Kevin Obanor (born June 12, 1999) 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

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

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles are the sixteen college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oral Roberts University, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Golden Eagles compete at the National Collegiate Athle ...

and Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Early life and high school career

Obanor grew up in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and was cut from his eighth-grade basketball team. He began focusing on basketball as a sophomore at

Alief Hastings High School Alief Hastings High School is a public high school in the Alief area of Houston, Texas, United States. Originally Alief Junior-Senior High School, which became Alief Middle School, housed all of the secondary students in the district. The schoo ...

after experiencing a growth spurt. Obanor transferred to

Mount Zion Christian Academy Mount Zion Christian Academy (MZCA) is a private, college preparatory, non-denominational, co-educational Christian day school (grades K–12) and boarding school (grades 9–12) located in Durham, North Carolina. The Academy is most noted ...

, where he also competed in football and cross country. He received some major Division I college attention, but was ranked a two-star prospect. Obanor committed to Oral Roberts, as he was drawn to their faith-based mission.

College career

Obanor skipped his final semester of high school and arrived at Oral Roberts in January 2018, opting to redshirt the season. As a redshirt freshman, Obanor led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 14.4 points per game while also posting 7.2 rebounds per game. He was named Summit League Freshman of the Year as well as Second Team All-Summit League. He averaged 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as a sophomore. On January 2, 2021, Obanor scored a career-high 39 points and had 10 rebounds in a 95–83 win against

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 ...

. He recorded 14 points in the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament against

South Dakota State South Dakota State University is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Brookings, South Dakota. Founded in 1881, it is the state's largest and most comprehensive university and the oldest continually ...

, including a buzzer-beating tip-in to carry the Golden Eagles to a 90–88 victory. Obanor helped 15 seed Oral Roberts reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. He posted 30 points and 11 rebounds in the upset against

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, followed by 28 points and 11 rebounds against

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. As a redshirt junior, Obanor averaged 18.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. He was named to the First Team All-Summit League. Following the season, Obanor transferred to

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, choosing the Red Raiders over

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

. He averaged 10 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Obanor announced after the season that he was returning for his fifth season of eligibility. On January 30, 2023, Obanor posted 24 points and 13 rebounds in a 80-77 overtime win over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

and surpassed the 2,000-point mark.

Professional career

Raptors 905 (2023–present)

After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA draft, Obanor joined the Toronto Raptors for the

2023 NBA Summer League The 2023 NBA Summer League (branded as '' NBA 2K24'' Summer League 2023 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, ...

. On August 1, 2023, he signed with the Raptors, but was waived on September 28. On October 30, he joined

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Oral Roberts , style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Oral Roberts , 27 , , 11 , , 23.2 , , .581 , , .413 , , .827 , , 7.4 , , .5 , , .1 , , .3 , , 14.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Oral Roberts , 31 , , 28 , , 24.6 , , .475 , , .388 , , .800 , , 6.8 , , .7 , , .4 , , .8 , , 12.3 , - , 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;", Oral Roberts , 28 , , 28 , , 31.9 , , .503 , , .463 , , .875 , , 9.6 , , 1.1 , , .5 , , .7 , , 18.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 37 , , 26.1 , , .467 , , .336 , , .761 , , 5.5 , , .5 , , .3 , , .4 , , 10.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 123 , , 104 , , 26.3 , , .503 , , .395 , , .823 , , 7.2 , , .7 , , .3 , , .5 , , 13.6

References

External links

Texas Tech Red Raiders bioOral Roberts Golden Eagles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obanor, Kevin 1999 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Canada American men's basketball players Basketball players from Houston Oral Roberts Golden Eagles men's basketball players Raptors 905 players Small forwards Texas Tech Red Raiders basketball players