Ernest Maurice "Kiki" VanDeWeghe III (born August 1, 1958) is a German-born American-Canadian 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, coach and executive who is an advisor for the

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). As a player, he was a two-time NBA All-Star.

Biography

VanDeWeghe was born in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, the son of former NBA player Ernie Vandeweghe and Colleen Kay Hutchins, the winner of the 1952 Miss America pageant. VanDeWeghe moved back to the U.S. as a child and eventually wound up playing

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

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

, where he earned all-conference honors in the Pac-10 (now known as the Pac-12). He led the Bruins to the 1980 NCAA championship game, where they would lose to Louisville. He became an excellent scorer and outside shooter in the NBA, averaging 20 points for seven consecutive seasons. He was particularly known for his use of the stepback, a move he was so proficient at that it was often referred to as the "Kiki Move" toward the end of his career. VanDeWeghe's teams qualified for the

NBA playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

in 12 of his 13 seasons in the league, although none of his teams ever won the NBA championship. VanDeWeghe was later the general manager of the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

and the New Jersey Nets, and a head coach of the Nets. He was the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations for eight years (2013–2021). For the bulk of his career, VanDeWeghe spelled his surname "Vandeweghe" (with only the V capitalized), a spelling used by his parents before their deaths, and still used by his niece who has a prominent

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

career. In 2013, he announced he was changing the spelling of his name to "VanDeWeghe", in honor of his recently departed paternal grandfather and namesake.

College career

VanDeWeghe played four seasons at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, culminating in a senior season in which expectations for the Bruins were lower than in previous seasons. The team was coming off a season in which they lost three starters, David Greenwood, Roy Hamilton, and Brad Holland to the NBA as first-round draft picks. Also, the Bruins had a new coach, Larry Brown, who was coaching a collegiate team for the first time. Replacing this talent were some mainly unknown freshman, namely "Rocket" Rod Foster, Michael Holton, and Darren Daye, along with sophomore Mike Sanders. VanDeWeghe and James Wilkes were the lone seniors. The team was sluggish at the first, but gelled toward the end and finished the regular season 17–9. The Bruins, dubbed "Kiki and the Kids", were the 48th and final team selected to participate in the 1979–80 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. With VanDeWeghe leading the way, the Bruins made it all the way to the final, upsetting #1 DePaul and Mark Aguirre on the way. In the final, the Bruins lost to the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

led by Darrell Griffith.

Playing career

VanDeWeghe was drafted 11th overall in the 1980 NBA draft 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 ...

, but refused to play for Dallas and demanded a trade (for virtually the remainder of his career, he was subjected to boos whenever he played in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

). He got his wish, and was traded to the Nuggets on December 3 of that same year. As a member of the Nuggets, VanDeWeghe was twice selected to the NBA Western Conference All-Star team, in 1983 and 1984. He was second in scoring in 1983, averaging 26.7 points, and 3rd in 1984 with a career-high 29.4 points. During the 1983–84 Nuggets season, VanDeWeghe scored 50 or more points in two NBA record-setting games. The first, on December 13, 1983, in which he had a career-high 51 points, is also the highest combined scoring game in NBA history, a 186–184 triple-overtime loss to the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

. In the second, a 163–155 win over the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

on January 11, 1984 (at the time, the highest combined scoring NBA ''regulation'' game of all time), he had an even 50. In the summer of 1984, VanDeWeghe was traded to 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 Northwest Division (N ...

in exchange for Calvin Natt, Wayne Cooper, Fat Lever, and two draft picks. He had several productive seasons in Portland, where he averaged nearly 25 points a game paired with Clyde Drexler to form a dynamic scoring duo. In the 1986 NBA Playoffs, VanDeWeghe averaged a postseason career high 28 points a game in a first round loss to his former team, the Nuggets. On March 5, 1987, VanDeWeghe scored 48 points, his highest single game total as a Trail Blazer, in a 127–122 loss to the Seattle SuperSonics. However, during the 1987–88 season, VanDeWeghe suffered a back injury and lost his starting job to Jerome Kersey. He was traded the next year to the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

(where his father played his entire career), with whom he played for several years. He then played half a season with the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

before retiring from the league after the 1992–93 season.

