Edward Charles O'Bannon Jr. (born August 14, 1972) is an American 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 (appr ...

player in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He was a

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

on their 1995 NCAA championship team. He was selected by the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

with the ninth overall pick in the

1995 NBA draft The 1995 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1995, at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It marked the first NBA draft to be held outside the United States and was the first draft for the two Canadian expansion teams, Toronto Raptors and Vancouve ...

. After two seasons in the NBA, he continued his professional career for another eight years, mainly playing in Europe. O'Bannon was the lead plaintiff in ''

O'Bannon v. NCAA ''O'Bannon v. NCAA'', 802 F.3d 1049 (9th Cir. 2015) was an United States antitrust law, antitrust class action lawsuit filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The lawsuit, which former UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UCL ...

'', an

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

class action A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...

lawsuit against the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

which resulted in the discontinuation of NCAA video games.

Early life

O'Bannon grew up in

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as ...

and attended Verbum Dei High School before graduating from Artesia High School. He averaged 24.6 points, 9.7 rebounds in his senior year at Artesia. He led the school to a 29–2 record that year, and they won the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a s ...

(CIF) Division II state championship. He was the most valuable player (MVP) at the Dapper Dan Classic, a high school

All-Star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

, and he was named a

McDonald's High School All-American The McDonald's All-American Game is the All-star game, all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' High school (North America), high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team pla ...

as well as honored by ''

Basketball Times ''Basketball Times'' was an American basketball magazine that was in circulation from 1978 to 2021, and was published by Akers Ink LLC. ''Basketball Times'' published monthly and mainly focused on college basketball. The headquarters was in Matthew ...

'' as its national high school player of the year.

College career

O'Bannon originally planned to attend the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

(UNLV), but he did not sign a letter of intent with the university at the suggestion of UNLV head coach

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Rebe ...

. However, when UNLV's men's basketball program was placed on probation due to recruiting improprieties, O'Bannon rescinded his commitment and instead attended UCLA. Six days before the official start of practice at UCLA, O'Bannon tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

as he landed awkwardly on a dunk during a pickup game with other Bruins. He was told he might not be able to walk properly again, but eighteen months later, after receiving a graft from a cadaver, he returned to playing basketball. In his first year, he came off the bench in 23 games and averaged fewer than four points while never starting. In his second season in 1993, O'Bannon was named to the first team All-Pacific-10 (Pac-10) Conference team. In his junior year, he was named the team's MVP Finney 2010, p.110 and was again first team All-Pac-10. In his senior year in 1994–95, O'Bannon was the key to UCLA's 1995 NCAA Basketball Championship, scoring 30 points and taking 17 rebounds and was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. For the season, he averaged 20.4 points (.533 field-goal percentage, .433 3-point percentage) and 8.3 rebounds, earning him 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 ...

USBWA College Player of the Year The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to the outstanding men's college basketball player by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). The trophy is considered to be the oldest of its kind and has been given out since 195 ...

(now Oscar Robertson Trophy), and the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

Player of the Year. He was a consensus first team All-American, Pac-10 co-Player of the Year along with

Damon Stoudamire Damon Lamon Stoudamire (born September 3, 1973) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) The , point guard was selected ...

, Finney 2010, p.102 first team All-Pac-10 for the third consecutive year, and UCLA's co-MVP along with

Tyus Edney Tyus Dwayne Edney Sr. (born February 14, 1973) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the San Diego Toreros men's team of the West Coast Conference (WCC). Listed at , he played point guard. He played coll ...

. His number 31 was retired by UCLA in 1996. He was also inducted into

UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

in 2005, and the

Pac-12 Basketball Hall of Honor The Pac-12 Conference Hall of Honor recognizes former athletes and coaches who have made a significant impact to the tradition and heritage of the Pac-12 Conference. Established in 2002, one honoree is selected by each member institution in the co ...

in 2012.

NBA career

Leading up to the

, O'Bannon hoped to be drafted by a team on the west coast. Selected ninth overall by the

, he signed a three-year, $3.9 million contract. However, he became homesick. In his two professional seasons, he was unable to find a place in the NBA, being too lean to play down low and not quick enough with his rebuilt knees to guard the perimeter. His knee also started to break down. He averaged 6.2 and 4.2 points per game respectively with the Nets and was traded to 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 Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

later in his second and final NBA season, where he had even less of an impact. In September 1997 he was traded along with

Derek Harper Derek Ricardo Harper (born October 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. A second-team All-American at the University of Illinois, he was the 11th overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft and spent 16 seasons as a point guar ...

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 league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

and released. "It wasn't injury, it was confidence," O'Bannon said about his NBA career. "I missed shots, got pulled from games, it affected my defense, and I lost all my confidence." Former Nets teammate Armon Gilliam said, "He's a guy who didn't find his niche in the NBA. He wasn't in the right situation to grow and develop. He never got the opportunity to prove what he could do."

Career in Europe and the ABA

After his NBA career, O'Bannon played professional basketball seven years overseas in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

(in

Anwil Włocławek Anwil is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Anwil is first mentioned in 1276. Geography Anwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 63.6% is used for agricultural purposes, wh ...

