Luis Felipe López (born December 19, 1974) is a Dominican 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. He starred as a high school player and for the St. John's Red Storm in

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 ...

. López played for four seasons in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

(NBA). He has played for teams in a half dozen countries, as well as in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball mi ...

(CBA) in the U.S. Most recently, he has been a broadcaster with Spanish-language networks. His life story was the subject of an

ESPN 30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...

documentary entitled '' The Dominican Dream''.

Early life and high school career

López's father, who played amateur baseball in the Dominican Republic, and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was 14. López played high school basketball at Rice High School in New York City, where he followed New York high school player Dean Meminger in becoming one of the most highly touted recruits in U.S. high school history. The

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

made many All-American lists in 1994, earning Player of the Year honors from

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develo ...

, ''USA Today'', ''Parade'', and many others.

Collegiate career

López appeared on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

'' before he had played his first college game. He also appeared with

Jim Brown James Nathaniel Brown (born February 17, 1936) is a former American football player, sports analyst and actor. He played as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 through 1965. Considered to be one ...

and

Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is a retired American track and field athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the heptathlon as well as long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals in tho ...

at a televised

town meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

on race and sports along with then-president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

. López was the only Latino onstage during the discussion. López finished his freshman season for the St. John's Red Storm with an 17.8-point-per-game scoring average. He earned a spot on the All-Big East Rookie Team and All-Big East Third Team. His numbers dipped slightly the next two years, bottoming out at 15.9 ppg as a junior. As a senior he averaged 17.6 ppg and garnered All-Big East First Team honors. He finished his career with 1,927 points, placing him fourth all-time in St. John's history behind former players Chris Mullin,

Malik Sealy Malik Sealy (February 1, 1970 – May 20, 2000) was an American professional basketball player, active from 1992 until his death in an automobile accident at the age of 30. Sealy played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) ...

, and

D'Angelo Harrison D'Angelo Damon Harrison (born August 14, 1993) is an American basketball player for Treviso Basket of the Lega Basket Serie A. He completed his college career for the St. John's Red Storm before playing professionally in Turkey, Israel and Russia. ...

and sixth in Big East history with 1,222 conference points, while also ranking seventh all time in steals, 14th in assists, and 20th in rebounds. He also holds the St. John's record for most three-pointers made in a single season (60) and in a career (148).

Professional career

López was selected by the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

with the 24th pick in the

1998 NBA draft The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This draft helped turn around four struggling franchises: the Dallas Mavericks, the Sacramento Kings, the Boston Celtics, and the To ...

and was immediately traded, along with

Carl Herrera Carl Víctor Herrera Allen (born December 14, 1966) is a retired Trinidadian-born Venezuelan basketball player. A power forward, he was part of the Houston Rockets National Basketball Association championship teams of the mid-1990s. He was the f ...

, to the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

for

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by ...

Antonio Daniels Antonio Robert Daniels (born March 19, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player who played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the television color analyst for the New Orleans Pelicans on Ba ...

. López's drafting into the NBA was cause for great celebration in the heavily Dominican community of Washington Heights in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He played 112 games for the Grizzlies before being 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 ...

along with Dennis Scott,

Cherokee Parks Cherokee Bryan Parks (born October 11, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. He played nine seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A 6 ft 11 in (211 cm), 240 lb (109 kg) center, Parks playe ...

, and

Obinna Ekezie Obinna Ralph Ekezie (born August 22, 1975) is a Nigerian former professional basketball player who played in the NBA and other leagues. His name, Obinna, means "Father's heart". He is a direct descendant of the 19th century Igbo warrior and busi ...

in exchange for

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

Isaac Austin on August 22, 2000. López went on to sign as a free agent with both the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

and

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 Southwest Division. Th ...

, although he never played a regular season game for the Mavs. He trained with 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

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

in the first months of the

2005–06 NBA season The 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. The Miami Heat defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, four games to two to win their first NBA championship. Notable occurrences * A new league dres ...

before signing a contract with Lleida. López holds career NBA averages of 5.8 points, 2.4

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and one assist per game.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

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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 ...

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Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

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Playoffs

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2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

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References

5. Beat Nuts-Get Funky https://genius.com/The-beatnuts-get-funky-lyrics

External links

"Shoot the Moon"
''New Yorker'' article by

Susan Orlean Susan Orlean (born October 31, 1955) is a journalist, television writer, and bestselling author of ''The Orchid Thief'' and '' The Library Book''. She has been a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'' since 1992, and has contributed articles to many ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Felipe 1974 births Living people Albany Patroons players American people of Dominican Republic descent Dominican Republic expatriate basketball people in Canada Dominican Republic expatriate basketball people in Germany EWE Baskets Oldenburg players McDonald's High School All-Americans Minnesota Timberwolves players National Basketball Association players from the Dominican Republic Orlando Magic players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) San Antonio Spurs draft picks Shooting guards Sportspeople from Santo Domingo St. John's Red Storm men's basketball players Vancouver Grizzlies players Washington Wizards players Afro-Dominican (Dominican Republic) Dominican Republic basketball players