Kenneth Wooten Jr. (born April 17, 1998) is an American 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 for the

Raptors 905 The Raptors 905 are a Canadian professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Mississauga, Ontario, and are affiliated with the Toronto Raptors. Raptors 905 began play in the 2015–16 season and play their home games at Paramount Fi ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. 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

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conferenc ...

Early life and high school career

Wooten was born and grew up in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...

and initially attended Stagg High School before transferring to

Manteca High School Manteca High School is a public, co-educational secondary school in Manteca, California, United States that was established on May 21, 1920. It is the oldest school within Manteca Unified School District. Although originally built with a tower, i ...

after his sophomore year. As a senior, he averaged 13.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 4.0 blocks per game and scored 26 points with 18 rebounds and nine blocks in the Buffaloes win over Ayala High School in the 2016 State title game. Rated a four-star recruit, Wooten initially signed a national letter of intent to play college basketball at Nevada before asking to be released from his commitment in order to re-open his recruiting due to coaching changes at the school. He then transferred to Trinity International School in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

for a

postgraduate year A postgraduate (PG) year is an extra year of secondary coursework at a boarding school following high school graduation, but before entering college. It is a gap year option intended for students who either have not applied or were not admitted ...

in order to reclassify for the class of 2017. After initially committing to

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, Wooten de-committed and accepted a scholarship to play at

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

College career

As a freshman, Wooten averaged 6.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and a

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

-leading 2.6 blocks per game and was named to the conference's All-Defensive team. Wooten's 92 blocked shots was the third most in a single season by an Oregon player. He averaged 6.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game and was again named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive team in his sophomore season. Wooten had a career-high 20 points on December 8, 2018, in an 84–61 win over

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

. Following the end of the season, Wooten announced that he would forgo his final two seasons of NCAA eligibility to enter the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

. Despite only playing two seasons, Wooten left Oregon as the Ducks' third all-time leading shot blocker with 166 blocks.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

, Wooten joined the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

for the

2019 NBA Summer League The 2019 NBA Summer League was held at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It began on July 5 and ended on July 15. All 30 teams and two national teams, China and Croat ...

and on July 20, 2019, the Knicks signed him to a

Exhibit 10 The NBA salary cap is the limit to the total amount of money that National Basketball Association teams are allowed to pay their players. Like many professional sports leagues, the NBA has a salary cap to control costs and benefit parity, defined b ...

contract. Wooten was waived by the Knicks on October 19, 2019 and joined the team's

affiliate, the

Westchester Knicks The Westchester Knicks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in White Plains, New York, and are affiliated with the New York Knicks. The Knicks typically play their home games at Westchester County Center in White ...

. The Knicks signed Wooten to a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

for two years on January 14, 2020. However, he did not play a game for the Knicks in the 2019–20 season as he suffered a thumb injury requiring surgery in late February 2020. He averaged 7.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 65.1% from the field for Westchester. On November 19, 2020, the Knicks waived Wooten. On November 21, 2020,

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

claimed him off waivers, but was waived during training camp. He was then added to the Rockets' G League affiliate, the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won f ...

where he averaged 6.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists. On April 10, 2021, Wooten signed with

Filou Oostende Basketball Club Oostende, for sponsorship reasons Filou Oostende, is a Belgian professional basketball team. The club is based in Ostend and was founded in 1970. The club competes domestically in the BNXT League and internationally in the Baske ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League, for sponsorship reasons the betFirst BNXT League, is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL a ...

. On August 22, 2021, Wooten signed with Ironi Ness Ziona of the

Israeli Basketball Super League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball co ...

(IBSL). However, he was cut on September 16. On October 23, he signed with the

Maine Celtics The Maine Celtics (formerly the Maine Red Claws) are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Portland, Maine, and are affiliated with the Boston Celtics. The Maine Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo B ...

. On February 6, 2022, Wooten was waived after suffering a season-ending injury. For the 2022–23 season, Wooten joined the

of the G League.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 10 , , 19.8 , , .681 , , .000 , , .594 , , 4.5 , , .3 , , .6 , , 2.6 , , 6.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 27 , , 24.0 , , .589 , , .000 , , .672 , , 4.8 , , .6 , , .4 , , 2.2 , , 6.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 70 , , 37 , , 21.8 , , .634 , , .000 , , .633 , , 4.7 , , .5 , , .5 , , 2.4 , , 6.4

References

External links

Oregon Ducks bio

NBA G League profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wooten, Kenny 1998 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from Stockton, California Maine Celtics players Oregon Ducks men's basketball players Power forwards (basketball) Raptors 905 players Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Westchester Knicks players