Cassius Winston (born February 28, 1998) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for Bayern Munich of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague. He 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 the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

High school career

Winston, a 6'1 point guard, was a star prep player at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

. As a senior in 2016, he led his team to an MHSAA Class A State Championship, and was named Mr. Basketball of Michigan. Winston was inducted into the

Catholic High School League The Catholic High School League (CHSL) is a school athletic conference based in Detroit, Michigan, led by director Victor Michaels. Most member schools are also members of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA), the governing body fo ...

Hall of Fame in 2020.

Recruiting

College career

He chose to attend college at

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

, and averaged 6.7 points and 5.2 assists per game in 35 games as a freshman. As a sophomore, he became a full-time starter, averaging 12.6 points and 6.9 assists per game for the Spartans, and earning third-team All-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

honors. Entering into Winston's junior season, he was selected to the preseason All-Big Ten team. After a strong start to the year, he was named to the midseason watch list for the

John R. Wooden Award The John R. Wooden Award is an award given annually to the most outstanding men's and women's college basketball players. The program consists of the men's and women's Player of the Year awards, the Legends of Coaching award, and recognizing the ...

. On March 11, 2019, Winston was named the Big Ten Player of the Year. On March 31, 2019, Winston scored 20 points along with 10 assists in a 68–67 win against

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

in the

Elite Eight In the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship or the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship, the "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams, representing the regional finals, or national quarterfinals. In Division I and Divis ...

of the

2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2019 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2018–19 seas ...

. Prior to the start of the 2019–20 season, Winston was unanimously named a preseason All-American by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

(AP), the only player so honored. On December 29, Winston missed a game against

Western Michigan West Michigan and Western Michigan are terms for an arbitrary region in the U.S. state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Most narrowly it refers to the Grand Rapids- Muskegon-Holland area, and more broadly to most of the region along the Lower Pen ...

with a bone bruise in his knee. He scored a career-high 32 points along with nine assists in a 87–69 win over

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

on January 5, 2020. Winston passed

Mateen Cleaves Mateen Ahmad Cleaves (born September 7, 1977) is a retired American basketball player. He played parts of six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an All-American college player for Michigan State, where he led the Sparta ...

' Big Ten record of 816 assists on January 17, in a win against

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. At the close of the regular season, Winston was named to the First Team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media. Winston averaged 18.3 points and 5.9 assists per game as a senior.

Professional career

Washington Wizards (2020–2022)

On November 18, 2020, Winston was drafted by the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

with the 53rd overall pick in the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

. His rights were subsequently traded to the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

and on November 28, 2020, he was signed to a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

. However, since Washington's affiliate, the

Capital City Go-Go The Capital City Go-Go is an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Washington, D.C., and are affiliated with the Washington Wizards. The Go-Go play their home games at the St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports ...

withdrew from the tournament, he was assigned to the Erie BayHawks for the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

season, making his debut on February 10, 2021. On August 19, 2021, Winston signed a second two-way contract with the Wizards. He appeared in 7 games for the Wizards during the 2021-2022 regular season. Winston joined the Philadelphia 76ers for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campu ...

Bayern Munich (2022–present)

On July 28, 2022, Winston signed with German club Bayern Munich.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, 22 , , 0 , , 4.5 , , .424 , , .471 , , .833 , , .4 , , .5 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 0 , , 5.6 , , .364 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , .1 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 29 , , 0 , , 4.7 , , .409 , , .435 , , .900 , , .3 , , .7 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.9

Playoffs

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

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

, 1 , , 0 , , 5.0 , , .333 , , .000 , , — , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1 , , 0 , , 5.0 , , .333 , , .000 , , — , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , .0 , , 2.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 5 , , 20.7 , , .423 , , .380 , , .775 , , 1.8 , , 5.2 , , .7 , , .1 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 34 , , 28.1 , , .507 , , .497 , , .900 , , 3.4 , , 6.9 , , .7 , , .1 , , 12.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 39 , , 39 , , 33.5 , , .460 , , .398 , , .840 , , 3.0 , , 7.5 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 18.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 32.7 , , .448 , , .432 , , .852 , , 2.5 , , 5.9 , , 1.2 , , .0 , , 18.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 139 , , 108 , , 28.8 , , .461 , , .430 , , .845 , , 2.7 , , 6.4 , , .9 , , .1 , , 14.2

Personal life

Winston has two younger brothers, Zachary and Khy, who played basketball at

Albion College Albion College is a private liberal arts college in Albion, Michigan. The college was founded in 1835 and its undergraduate population was approximately 1,500 students in 2014. They participate in NCAA Division III and the Michigan Interco ...

. On November 9, 2019, Zachary Winston was killed after being struck by a train.

References

External links

Michigan State Spartans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winston, Cassius 1998 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Germany American men's basketball players African-American basketball players Basketball players from Detroit Capital City Go-Go players Erie BayHawks (2019–2021) players FC Bayern Munich basketball players Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Oklahoma City Thunder draft picks Point guards University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy alumni Washington Wizards players