Derek Funderburk Jr. (born April 12, 1997) is an American professional

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 Iraklis of the

Greek Basketball League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...

. 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 Northwest Florida State Raiders and the

NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subd ...

. He has also participated in the

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season basketball competition organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA). NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regula ...

with 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 Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

High school career

Funderburk attended St. Edward High School. As a junior, he averaged 14.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game to help lead St. Edwards to the 2015 Division I State Final Four. He transferred to

Hargrave Military Academy Hargrave Military Academy (HMA) is a private school, private, all-male, Military school, military boarding school located in the town of Chatham, Virginia. Hargrave is affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia emphasizing Chr ...

for his senior season, playing under coach A. W. Hamilton and alongside future NC State teammate Braxton Beverly. Funderburk averaged 18 points, nine rebounds and three assists per game and helped the Tigers to a Prep School National Championship and a 47–1 record. Funderburk was ranked the No. 77 overall recruit in the class of 2016. He committed to

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

College career

Funderburk

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman season at Ohio State. He transferred to

Northwest Florida State College Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC) is a public university, public college with its main campus in Niceville, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, offering a ...

and averaged 11.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game as a redshirt freshman, shooting 51.1 percent from the field. Funderburk transferred to

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

. Funderburk averaged 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game as a redshirt sophomore. He was suspended for violating team policy in September 2019. Funderburk was charged with larceny property damage by university police after driving off with two car boots, damaging the boots and the concrete surface in the parking lot. On December 29, 2019, he scored a career-high 22 points in a 72–60 win against

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (), or App State, is a public research university in Boone, North Carolina, United States. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dou ...

. As a redshirt junior, Funderburk averaged 12.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Following the season, he declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, wi ...

, but ultimately opted to return to NC State. Funderburk missed a game against

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

on January 31, 2021, due to a violation of university policy. As a senior, he averaged 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Following the season, Funderburk declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. The NBA draft returned to Brooklyn after 2020 NBA draft, the pre ...

and signed with an agent, forgoing the additional season of eligibility the NCAA granted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

, Funderburk signed with the

for Summer League play. On August 27, 2021, Funderburk signed his first professional contract with the Russian team

Avtodor BC Avtodor (), commonly known as simply Avtodor and internationally as Avtodor Saratov, is a Russian professional basketball club based in Saratov. It plays in the VTB United League, the highest level of Russian basketball. In early 2022, after ...

of the

VTB United League The VTB United League () is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2009. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it is the first tier of Russian ...

. He left the team after the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Funderburk averaged 10.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. On March 16, 2022, Funderburk signed with

Paris Basketball Paris Basketball is a French professional basketball club based in Paris. The club currently plays in the LNB Élite, the first division of basketball in France, and the EuroLeague since 2024–25. Founded in 2018, Paris plays its home games a ...

of the

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

for the rest of the season. On July 12, 2022, Funderburk signed with Promitheas Patras of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

and the EuroCup. On September 3, 2022, Funderburk mutually parted ways with the Greek club without appearing in a single official game with the team. On the same day, he signed with

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia (; ), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until Unification of Italy, 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 172,51 ...

of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

(LBA). On November 14, 2022, he signed with Hapoel Eilat of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

. On July 28, 2024, he signed with

Anwil Włocławek Anwil is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Sissach (district), Sissach in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Anwil is first mentioned in 1276. Geography Anwil has an are ...

of the

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English language, English: Polish Basketball League), officially known as the Orlen Basket Liga due to its sponsorship by Orlen, is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. I ...

(PLK). On June 26, 2025, Wright-Foreman signed a one-year contract with Iraklis of the

Personal life

Funderburk is the son of Caren Crew and Derek Funderburk.

Career statistics

College

NCAA Division I

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 1 , , 19.9 , , .552 , , .269 , , .785 , , 4.2 , , .4 , , .5 , , 1.1 , , 8.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 15 , , 26.0 , , .609 , , .222 , , .760 , , 6.1 , , .3 , , .9 , , .8 , , 12.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

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

, 21 , , 13 , , 26.2 , , .562 , , .200 , , .792 , , 5.6 , , .3 , , .7 , , .5 , , 12.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 87 , , 29 , , 23.5 , , .577 , , .237 , , .778 , , 5.2 , , .4 , , .7 , , .8 , , 11.1

JUCO

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

Northwest Florida State Northwest Florida State College (NWFSC) is a public college with its main campus in Niceville, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, offering associate and baccal ...

, 34 , , 33 , , 27.5 , , .511 , , .279 , , .743 , , 5.0 , , 1.7 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , 11.5

References

External links

NC State Wolfpack bio

Northwest Florida State Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Funderburk, D. J. 1997 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Russia American men's basketball players Basketball players from Cuyahoga County, Ohio BC Avtodor players Centers (basketball) Hapoel Eilat basketball players Hargrave Military Academy alumni NC State Wolfpack men's basketball players Northwest Florida State Raiders men's basketball players Pallacanestro Reggiana players Paris Basketball players Power forwards Sportspeople from Lakewood, Ohio St. Edward High School (Lakewood, Ohio) alumni