (born September 25, 1965), usually spelled Scottie Pippen, is an American former professional basketball player. He played 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), winning six NBA championships with th ...

and

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Renowned for his defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding forw ...

. Wennington was the backup center for

Luc Longley Lucien James Longley (born 19 January 1969) is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player. He was the first Australian to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he played for four teams over 10 seasons. He m ...

Post-basketball career

After his playing career ended, Wennington became a radio color commentator for the Bulls. Wennington was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005. Wennington featured in the 2020 docuseries The Last Dance.

References

External links

*
''CSTV.com'' with story on Wennington's induction into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wennington, Bill 1963 births Living people 20th-century Canadian sportsmen 21st-century Canadian sportsmen 1982 FIBA World Championship players Anglophone Quebec people Basketball players from Montreal Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Canadian expatriate basketball people in Italy Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Canadian radio sportscasters Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls announcers Chicago Bulls players Dallas Mavericks draft picks Dallas Mavericks players FISU World University Games gold medalists for Canada McDonald's High School All-Americans Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade NBA players from Canada Olympic basketball players for Canada Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Long Island Sacramento Kings players St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players Summer World University Games medalists in basketball Virtus Bologna players

Amateur career

Professional career

Post-basketball career

See also

References

External links