Maurice Baker (born July 28, 1979) 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 ...

coach and former player. He last played for the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

. 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 Dixie State College and

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

, and has spent time 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 ...

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 ...

and 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 ...

. He has also played professionally in Russia, Syria, Mexico, Lithuania, France, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic. Baker played his longest tenure with the

, starting with the 2004 season when the team was known as the Dakota Wizards in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

before the team moved to the

in 2006. Baker has appeared in the second-most D-League games (356) in league history, and is the Warriors' franchise all-time leader in points, minutes played, rebounds, assists, steals, and field goals made.Veteran Guard Returns To Dakota Wizards
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Professional career

Over his first two professional seasons, between 2002 and 2004, Baker played in Russia, Syria and Mexico. His first stint in the United States came during the 2004–05 season, when he joined the Dakota Wizards of the

. After averaging 16.9 points, 6.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds in 30 games for Dakota, he was called up to the

by the

in February 2005. The following month, he garnered another NBA stint, this time with the

. Over two 10-day contract periods with the Clippers and Trail Blazers, Baker appeared in five games with limited court time. Baker's 10-day contract with the Trail Blazers ended up being his final playing time in the NBA, as the rest of his professional basketball career was played in the D-League and overseas. His final game was played on March 19, 2005, in a 92 - 97 loss to 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 Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

where he only played for 5 seconds and recorded no stats. Baker returned to the Dakota Wizards for the 2005–06 season, playing with them until January 2006 when he moved to Lithuania to play for

Lietuvos Rytas ''Lietuvos rytas'' (lit. 'Morning of Lithuania') is a Lithuanian daily newspaper. History and profile "Lietuvos rytas" was established in 1990 on a basis of newspaper "Komjaunimo tiesa". The paper is printed in Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is ...

. In 12 league games for Rytas, he averaged 6.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game. In the summer of 2006, Baker underwent ankle surgery, and was deemed "about 80 percent of the player he was before" the surgery. For the 2006–07 season, Baker returned to the Dakota Wizards, with the team now playing in the

. In their first D-League season, Baker helped the Wizards win the championship, leading the team in rebounds with ten while scoring nineteen points in the Championship game against the

Colorado 14ers Colorado is a state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, ...

. He again played for Dakota in 2007–08, departing the team in January 2008 to join Paris-Levallois 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 ...

. In 2008–09, Baker again played in the NBA Development League for the Dakota Wizards, earning All-Star honors for the first time. Following the season with Dakota, Baker moved to Puerto Rico for the 2009 BSN season, joining

Atléticos de San Germán Atléticos de San Germán is a basketball club of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) based in San Germán, Puerto Rico. Founded in the 1930s after the amalgamation of the old San Germán team and the Farmacia Martín team, the team is one of ...

. He returned to Dakota for the 2009–10 season, before again playing in Puerto Rico in the off-season, this time joining

Indios de Mayagüez The Indios de Mayagüez (Mayagüez Indians) are a baseball team in Puerto Rico's Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente (Roberto Clemente Professional Baseball League, in Spanish). Based in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, the ''Indios' ...

. For the 2010–11 season, Baker moved to Mexico where he played for Ola Verde de Poza Rica. In January 2011, he returned to the Dakota Wizards for the rest of the season. He later had stints in the Philippines for the

Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the PLDT, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The ...

, and in Venezuela for

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 ...

. Baker again played for the Dakota Wizards in 2011–12. He then played in the Dominican Republic during the 2012 off-season for Cañeros del Este. In 2012, the Wizards were moved from

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

by their NBA affiliate team, the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

. The team was subsequently renamed the

, and Baker continued on with Santa Cruz. Between 2012 and 2016, Baker was a consistent presence on the Santa Cruz roster, earning his second D-League championship in the 2014–15 season.

Coaching career

Prior to the start of the

2022–23 NBA season The 2022–23 NBA season was the 77th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 18, 2022, and ended on April 9, 2023. The 2023 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 19, 2023, at Vivint Arena i ...

, Baker was hired as an assistant coach for 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 Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

under head coach

Rick Carlisle Richard Preston Carlisle ( ; born October 27, 1959) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has previously served as head coach of the Detroi ...

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

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References

External links