Kai Toews (テーブス海, born September 17, 1998) is a Japanese professional basketball player who currently plays for the

Shiga Lakes Shiga Lakes (滋賀レイクス) is a Japanese men's basketball team playing in the Western Conference of the B.League. They are based in the Shiga Prefecture. Coaches *Robert Pierce (basketball), Bob Pierce (2008–10) *Takatoshi Ishibashi *H ...

of the

B. League The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that ...

. His cousin

Jonathan Toews Jonathan Bryan Toews ( ; born April 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre and captain of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Nicknamed "Captain Serious", Toews was selected by the Blackhawks with the t ...

played for the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

from 2007 to 2023.

Early life

Toews grew up playing soccer before starting to play basketball in fourth grade. His father, former professional player

BT Toews Burke "BT" Toews (born February 8, 1966) is a Canadian basketball coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Fujitsu Red Wave in the Japanese Women's Japan Basketball League. Toews played professionally in Canada and Germany. His son Ka ...

, taught him the fundamentals of the game. Growing up, Toews cited

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson (; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iver ...

as his favorite basketball player. Toews attended Keihoku High School for his freshman and sophomore years and was recruited by Japanese universities but had higher ambitions. Toews moved to the United States and attended the Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts for two years. In his senior season, Toews helped the team to a 31–4 record and the New England Prep Class AAA Championship, earned honorable mention All-NEPSAC honors.

UNC Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

coach C.B. McGrath offered Toews a scholarship, after seeing him play when McGrath was an assistant at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

College career

On November 25, 2018, Toews had a career-high 14 assists against

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

. As a freshman, Toews started 32 of 33 games and averaged 8.8 points, 7.7 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game. He finished second in NCAA Division I in assists per game, behind only

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

Ja Morant Temetrius Jamel "Ja" Morant (born August 10, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "G12", he played college basketball for the Murray State Racers m ...

. He set the

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

single-season assists record with 253 and was named to the CAA All-Rookie Team. Toews was a finalist for the 2019 Kyle Macy Award presented by CollegeInsider.com to the nation's top freshman basketball player. In his sophomore season, Toews started 12 of 13 games for UNC Wilmington and averaged 5.5 points, 4.3 assists, and 2.2 rebounds per game. After the team's game against Vanderbilt on December 21, 2019, Toews announced he was leaving the team to pursue professional opportunities. “Obviously, it was a total surprise to us,” coach McGrath said. Toews finished his career with 362 points, 112 rebounds and 309 assists.

Professional career

Utsunomiya Brex (2020–2022)

On January 10, 2020, Toews signed a professional contract with the

Utsunomiya Brex Utsunomiya Brex is a Japanese professional basketball team based in Tochigi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) a ...

in Japan.

Shiga Lakes (2022–2023)

On June 13, 2022, Toews signed with the

for the 2022–23 B.League season.

Alvark Tokyo (2023–present)

On June 30, 2023, Toews signed with the

Alvark Tokyo Alvark Tokyo is a Japanese professional basketball team located in Tokyo. The team, which is sponsored by Toyota, currently plays in the Japanese B.League. Until 2000, the team was known as the Toyota Pacers. Founded as Toyota Pacers in 1948, ...

National team career

Toews has played for Japan's Under-15 and Under-19 national teams. Toews competed for Japan in the 2019

William Jones Cup The R. William Jones Cup (), also known as the Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in Taiwan. It was named in honor of basketball promoter ...

in Taiwan.

References

External links

UNC Wilmington Seahawks bio
1998 births Living people Basketball players from Tokyo Utsunomiya Brex players Japanese men's basketball players Point guards Japanese expatriate basketball people in the United States UNC Wilmington Seahawks men's basketball players {{Japan-basketball-bio-stub