Claude Christian Lutete IV (born October 9, 1996) is an American-Congolese 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 (appr ...

player for Hermine Nantes. He also plays for the DR Congo men's national basketball team. Lutete played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for Radford and UMass Lowell.

Early life and high school career

Lutete grew up in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 censu ...

and attended

McKinley Technology High School McKinley Technology High School is a public citywide 9th–12th grade high school in the District of Columbia Public Schools in Northeast Washington, D.C. The school, an offshoot of Central High School (now Cardozo Senior High School), originally ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He played a

post-graduate year A postgraduate (PG) year is an extra year of secondary coursework at a boarding school following high school graduation, but before entering college. It is a gap year option intended for students who either have not applied or were not admitted ...

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

, which he said was one of his best decisions because it made him uncomfortable. Lutete averaged 17 points per game and was named to the All-NEPSAC Team. Lutete committed to Radford over offers from several

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

schools.

College career

Lutute played sparingly during two seasons at Radford and made three starts. As a freshman, he averaged 2.9 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Lutete averaged 4.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game as a sophomore. Following his sophomore season, he transferred to UMass Lowell because a high school teammate was on the team. As a redshirt junior, Lutete averaged 18.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, shooting 53.4 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from behind the arc. He earned Second Team All-

America East The America East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I founded in 1979, whose members are located in the Northeastern United States. The conference has nine core members including eight public research u ...

and All-Academic Team honors as well as being named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 1 First Team. On November 8, 2019, Lutute scored a school-record 51 points and grabbed nine rebounds in an 87-74 victory over

LIU / ( or ) is an East Asian surname. pinyin: in Mandarin Chinese, in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character originally meant 'kill', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text ...

. Lutete broke his left wrist during his senior season but did not tell anyone until the season was over. He averaged 19.3 points per game as a senior, second-best in the conference, as well as a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game. Lutete earned Second Team All-America East honors and was named to the Division I Academic All-America First Team. He was named America East Man of the Year due to his academic achievements in earning his master's degree in peace and conflict studies as well as mentoring District of Columbia College Access Program scholars.

Professional career

On July 29, 2020, Lutete signed his first professional contract with

CSU Sibiu BC CSU Sibiu is a Romanian professional basketball club, based in Sibiu, Romania. The club competes in the Liga Națională, winning the championship in 1995 and 1999. The home arena is Transilvania Hall, a 1850-seat arena in Sibiu. History In ...

of the Liga Națională. He averaged 8.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. On February 28, 2021, Lutete signed with

Bashkimi Prizren Klubi i Basketbollit Bashkimi, also known as K.B Bashkimi or simply Bashkimi , is a professional basketball team based in Prizren, Kosovo. Bashkimi is the oldest basketball team in Kosovo and competes in the top professional men's basketball leag ...

of the

Kosovo Basketball Superleague The Kosovo Basketball Superleague (Albanian: Superliga e Kosovës në Basketboll) and known as the ArtMotion Superliga due to sponsorship reasons is the top men's professional basketball league in Kosovo. Basketball Superleague was founded in 1991 ...

National team career

Lutete made his debut for the DR Congo men's national basketball team in July 2022, in a

2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament will be the second to feature 32 teams. For the first time in its history, the World Cup will be ...

qualification. On July 2, he scored 19 points and had 6 rebounds in a 72–60 win over

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

Personal life

Lutete is the son of Claude and Lishion Lutete and has an older sister, Bijou. His favorite basketball player is

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

References

External links

Radford Highlanders bioUMass Lowell River Hawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutete, Christian 1996 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Kosovo American expatriate basketball people in Romania American men's basketball players CSU Sibiu players Sportspeople from Silver Spring, Maryland Basketball players from Montgomery County, Maryland Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Radford Highlanders men's basketball players Shooting guards UMass Lowell River Hawks men's basketball players Democratic Republic of the Congo men's basketball players Bashkimi Prizren players