James Robert Wilkes (born April 1, 1958) 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. Born in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

, Wilkes was raised in Los Angeles, where he attended

Susan Miller Dorsey Susan Miller Dorsey (February 16, 1857 – February 5, 1946) served as the superintendent of the Los Angeles City Schools from 1920 to 1929. Biography Susan Almira Miller was born in Penn Yan, New York, the daughter of James and Hannah ( ...

High School. In his senior year, he was named 1976 Los Angeles City Section 4A co-player of the year as he led Dorsey to the city championship. Wlikes then attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

; as a 6'7"

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, he was regarded as a defensive specialist and was often assigned to guard the opponent's top scoring forward. In the third round of the

1980 NBA draft The 1980 NBA draft was the 34th annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on June 10, 1980, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel & Towers, before the 1980–81 season. In this draft, 23 NBA teams took turns selectin ...

, Wilkes was selected by the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

. He played three NBA seasons (1980–1983) with the Bulls and

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 ...

, scoring 547 total points.

External links

Career statistics
1958 births Living people Basketball players from Nashville, Tennessee Chicago Bulls draft picks Chicago Bulls players Detroit Pistons players Detroit Spirits players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Small forwards UCLA Bruins men's basketball players American men's basketball players Susan Miller Dorsey High School alumni {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub