Kennedy Lawrence Winston (born July 29, 1984) is an American-Macedonian former 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. He is a former

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 ...

player with the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

. Kennedy left college one year early to pursue his dreams of playing in the

NBA 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 ...

. He was not drafted by an NBA team in 2005, and he spent the majority of his career overseas.

College career

Winston was a basketball star at Mattie T. Blount High School in

Prichard, Alabama Prichard is a city in Mobile County, Alabama, Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 19,322 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, and was estimated to be 18,816 in 2023. Prichard borders the north side of Mobile, Ala ...

, where he won the Alabama Mr. Basketball award and was Gatorade's state Player Of The Year his senior year in 2002. He originally signed a letter of intent to play at the University of California, but decided he needed to be closer to his ill mother. After the University of California granted him his release, he signed with the University of Alabama. He was the top scorer with the

's Crimson Tide for two seasons and he led the SEC conference in scoring in 2005, averaging 17.9 points per game. He was also a 2-time All-SEC first team player in both 2004 and 2005. He led his team to the NCAA tournament in both 2004 and 2005, advancing as far as the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA men's Division I basketball championship or the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, NCAA women's Division I basketball championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight t ...

in one of the years.

Professional career

Winston declared for the

2005 NBA draft The 2005 NBA draft took place on June 28, 2005, in the Theater 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 fro ...

after his junior year, and was expected to go somewhere in the middle of the first round. But to the shock & surprise of Winston and his supporters, he wasn't drafted. Winston worked out as an undrafted free agent for some NBA teams but eventually went to Europe to play pro ball. He played an important role for his team

Panionios Panionios G.S.S. Football Club (Greek: ΠΑΕ Πανιώνιος Γ.Σ.Σ.), the ''Pan-Ionian Gymnastics Club of Smyrna'' (Πανιώνιος Γυμναστικός Σύλλογος Σμύρνης, ''Panionios Gymnastikos Syllogos Smyrnis''), ...

in the Greek League 2006–07 season, as he was the team's first scorer, averaging 14.9 points per game, plus 3.2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.3 turnovers per game in 32.3 minutes per game. He was the team's co-

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

that season, along with teammate

Stratos Perperoglou Efstratios "Stratos" Perperoglou ( Greek: Στράτος Περπέρογλου; born August 7, 1984) is a Greek former professional basketball player. He is tall and he played mainly at the small forward position. Professional career Perperogl ...

, and at the end of the season they both landed contracts with the Greek power

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

. In his first season with

, Winston averaged 8 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game in 19 minutes per game in the Greek League. In the 2007–08 Greek League post season, in 10 games, he averaged 5.9 points per game and 2.6 rebounds per game in 16.2 minutes of play. He drew the media's attention on February 17, 2008, after scoring 26 points with 7–8 3-pointers made against Panathinaikos' archrivals Olympiacos Piraeus. With Panathinaikos he won both the Greek League and the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

titles that season. On July 30, 2008, Winston signed with

Türk Telekom Türk Telekomünikasyon A.Ş. () is a state-owned Turkish telecommunications company. Türk Telekom was separated from Turkish Post (PTT) in 1995. Türk Telekom Group provides integrated telecommunication services for PSTN, GSM, and wideband I ...

of Turkey. He left them in February 2009, and signed with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

for the rest of the season. In August 2009, he signed with

Lottomatica Roma Virtus Roma 1960, commonly known as Virtus Roma, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Rome, Lazio. The club, named Pallacanestro Virtus Roma competed in the first division of Italian basketball, the LBA, for decades until 2020, whe ...

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 ...

for the 2009–10 season. In August 2010 he signed a one-year contract for the 2010–11 season with

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

. In November 2011, he signed a six-week contract with

Telenet Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgium, Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in t ...

. After contract expired he extended his contract till the end of the season. On December 27, 2012, he signed with

BCM Gravelines Basket Club Maritime Gravelines-Dunkerque, commonly referred to as BCM Gravelines-Dunkerque, is a French professional basketball club based in Gravelines. They currently play in the Pro A, the highest professional league in France. The team forme ...

of France for the rest of the 2012–13 season. In August 2013, he signed a one-year deal with

Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia Pallacanestro Reggiana, also simply known as Reggiana or Reggio Emilia, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Unahotels Reggio Emilia, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna. It plays in the LBA as ...

. Only 5 days later he was waived, because of some physical problems. In September 2013, he signed with Amchit Club of Lebanon. In January 2014, he returned to France and signed with

Olympique Antibes Olympique Antibes, in full ''Olympique d'Antibes Juan-les-Pins'' and branded as Antibes Sharks, is a basketball club from the city of Antibes, France. Established in 1933, the club's men's senior team currently plays in LNB Pro B, the French seco ...

for the rest of the season. On November 26, 2014, Winston signed with

Halcones de Xalapa Halcones de Xalapa (in English: Xalapa Falcons) is a basketball club based in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico that plays in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). Their home games are played at Gimnasio Universitario de la Unidad Deportiva. H ...

of Mexico. In January 2015, he left the Mexican team and signed with

Club Malvín Club Malvín is a sports club from Montevideo, Uruguay, established on January 28, 1938, in the residential neighbourhood of Malvín. The club engages in several sports: futsal, tennis, and handball, but basketball is by far the most important. ...

of Uruguay. He helped his team to win the 2015 Uruguayan championship. In May 2015, he signed with

Guaiqueríes de Margarita Guaiqueríes de Margarita is a professional basketball team based in La Asunción, Venezuela. The team currently plays in Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Baloncesto. The team has won the Venezuelan championships nine times. Current roster LPB t ...

of Venezuela for the rest of the 2015 LPB season.

References

External links