Polonia Warsaw Polonia Warsaw ( pl, Polonia Warszawa, ), founded on 19 November 1911, is the oldest existing Varsovian sports club, best known for its football and basketball teams. It also has track and field, swimming, chess, mountain biking, and contract ...

and

Astoria Bydgoszcz Astoria Bydgoszcz, also known as simply Astoria, is a Polish multi-sports club most known for the professional men's basketball team, based in Bydgoszcz. Playing in the Polish Basketball League and in the past in the FIBA Korać Cup. History In ...

). He also played one year for the startup

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

(ABA) with the

Los Angeles Stars LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significance ...

. After the NBA, he only had one-year contracts and never made more than $400,000 in a season. He decided to retire at age 32 after undergoing

arthroscopic Arthroscopy (also called arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint in which an examination and sometimes treatment of damage is performed using an arthroscope, an endoscope that is inserted into the jo ...

knee surgery. When he made his decision, he was in the process of trying out for a team in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

but realized he had no more motivation to play the game. Furthermore, the people holding the tryouts had never even heard of him. In his professional career, O'Bannon said he "played for 12 different teams in at least six countries and for 15 different coaches."

Subsequent career

As of 2009, O'Bannon was employed as a marketing director for a Las Vegas auto dealership. In 2006, while employed as a salesman at the dealership, O'Bannon told the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'', "People see me and remember me and I'm proud to tell them — 'No, I don't play. No, I don't coach. Yes, I sell cars.'" By 2020, he had become a

probation officer A probation and parole officer is an official appointed or sworn to investigate, report on, and supervise the conduct of convicted offenders on probation or those released from incarceration to community supervision such as parole. Most probati ...

in Las Vegas. O'Bannon was a volunteer coach at Green Valley High School in

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the second largest city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with an estimated population of 320,189 in 2019. The city is part of the Las Vegas Vall ...

. In 2009, citing a renewed interest in basketball due to his children, O'Bannon accepted an offer to become the head coach of the boys' basketball team at Henderson International School.

Class action against NCAA

O'Bannon is the lead plaintiff in ''

'', an

lawsuit filed against the

(NCAA) on behalf of its Division I football and men's basketball players over the organization's use for commercial purposes of the images of its former student athletes. The suit argued that upon graduation, a former

student athlete A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

should become entitled to financial compensation for future commercial uses of his or her image by the NCAA. In January 2011,

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

, considered one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, joined O'Bannon in the class action suit. On August 8, 2014, Judge

Claudia Wilken Claudia Ann Wilken (born August 1949) is a Senior United States District Court Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Education and career Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Wilken received a Bachelor o ...

ruled that the NCAA's long-held practice of barring payments to athletes violated anti-trust laws. In March 2015, O'Bannon appeared in a faux commercial on ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in April 2014 on HBO. ''Last Wee ...

'' on

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that criticized the NCAA's payment practices regarding student athletes. With

March Madness The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

approaching, the commercial featured a fake video game named ''March Sadness 2015'' that mocked the experiences of college basketball players in relation to the NCAA. "This game is every bit as fucked up as the real thing,” stated O'Bannon in the segment. In 2018, he published a book about his fight with the NCAA, ''Court Justice: The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA''. O'Bannon supported the

Fair Pay to Play Act The Fair Pay to Play Act, originally known as California Senate Bill 206, is a California statute that will allow collegiate athletes to acquire endorsements and sponsorships while still maintaining athletic eligibility. The bill would affect ...

, a California law that allows college athletes to receive endorsement deals.

Personal life

O'Bannon attended UNLV to continue earning his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

. In the summer of 2011, O'Bannon returned to UCLA to complete his studies, and he graduated in the fall that year with a degree in history. O'Bannon is the older brother of

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

, who won the championship with him at UCLA and went on to play for 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 league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

. His half-brother Turhon O’Bannon played football for the

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999, after leaving the Western Athle ...

and professionally for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

. O'Bannon lives in

, with his wife, Rosa, and their three children. Daughter Jazmin played college basketball at UNLV.

NBA career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1995–96 , style="text-align:left;",

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, 64 , , 29 , , 19.6 , , .390 , , .179 , , .713 , , 2.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 6.2 , - , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2, 1996–97 , style="text-align:left;",

, 45 , , 5 , , 14.1 , , .367 , , .283 , , .870 , , 2.5 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 4.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, 19 , , 0 , , 9.2 , , .236 , , .100 , , .917 , , 1.9 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 2.4 , - , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 128 , , 34 , , 16.1 , , .367 , , .222 , , .755 , , 2.5 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 5.0

Publications

References

;General *O'Bannon's pro career timeline at ;Specific

External links

*
Ed O'Bannon UCLA Statistics
at Sports-Reference.com

Ed O'Bannon's Lost Lettermen Interviews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obannon, Ed 1972 births Living people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Poland American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Basketball players from Los Angeles Boca Juniors basketball players CB Valladolid players Dallas Mavericks players High school basketball coaches in the United States KK Włocławek players Astoria Bydgoszcz players La Crosse Bobcats players Liga ACB players McDonald's High School All-Americans New Jersey Nets draft picks New Jersey Nets players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Lakewood, California Small forwards UCLA Bruins men's basketball players Universiade gold medalists for the United States Universiade medalists in basketball 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople