Christian Junior Koloko (born 20 June 2000) is a Cameroonian 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
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...
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
Arizona Wildcats
The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...
Douala
Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region (Cameroon), Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Ai ...
, Cameroon and attended Collège Libermann in his hometown. He grew up playing
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
and started playing basketball at age 12. In 2017, Koloko moved to the United States to play basketball for
Birmingham High School
Birmingham Community Charter High School (formerly Birmingham High School) is a charter coeducational high school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, California, United States. It was fo ...
in
Lake Balboa, California
Lake Balboa is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. The area was previously part of Van Nuys. Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, California, where he was teammates with Cassius Stanley,
Kenyon Martin Jr.
Kenyon Lee "KJ" Martin Jr. (born January 6, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended IMG Academy for his postgraduate year in Bradenton, Florida.
High s ...
and
Scotty Pippen Jr
Scotty is a common nickname for a Scottish man, or for a Scottish Terrier dog.
Scotty may also refer to:
People Given name or nickname
* Scotty Alcock (1885–1973), American baseball player
* Scotty Allan (1867–1941), American dog musher, bu ...
. Koloko helped his team claim its second straight Open Division state title. A four-star recruit, he committed to playing college basketball for
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
over offers from
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 ...
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...
.
College career
As a freshman at Arizona, Koloko averaged 2.3 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. In his sophomore season, he averaged 5.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. On 21 November 2021, Koloko posted a career-high 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in an 80–62 win over fourth-ranked
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 ...
at the
Roman Main Event
The Continental Tire Main Event is a 4 team college basketball tournament held during Monday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week of NCAA Division I men's basketball season, with the inaugural tournament beginning in 2014. Games are held at the T-Mo ...
Pac-12
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 ...
Most Improved Player, and first-team All-Pac-12.
On 18 April 2022, Koloko declared for the
2022 NBA draft
The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The ...
, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.
Professional career
Toronto Raptors (2022–present)
Koloko was selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors. On August 26, 2022, Koloko signed a rookie-scale contract with the Raptors.
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
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;",
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...