Kevinn Lamar Pinkney (born October 10, 1983) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player.

Professional career

Despite a highly successful career as a power forward at the

University of Nevada, Reno The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12 ...

where he also played with 2007 draft prospect Nick Fazekas and led the overachieving Wolf Pack to the Sweet 16 of the 2004 NCAA Tournament, the 6'10" Pinkney did not hear his name called on draft night of 2005. His size and abilities did not fit scouts' prototypical image of either a power forward or a center. Thus, Pinkney had to pursue his professional basketball career in Europe, where he played for Clermont in France and PGE Turow in Poland. After a lackluster performance overseas, Pinkney returned to the United States and secured a roster spot on the summer league entry for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

. He averaged 5.5 points, 3 rebounds and 2.8 assists during limited summer league minutes but did not make the team. 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 ...

signed Pinkney as an extra body for training camp but also cut him. Pinkney then signed with the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

Bakersfield Jam Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

where he flourished offensively, averaging 20 points per game on 51% shooting. He registered several double-doubles and was named to the 2006–07 Western Conference D-League All-Star team. On April 4, 2007, the injury-plagued

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of ...

, owners of the worst record in the Eastern Conference, received a roster exemption from the NBA to add a 16th player. Pinkney made his debut later that night in a game against 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 ...

. Sporting #51, the burly center scored 15 points in his NBA debut. Pinkney was re-signed for another 10-day contract, and played 6 games for the Celtics in total, averaging 5.2 PPG. For the 2007–2008 season, he signed with the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

team Angelico Biella. In September 2010 he signed a one-year contract with

KK Union Olimpija Košarkarski klub Olimpija ( en, Olimpija Basketball Club) was a men's professional basketball club based in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Olimpija has won 23 National League championships, including eight consecutive titles between 1992 and 1999. They ...

in Slovenia, but he left the club by mutual consent on February 28, 2011. In March 2011 he signed with Enisey Krasnoyarsk in Russia until the end of the season. In October 2011 he signed a one-year deal with

Aliağa Petkim Aliağa Gençlik S.K., known as Aliağa Petkim for sponsorship reasons, was a professional basketball team from the district of Aliağa in İzmir, Turkey. Their home arena was the Enka Sport Hall with a capacity of 2,500 seats. The team competes ...

in Turkey. He then joined the Atleticos de San German of Puerto Rico. In April 2013, he signed with Trabzonspor Basketball. In March 2015, he signed with Bucaneros de La Guaira of Venezuela. On February 26, 2016, Pinkney was signed by Phoenix Fuel Masters of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

, replacing Kenny Adeleke as the team's import. On January 23, 2017, Pinkney signed with Israeli club

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Footbal ...

. On November 30, 2017, Pinkney signed with Polish club Stal Ostrów Wielkopolski.

The Basketball Tournament (TBT) (2017–present)

In the summer of 2017, Pinkney played in

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 201 ...

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 ...

for Team Challenge ALS. He competed for the $2 million prize in 2017, and for Team Challenge ALS, he averaged 7.0 points per game. Pinkney helped take the sixth-seeded Team Challenge ALS to the Championship Game of the tournament, where they lost in a close game to Overseas Elite 86-83. In TBT 2018, Pinkney averaged four points per game and three rebounds per game for Team Challenge ALS. They reached the West Regional Championship Game before losing to eventual tournament runner-up Eberlein Drive.

References

External links