Olden Polynice (born November 21, 1964) is a Haitian 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 played center for the Seattle SuperSonics,

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 ...

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 ...

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

, and

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

of 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).

Career

After graduating from All Hallows High School in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

, Polynice 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 ...

at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. As a Freshman during the 1983–84 season, Polynice helped lead the UVA Cavaliers to the 1984 Final Four when they won the NCAA Eastern Region as the # 7 seed. UVA defeating the #10 seed Iona (58–57), the #2 seed Arkansas (53–51 in OT), the #3 seed Syracuse (63–55) and the #4 seed Indiana (50–48) en route to the Final Four. In the Final Four, UVA lost in overtime 49–47 to the Midwest Region Champion University of Houston denying UVA a chance at the National Championship game. As a Junior during the 1985–86 season, Polynice was honored for his play by being named first team All-ACC. After three years in college and playing with

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

's Hamby Rimini in 1986–87, he was selected 8th overall by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

in the 1987 NBA draft, but was immediately traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Scottie Pippen. Polynice then arrived in Detroit in 1992 after being traded by the Los Angeles Clippers and departed two years later when he was traded to the Sacramento Kings for Pete Chilcutt and two draft picks. In 15 NBA seasons, Polynice averaged 23.5 minutes, 7.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, with a career PER of 13.2. At 6'11", he was often signed by teams in need of a rebounder and interior player, and consistently ranked among the league leaders in offensive rebounds. Polynice retired from the NBA in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

after a brief return to the Clippers. He later played for the Los Angeles Aftershock of the ABA. Upon retiring, Polynice served as coach for the ABA's Long Beach Breakers. In 1997, still active, he worked as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

for the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs. He now runs the Polynice Basketball Organization founded with the help of his nephews Brian and Jordan Polynice.

Personal life

Olden went on a hunger strike in 1993 for the sufferings the Haitian people were facing. He is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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, 80 , , 0 , , 10.4 , , .506 , , .000 , , .593 , , 2.6 , , .3 , , .5 , , .4 , , 2.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , , 7 , , 13.7 , , .540 , , .500 , , .475 , , 3.8 , , .2 , , .3 , , .3 , , 4.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 48 , , 0 , , 20.0 , , .545 , , – , , .588 , , 5.6 , , .3 , , .5 , , .4 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A. Clippers , 31 , , 30 , , 36.5 , , .579 , , .000 , , .572 , , 9.1 , , .8 , , .5 , , .4 , , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A. Clippers , 76 , , 65 , , 24.1 , , .519 , , .000 , , .622 , , 7.1 , , .6 , , .6 , , .3 , , 8.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, 67 , , 18 , , 19.4 , , .490 , , .000 , , .465 , , 6.2 , , .4 , , .5 , , .3 , , 7.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 36 , , 36.5 , , .547 , , .000 , , .457 , , 12.3 , , .6 , , .6 , , 1.0 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

, 31 , , 29 , , 33.9 , , .484 , , .000 , , .556 , , 11.4 , , .6 , , .6 , , 1.0 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 81 , , 31.3 , , .544 , , 1.000 , , .639 , , 9.0 , , .8 , , .6 , , .6 , , 10.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 80 , , 30.1 , , .527 , , .333 , , .601 , , 9.4 , , .7 , , .6 , , .8 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , style="background:#CFECEC; width:1em", 82* , , 35.3 , , .457 , , .000 , , .562 , , 9.4 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , 1.0 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 70 , , 25 , , 20.8 , , .459 , , .000 , , .452 , , 6.3 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .6 , , 7.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 48 , , 47 , , 30.9 , , .472 , , 1.000 , , .309 , , 8.9 , , .9 , , .4 , , .6 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

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, 81 , , 79 , , 20.0 , , .496 , , .000 , , .262 , , 4.7 , , .4 , , .3 , , 1.0 , , 5.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", L.A. Clippers , 2 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , – , , – , , – , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .5 , , .0 , , .0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1,058 , , 658 , , 23.5 , , .505 , , .192 , , .535 , , 6.7 , , .7 , , .5 , , .6 , , 7.8

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1988 , style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 0 , , 8.8 , , .455 , , – , , .000 , , 1.6 , , .0 , , .6 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

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

, 8 , , 0 , , 20.3 , , .610 , , – , , .538 , , 7.8 , , .1 , , .8 , , .5 , , 7.1 , - , 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;", L.A. Clippers , 5 , , 0 , , 12.6 , , .583 , , – , , .333 , , 3.6 , , .4 , , .2 , , .2 , , 3.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

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

, 4 , , 4 , , 35.3 , , .522 , , 1.000 , , .667 , , 12.0 , , .8 , , .3 , , 1.8 , , 13.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

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

, 10 , , 10 , , 26.0 , , .538 , , – , , .500 , , 6.6 , , .5 , , .3 , , .8 , , 5.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

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

, 5 , , 5 , , 20.0 , , .533 , , .000 , , .700 , , 3.8 , , .2 , , .2 , , .4 , , 7.8 , - , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 37 , , 19 , , 20.8 , , .547 , , .500 , , .543 , , 6.0 , , .3 , , .4 , , .6 , , 6.4

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1983–84 , style="text-align:left;",

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, 33, , , , 26.2, , , .551, , , , .588, , 5.6, , 0.6, , 0.1, , 0.5, , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1984–85 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32, , , , 34.2, , , .603, , , , .599, , 7.6, , 0.5, , 0.4, , 1.1, , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1985–86 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30, , , , 35.8, , , .572, , , , .637, , 8.0, , 0.5, , 0.3, , 1.1, , 16.1 , - , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 95, , , , 31.9, , , .578, , , , .612, , 7.0, , 0.5, , 0.3, , 0.9, , 12.1

References

External links

NBA.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polynice, Olden 1964 births Living people American Basketball Association (2000–present) coaches Basket Rimini Crabs players Centers (basketball) Chicago Bulls draft picks Detroit Pistons players Grand Rapids Hoops players Haitian emigrants to the United States Haitian men's basketball players Harlem Globetrotters players Long Beach Jam players Los Angeles Clippers players Michigan Mayhem players NBA players from Haiti Sacramento Kings players Seattle SuperSonics players Sportspeople from Port-au-Prince Utah Jazz players Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball players