Kobe Bufkin (born September 21, 2003) 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

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). 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

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

High school career

Bufkin played basketball for

Grand Rapids Christian High School Grand Rapids Christian High School (GRCHS) is a private Christian secondary school in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1920, "Christian High" is a member of Grand Rapids Christian Schools and Christian Schools International. The school was firs ...

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. He joined the

varsity team In most English-speaking countries, varsity is an abbreviation of the word ''university''. In the United States and Canada, the term is mostly used in relation to sports teams. Varsity in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, varsity team ...

as a freshman. As a sophomore, Bufkin averaged 20 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists per game, helping his team achieve a 16–6 record. In his junior season, he averaged 22 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game, leading his team to a 20–2 record. As a senior, he averaged 25 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists per game in five games, before missing most of the season with a fractured left wrist. Bufkin was named to the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

and

Jordan Brand Classic The Jordan Brand Classic is a high school All-Star basketball game played annually in April. The game's rosters feature the best and most highly recruited high school boys in the senior class including alumns like Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Bl ...

rosters.

Recruiting

A consensus 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 ...

, Bufkin committed to playing college basketball for

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

over offers from

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

, DePaul,

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

and

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 ...

. He was drawn to Michigan by assistant coach

Saddi Washington Saddi Washington (born July 30, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He is the current men's basketball assistant coach for the Michigan basketball team. He played college basketball at Western Michigan. Before becomin ...

. Along with

Caleb Houstan Caleb Michael David Houstan (born January 9, 2003) is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines. Houstan was a consensus f ...

and

Moussa Diabaté Moussa Diabaté (born 21 January 2002) is a French professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Ontario Clippers of the NBA G League. He played college bas ...

, he was part of a recruiting class that was the top-ranked class in the nation for the 2021–22 Michigan Wolverines.

College career

As a freshman, Bufkin averaged three points and 1.1 rebounds per game in 10.6 minutes per game. On December 20, 2021, he earned co-Big Ten freshman of the week honors for his first double digit scoring effort on December 18 against

Southern Utah Southern Utah University (SUU) is a public university in Cedar City, Utah. Founded in 1897 as a normal school, Southern Utah University now graduates over 1,800 students each year with baccalaureate and graduate degrees from its six colleges. ...

. He picked up a lot of minutes as a sophomore following the 2022 departures of

Eli Brooks Eli James Brooks (born October 14, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Pallacanestro Trieste of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA). He played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines. High school career Brooks attend ...

, DeVante' Jones and Frankie Collins. He posted a then-career-high 22 points in back-to-back games against Lipscomb (December 17) and

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 ...

in the Jumpman Invitational (December 21). On February 2, 2023, Bufkin contributed 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, for his first career double-double as well as a career-high eight assists against Northwestern. On February 26, Bufkin led Michigan with a career-high 28 points in an 87–79 overtime victory over

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Following the regular season, he earned All-Big Ten third-team recognition from the media and honorable mention recognition from the coaches.

Professional career

Atlanta Hawks (2023–present)

The

selected Bufkin with the fifteenth overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft. On July 3, 2023, Bufkin signed a rookie-scale contract with the

Personal life

Kobe Bufkin is the son of Mike Bufkin and Kimberly Camp. Bufkin's parents were fans of the Michigan men's basketball team since the Fab Five era, and named his brothers after

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

and

Isiah Thomas Isiah Lord Thomas III (born April 30, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player and coach who is an analyst for ''NBA TV''. The 12-time NBA All-Star was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History as well as the 75 Grea ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 0 , , 10.6 , , .380 , , .222 , , .773 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , .4 , , .1 , , 3.0 , - , 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 , , 34.0 , , .482 , , .355 , , .849 , , 4.5 , , 2.9 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , 14.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 61 , , 33 , , 23.3 , , .463 , , .325 , , .833 , , 3.0 , , 1.7 , , .9 , , .4 , , 9.0

References

External links

Michigan Wolverines bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bufkin, Kobe 2003 births Living people American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Atlanta Hawks players Basketball players from Grand Rapids, Michigan College Park Skyhawks players Grand Rapids Christian High School alumni McDonald's High School All-Americans Michigan Wolverines men's basketball players Shooting guards