Kendall Everette Stephens (born November 11, 1994) is an American-Australian 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 for

Rapla KK Rapla KK, also known as Avis Utilitas Rapla for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Rapla, Estonia. The team plays in the Latvian–Estonian Basketball League. Their home arena is the Sadolin Sports Hall. History In ...

of the Latvian-Estonian Basketball League. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

Early life and high school

Stephens was born in

Geelong Geelong ( ) ( Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the south eastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon ...

, Victoria, in the suburb of

Whittington Whittington may refer to: Places * Whittington, Victoria, Australia * Whittington, Illinois, United States England * Old Whittington, Derbyshire * New Whittington, Derbyshire * Whittington Moor, Derbyshire * Whittington, Gloucestershire * Whitti ...

, while his father Everette Stephens was playing professional basketball for the

Geelong Supercats Geelong Supercats is a NBL1 South club based in Geelong, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is affiliated with Basketball Geelong and Geelong United Basketball. The Supercats play their home ga ...

of the Australian NBL. Stephens' family settled in St. Charles, Illinois after Everette's retirement and he attended St. Charles East High School. He was a standout basketball player for the Fighting Saints and was the number 65-ranked recruit in his class by

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%). The ...

and a four-star recruit by most major recruiting outlets. He ultimately committed to play for his father's alma mater,

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

, during his sophomore year. During his junior year, Stephens averaged 17.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game and was averaging 19.2 points per game during his senior season before it was cut short due to injury after 11 games.

College career

Purdue

Stephens began his career at

, playing there for three seasons. In his freshman season, Stephens averaged 8.0 points per game (second in the conference among freshman) and was named to the 2014

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

All-Freshman team. As a sophomore, he averaged 8.7 points per game while playing through several injuries. After his junior season, Stephens opted to transfer to

after a significant drop in playing time due to injuries. Stephens played 90 games for Purdue, starting 32, and scored 698 total points for an average of 7.8 points per game.

Nevada

After sitting out the 2016–17 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Stephens played his final collegiate season with the Wolf Pack. Stephens made 126 three-pointers, fifth-most in the nation and a Nevada and

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

single-season record. He finished the season averaging 13.1 points per game, fourth-best on the team, and shot 43.2 percent from three-point range as Nevada made it to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Stephens was named third team All-Mountain West by both coaches and the media at the end of the season. Over the course of his collegiate career, Stephens played in 127 games and averaged 9.3 points per game and shot 38.8 percent from three.

Professional career

After going unselected in the

2018 NBA draft The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including inter ...

, Stephens played on the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was estab ...

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

team and averaged 3.5 points and 1.5 rebounds over four games.

Obradoiro

Stephens signed with Monbus Obradoiro of the Spanish Liga ACB on August 19, 2018. On January 19, 2019, Stephens and Obradoiro agreed to part ways after he averaged just 2.8 points in five Liga ACB games.

South East Melbourne Phoenix

Stephens signed with the

South East Melbourne Phoenix The South East Melbourne Phoenix are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Phoenix entered the National Basketball League (NBL) in the 2019–20 season. The team play the majority of their home games at Jo ...

of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) on May 1, 2019 as a non-import player. Stephens averaged 4.4 points and 1.2 rebounds in 26 NBL games. He re-signed with the team on June 18, 2020. He had surgery after each of his two seasons with the Phoenix.

Personal life

Stephens' father, Everette Stephens, played point guard for Purdue from 1984 to 1988 and scored over 1,000 points for the Boilermakers. Everette was a second-round pick by the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known 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 league's Ea ...

in the

1988 NBA draft The 1988 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1988, in New York City, New York. The length was reduced from seven rounds in the previous year to three rounds. This was also the first draft for the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, prior to their ...

and played professionally both in the U.S. and overseas for 11 years, including stints with the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first est ...

and the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

References

External links

Purdue Boilermakers bioNevada Wolf Pack bioRealGM ProfileEuroBasket Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephens, Kendall 1994 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Australian expatriate basketball people in Spain Australian men's basketball players Basketball players from Illinois Guards (basketball) Liga ACB players Nevada Wolf Pack men's basketball players Obradoiro CAB players People from St. Charles, Illinois Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball players South East Melbourne Phoenix players Sportspeople from DuPage County, Illinois Sportspeople from Kane County, Illinois American expatriate basketball people in Estonia