Kamaka Qapqan Hepa (born January 27, 2000) is an American professional basketball player who last played for

Zastal Zielona Góra Zastal Zielona Góra, officially Enea Zastal BC Zielona Góra for sponsorship reasons, is a Polish professional basketball team that is based in Zielona Góra, Poland. The team plays in the Polish League and internationally in the VTB United Lea ...

of the

Polish Basketball League Polska Liga Koszykówki (PLK) (English language, English: Polish Basketball League) is a professional men's club basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Poland. It constitutes the first and highest-tier level of the Polish basketball leag ...

. 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

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wāhine are the athletic teams that represent the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH), in Honolulu, Hawaii. The UH athletics program is a member of the Big West Conference in most sports and competes a ...

and the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

Early life and high school career

Hepa was born and brought up in

Barrow, Alaska Utqiagvik ( ik, Utqiaġvik; , , formerly known as Barrow ()) is the borough seat and largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located north of the Arctic Circle, it is one of the northernmost cities and towns in the ...

(now known as Utqiagvik), the northernmost community in the United States. He grew up playing club basketball for the Alaska Mountaineers, with whom he won tournaments in

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 ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. As a freshman and sophomore, Hepa played for

Barrow High School Barrow High School is a public high school in Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska, United States, operated by the North Slope Borough School District. As of the 2016–2017 school year, the school had 232 students. Athletics Football A high ...

. In each season, he led his team to the Class 3A state title and was named Alaska

Gatorade Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine playe ...

. In March 2016, Hepa moved to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

to gain more exposure and to play for Portland Basketball Club on the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

circuit. He also enrolled at Jefferson High School, where he played under head coach Pat Strickland. As a junior, Hepa averaged 16.4 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, leading Jefferson to its first Class 6A state title. In his senior season, he led his team to a Class 6A runner-up finish. After averaging 16.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 6.2 blocks per game, he was named Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year. On October 31, 2017, Hepa committed to playing

for

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

as a four-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

College career

In February 2019, as a freshman, Hepa suffered a head injury in practice and missed two games in concussion protocol. On February 27, 2019, in his first career start, he scored a freshman season-high 11 points in an 84–83 loss to Baylor. He finished the season averaging 1.9 points and 1.6 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game. On January 15, 2020, in his sophomore season, Hepa scored a career-high 15 points and four rebounds in a 76–64 win over

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. As a sophomore, he averaged 2.9 points and two rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game. In his junior season, he played nine games and averaged 2.9 points in 6.4 minutes per game. In 2021, Hepa was named an Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar by ''Diverse: Issues In Higher Education''. On April 25, 2021 Hepa announced that he would transfer to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. In 27 games, Hepa averaged 9.4 points in 28.1 minutes per game.

Professional career

On July 3, 2023, Hepa was included in the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

2023 Summer League roster. On August 19, 2023, he signed with

of the

. In early December, he temporarily returned to the United States due to the sudden death of his father. He was supposed to return, but he officially parted ways with team by mutual agreement on January 14, 2024.

National team career

Hepa represented the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at the

2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship The 2018 FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship was an international under-18 basketball tournament that was held from 10 to 16 June 2018 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. The eleventh edition of the biennial competition, this is also the qualifyi ...

in St. Catharines, Ontario. He averaged 3.3 points and five rebounds per game, winning a gold medal.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 1 , , 10.3 , , .291 , , .310 , , .857 , , 1.6 , , .3 , , .0 , , .3 , , 1.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 10 , , 13.5 , , .361 , , .292 , , .667 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .2 , , .6 , , 2.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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

, 9 , , 1 , , 6.4 , , .500 , , .500 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , .1 , , .2 , , 2.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 27 , , 28.1 , , .440 , , .396 , , .804 , , 5.0 , , 1.4 , , .4 , , .7 , , 9.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

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

, 33 , , 33 , , 32.6 , , .424 , , .387 , , .842 , , 6.6 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .8 , , 11.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , , 118 , , 72 , , 20.9 , , .413 , , .374 , , .808 , , 3.8 , , .9 , , .3 , , .6 , , 6.6

Personal life

Hepa's father, Roland Hepa, died in December 2023. He was originally from Kapa'a, Hawaii and was of Hawaiian and

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

descent. Hepa's mother, Taqulik (née Opie), is an Iñupiaq from Utqiagvik. His mother played basketball for Barrow High School, while his father was a multi-sport athlete in high school. Hepa's older sister, Lynette, was a standout basketball player for Barrow High School before playing collegiately at

Fort Lewis College Fort Lewis College is a public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado. Because of its unique origins as a military fort turned Indian boarding school turned state public school, FLC follows a 1911 mandate to give qualified Native Americans a ...

. On November 23, 2015, his half-brother, Radford Kawika Hepa, was shot and killed in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. Kamaka’s younger brother, Keoni, is a collegiate football player at Simon Fraser.

References

External links

Hawaii Rainbow Warriors bioTexas Longhorns bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hepa, Kamaka 2000 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Poland American men's basketball players American people of Ilocano descent American sportspeople of Filipino descent Basketball players from Alaska Inupiat people People from Utqiagvik, Alaska Power forwards Small forwards Texas Longhorns men's basketball players Zastal Zielona Góra players