McKinley Wright IV (born October 25, 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

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

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), on 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 ...

with the

Texas Legends The Texas Legends are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Frisco, Texas, and are affiliated with the Dallas Mavericks. The Legends play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team began as the Colorado 14 ...

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

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

Early life and high school career

Wright is the son of McKinley Wright III and grew up in

Champlin, Minnesota Champlin ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 23,089 at the 2010 census. Champlin is a northern suburb of Minneapolis. U.S. Highway 169 and Hennepin County Road 12 (CR 12) are two of the main routes ...

. Wright attended

Champlin Park High School Champlin Park High School is a four-year public high school in Champlin, Minnesota, United States. The school's name comes from the combination of Brooklyn Park and Champlin. Champlin Park's first graduating class was in 1993. CPHS is the third ...

and averaged 23 points, eight rebounds and seven assists per game in his senior season. He led the team to a 31–1 record and the 4A title game, losing to

Apple Valley High School Apple Valley High School is the name of two high schools in the United States: *Apple Valley High School (California) *Apple Valley High School (Minnesota) Apple Valley High School (AVHS) is a public four-year high school in the U.S. city of Ap ...

. Wright had 30 points in a state quarterfinal victory over

Chaska High School Chaska Senior High School (CHS) is a public high school located in Chaska, Minnesota, United States, a southwestern suburb of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. CHS is a 912 grade school that is attended by more than 1,500 students. The school masc ...

. He was named 2017

Minnesota Mr. Basketball Minnesota Mr. Basketball is an annual award recognizing excellence in Minnesota boys' high school basketball. The female equivalent is Minnesota Miss Basketball. The award's legitimacy was challenged in February 2017 when Henry Sibley, Minnesota h ...

. He initially committed to

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

but reopened his recruiting after coach Archie Miller was hired by

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. In April 2017, Wright committed to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

College career

On December 15, 2017, Wright set career highs in points (30) and assists (11) as the Buffaloes defeated

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 ...

112–103 in double overtime. As a freshman, Wright averaged 14.2 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds per game on a team that finished 17–15. Wright was named to the

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 ...

Conference All-Freshman Team while earning honorable mention to both the All-Pac-12 Team and All-Defensive Team. His 175 assists broke

Chauncey Billups Chauncey Ray Billups (born September 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 17 seasons in the NBA. Afte ...

' record of 143 assists for a freshman. After the season, he worked out with Billups to improve his jump shot. As a sophomore, Wright was named first-team All-Pac-12. Wright averaged 13 points and 4.8 assists per game despite nursing a left shoulder so tender that he slept on his back to keep it from being painful. He had corrective surgery after the season to fix a torn labrum. Wright had a season-high 29 points in a 78–76 overtime win over

, receiving jeers from fans of the school he originally signed with out of high school. At the conclusion of the regular season, Wright was named to the All-Pac-12 first team and the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team. As a junior, Wright averaged 14.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. After the season, Wright declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

. On August 1, he announced he was withdrawing from the draft to return for his senior season. As a senior, he averaged 15.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game, earning

All-First Team honors. Following the season, Wright declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

forgoing his extra year of eligibility.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

, Wright signed a

with the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

on August 6, 2021, splitting time with their G League affiliate, the

Iowa Wolves The Iowa Wolves are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Des Moines, Iowa, and are affiliated with the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves play their home games at the Wells Fargo Arena and compete in the Western ...

. Wright joined the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, 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, Nevada on the campus ...

. In September 2022, he was signed by the

. After training camp, his contract was converted to a two-way contract on October 15, 2022.

Career statistics

NBA

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Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

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College

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, 32 , , 31 , , 32.6 , , .451 , , .304 , , .770 , , 4.7 , , 5.5 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , 14.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 35 , , 35 , , 32.4 , , .494 , , .365 , , .807 , , 4.9 , , 4.8 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 34.9 , , .448 , , .336 , , .792 , , 5.7 , , 5.0 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 14.4 , - , 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 ...

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, 32 , , 32 , , 32.6 , , .480 , , .301 , , .844 , , 4.3 , , 5.7 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 15.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 131 , , 130 , , 33.1 , , .467 , , .328 , , .803 , , 4.9 , , 5.2 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 14.2

References

External links

Colorado Buffaloes bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, McKinley IV 1998 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Minnesota Colorado Buffaloes men's basketball players Dallas Mavericks players Iowa Wolves players Minnesota Timberwolves players People from Champlin, Minnesota Point guards Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area Undrafted National Basketball Association players United States men's national basketball team players