Executive career

VanDeWeghe initially had a front-office role with the

, where he was instrumental in the development of Dirk Nowitzki. During his time in Dallas, VanDeWeghe also briefly served as an assistant head coach. On August 9, 2001, VanDeWeghe was named to the Nuggets' general manager position and oversaw a return by the Nuggets to the NBA playoffs. Major moves by VanDeWeghe included the drafting of Carmelo Anthony in 2003, the trade for Marcus Camby in 2002 and the hiring of

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, he became an assistant with the team before being appointed as a head coach ...

as head coach in 2005. However, some other moves by VanDeWeghe backfired outright or failed to produce the desired returns, such as the drafting of draft bust Nikoloz Tskitishvili in 2002 and the sign-and-trade deal with the New Jersey Nets to acquire Kenyon Martin at the end of the 2003–04 season. Shortly following a first-round playoff elimination at the hands of the Clippers in the 2006 playoffs, the Nuggets announced that VanDeWeghe's contract would not be renewed. He spent 2006–07 as an NBA analyst for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, appearing on the channel's SportsCenter and

NBA Shootaround ''NBA Countdown'', branded for sponsorship purposes as ''NBA Countdown Presented by DraftKings, DraftKings Sportsbook'' for ESPN editions and ''NBA Countdown Delivered by Papa John's'' for ABC editions respectively, is a Pre-game show, pregame ...

programs, among others. However, on December 31, 2007, the Nets announced that VanDeWeghe would join the team as a special assistant to team president and general manager Rod Thorn. VanDeWeghe replaced Ed Stefanski, who left the Nets to join the Philadelphia 76ers earlier in the month. Stefanski replaced Billy King as the 76ers' general manager. On December 1, 2009, VanDeWeghe agreed to assume duties as interim head coach of the Nets while continuing to be general manager of the team (although assistant coach Tom Barrise served as head coach for their December 2 game). VanDeWeghe replaced Lawrence Frank as head coach after the Nets started the 2009–10 season with 16 consecutive losses. VanDeWeghe hired Del Harris as an assistant, who was to be his "virtual co-coach", though he resigned midway through the season on February 2, 2010. Harris resigned after he learned that a possible side deal that he had made with VanDeWeghe to become head coach had failed. After Nets ownership changed hands, Mikhail Prokhorov announced that VanDeWeghe would not return the following season. VanDeWeghe joined the leadership team of the NBA in 2013, serving as the executive vice president of basketball operations for eight years through 2021, when he transitioned into an advisory role to both NBA commissioner Adam Silver and president of league operations Byron Spruell.

Personal life

VanDeWeghe is the nephew of NBA player and four-time All-Star Mel Hutchins. He has a niece, Coco Vandeweghe, who is a former professional tennis player. VanDeWeghe and his wife Peggy have one son, Ernest Maurice Reece VanDeWeghe IV, born in 2002. His nephew
Hugh VanDeWeghe
plays

