Wesley Deshawn Iwundu (born December 20, 1994) 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 ...

player for Promitheas Patras of the

Greek Basketball League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the Hellenic Basketball Associat ...

(GBL). 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 the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The School colors, official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are gener ...

College career

Iwundu was recruited by coach Bruce Weber to

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

out of Westfield High School in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. He would go on to be a starter from the beginning, breaking the Wildcats' career record for games started with 124. He came in as a part of a heralded five-man 2013 recruiting class, but ultimately was the only player who stayed at K-State past two seasons. He was named third-team All-

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

in both his junior and senior seasons. For his senior season, Iwundu averaged 13.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.

Professional career

Orlando Magic (2017–2020)

Following the closure of his college career, Iwundu was invited to the 2017 NBA draft combine. In the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

, Iwundu was taken in the second round by 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 ...

with the 33rd pick, thus becoming the first Kansas State player to be taken in an

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

since

Michael Beasley Michael Paul Beasley Jr. (born January 9, 1989) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for Kansas State University for one ...

and

Bill Walker Bill Walker may refer to: Australian rules football * Bill A. Walker (1886–1934), Australian rules footballer for Essendon * Bill Walker (Australian footballer, born 1883) (1883–1971), Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy * Bill J. V. Walke ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. Iwundu signed a three-year contract worth a total of $4,046,762.

Dallas Mavericks (2020–2021)

On December 1, 2020, Iwundu signed with 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 ...

New Orleans Pelicans (2021)

On March 26, 2021, Iwundu was traded, alongside James Johnson and a second-round draft pick, to the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

in exchange for

JJ Redick Jonathan Clay "JJ" Redick ( ) (born June 24, 1984) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He most recently served as an analyst ...

and

Nicolò Melli Nicolò Melli (born 26 January 1991) is an Italian professional basketball player for Fenerbahçe S.K. (basketball), Fenerbahçe Beko of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL) and the EuroLeague. He also represents the senior Italian national ba ...

. On August 7, 2021, Iwundu was traded to the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...

and was later waived prior to the start of the season.

Atlanta Hawks (2021–2022)

On December 23, 2021, Iwundu signed a 10-day contract with the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

Cleveland Charge (2022)

On January 25, 2022, Iwundu was acquired off waivers by the

Cleveland Charge The Cleveland Charge are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cleveland, and are affiliated with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since 2024, the team plays its home games at Public Auditorium in downtown Cleveland, thoug ...

. However, he was waived on April 1 after suffering a season-ending injury.

Stockton Kings (2022–2023)

Iwundu was signed 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 ...

on September 23, 2022, on a training camp contract. He was waived on October 7. On November 3, 2022, Iwundu was named to the opening-night roster for the

Stockton Kings The Stockton Kings are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Stockton, California, and are affiliated with the Sacramento Kings. The Kings play their home games at the Adventist Health Arena and compete in the G ...

Rasta Vechta (2023–2024)

For the 2023–24 season, Iwundu signed with

Rasta Vechta Sports Club Rasta Vechta is a German basketball club based in Vechta, Lower Saxony. The club plays in the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), following their promotion from the ProA in 2022–23. Founded in 1979, the club has spent the majority of its ...

of the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

, 62 , , 12 , , 16.5 , , .427 , , .196 , , .723 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , .5 , , .2 , , 3.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 68 , , 13 , , 18.1 , , .412 , , .367 , , .816 , , 2.7 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , .3 , , 5.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 52 , , 21 , , 18.3 , , .416 , , .341 , , .804 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , .3 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, , style="text-align:left;",

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 ...

, 23 , , 3 , , 12.5 , , .327 , , .130 , , .857 , , 2.9 , , .4 , , .4 , , .1 , , 2.1 , - , style="text-align:left;",

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, 18 , , 1 , , 13.9 , , .340 , , .111 , , .824 , , 2.6 , , .4 , , .3 , , .1 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, 3 , , 1 , , 27.3 , , .444 , , .600 , , .750 , , 4.3 , , .0 , , .3 , , .0 , , 7.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 226 , , 51 , , 16.9 , , .408 , , .292 , , .798 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .5 , , .2 , , 4.4

Playoffs

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

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

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

, 5 , , 0 , , 12.0 , , .333 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , .6 , , .0 , , 4.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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

, 5 , , 0 , , 15.2 , , .300 , , .571 , , .625 , , 2.2 , , .8 , , .6 , , .4 , , 4.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 10 , , 0 , , 13.6 , , .316 , , .438 , , .824 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .6 , , .2 , , 4.5

NBA G League

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Lakeland , 9 , , 9 , , 35.3 , , .405 , , .125 , , .755 , , 8.4 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 15.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 9 , , 9 , , 35.3 , , .405 , , .125 , , .755 , , 8.4 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .4 , , 15.2

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2013–14 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 23.6 , , .461 , , .412 , , .634 , , 4.2 , , 1.8 , , .6 , , .4 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 24 , , 25.2 , , .404 , , .316 , , .595 , , 3.5 , , 2.0 , , .7 , , .6 , , 5.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 32.4 , , .478 , , .200 , , .692 , , 4.5 , , 3.7 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , 11.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 31.4 , , .481 , , .376 , , .767 , , 6.3 , , 3.5 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 13.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 132 , , 123 , , 28.2 , , .463 , , .338 , , .688 , , 4.7 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , .4 , , 9.5

Personal

Iwundu has Nigerian roots. In 2021, it was reported that he was in talks with the

Nigeria national basketball team The Nigeria men's national basketball team represents Nigeria in international basketball, and it is governed by the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF). In March 2021, the global governing body FIBA ranked Nigeria as Africa's top men's bask ...

to represent Nigeria in the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

References

External links

*
Kansas State Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwundu, Wes 1994 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Greece American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Houston Cleveland Charge players Dallas Mavericks players Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball players Lakeland Magic players New Orleans Pelicans players Orlando Magic draft picks Orlando Magic players Promitheas Patras B.C. players SC Rasta Vechta players Small forwards Stockton Kings players