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

basketball for the California Golden Bears.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, 51 , , – , , 27.0 , , .426 , , .000 , , .818 , , 5.3 , , 1.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 11.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 78 , , 33.8 , , .560 , , .077 , , .857 , , 5.6 , , 3.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 21.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 79 , , 35.5 , , .547 , , .294 , , .875 , , 5.3 , , 2.5 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 26.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 78 , , 71 , , 35.1 , , .558 , , .367 , , .852 , , 4.8 , , 3.1 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 29.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 72 , , 69 , , 34.8 , , .534 , , .333 , , .896 , , 3.2 , , 1.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 22.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 79 , , 76 , , 35.3 , , .540 , , .125 , , .869 , , 2.7 , , 2.4 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 24.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 79 , , 79 , , 38.3 , , .523 , , bgcolor="CFECEC" , .481* , , .886 , , 3.2 , , 2.8 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 26.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 37 , , 7 , , 28.1 , , .508 , , .379 , , .878 , , 2.9 , , 1.9 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 20.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Portland , 18 , , 1 , , 24.0 , , .475 , , .421 , , .879 , , 1.9 , , 1.9 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 13.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 27 , , 0 , , 18.6 , , .464 , , .300 , , .911 , , 1.3 , , 1.3 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 9.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 22 , , 13 , , 25.6 , , .442 , , .526 , , .917 , , 2.4 , , 1.9 , , 0.7 , , 0.1 , , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 75 , , 72 , , 32.3 , , .494 , , .362 , , .899 , , 2.4 , , 1.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.1 , , 16.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", New York , 67 , , 0 , , 14.3 , , .491 , , .394 , , .802 , , 1.3 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 0.1 , , 7.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A. Clippers , 41 , , 3 , , 12.0 , , .453 , , .324 , , .879 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 6.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 810 , , 548 , , 30.3 , , .525 , , .368 , , .872 , , 3.4 , , 2.1 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 19.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 2 , , 0 , , 20.0 , , .588 , , – , , .500 , , 3.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 0.0 , , 10.5

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1982 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 3, , –, , 36.3, , .581, , –, , 1.000, , 6.0, , 3.0, , 0.7, , 1.3, , 22.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, style="text-align:left;”,

, 8, , –, , 39.6, , .544, , .000, , .800, , 6.5, , 4.0, , 0.5, , 0.9, , 26.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1984 , style="text-align:left;”,

, 5, , –, , 36.0, , .510, , .400, , .964, , 4.6, , 4.0, , 1.8, , 1.0, , 25.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1985 , style="text-align:left;”, Portland , 9, , 9, , 34.6, , .538, , .143, , .939, , 3.0, , 1.9, , 0.9, , 0.3, , 22.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1986 , style="text-align:left;”, Portland , 4, , 4, , 37.3, , .580, , .000, , 1.000, , 1.3, , 2.0, , 0.5, , 0.5, , 28.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, style="text-align:left;”, Portland , 4, , 4, , 43.5, , .535, , .250, , .846, , 3.3, , 2.8, , 0.3, , 0.3, , 24.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1988 , style="text-align:left;”, Portland , 4, , 0, , 18.0, , .275, , .000, , 1.000, , 3.3, , 1.8, , 0.3, , 0.0, , 7.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1989 , style="text-align:left;”, New York , 9, , 0, , 17.7, , .510, , .375, , .952, , 1.2, , 0.8, , 0.3, , 0.2, , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1990 , style="text-align:left;”, New York , 10, , 10, , 23.6, , .419, , .462, , .800, , 1.2, , 1.4, , 0.5, , 0.2, , 7.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1991 , style="text-align:left;”, New York , 3, , 3, , 33.0, , .406, , .600, , .880, , 2.7, , 1.3, , 0.3, , 0.0, , 17.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, style="text-align:left;”, New York , 8, , 0, , 9.4, , .542, , .800, , .857, , 0.8, , 0.5, , 0.3, , 0.1, , 4.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1993 , style="text-align:left;”, L.A. Clippers , 1, , 0, , 9.0, , .333, , –, , –, , 0.0, , 1.0, , 1.0, , 0.0, , 4.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 68 , , 30 , , 27.8 , , .510 , , .345 , , .907 , , 2.8 , , 2.0 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 16.1

Head coaching record

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New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, style="text-align:left;", , 64 , , 12 , , 52 , , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, , — , , — , , — , , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 64 , , 12 , , 52 , , , , , , — , , — , , — , , — , ,

References

External links

*
Denver Nuggets profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:VanDeWeghe, Kiki 1958 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Germany American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Canadian descent Basketball players from California Dallas Mavericks draft picks Denver Nuggets executives Denver Nuggets players Los Angeles Clippers players NBA All-Stars NBA broadcasters NBA general managers NBA league office executives NBA players from Germany German men's basketball players New Jersey Nets head coaches New York Knicks players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Portland Trail Blazers players Small forwards Sportspeople from Wiesbaden UCLA Bruins men's basketball players Vandeweghe family