Tanner John Groves (born May 22, 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 the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). 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

Eastern Washington Eagles The Eastern Washington Eagles are the intercollegiate varsity athletic teams that represent Eastern Washington University, located in Cheney, southwest of Spokane. A member of the Big Sky Conference, EWU's athletic program comprises five men's ...

and

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

Early life and high school career

Groves was born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. He attended Shadle Park High School, where he was named All-State and All-Greater Spokane League as a senior after averaging 18.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game.

College career

Groves redshirted his true freshman season. He played mostly off the bench as a redshirt freshman and sophomore before becoming a starter as a redshirt junior. He was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year for the 2020–21 season after averaging 17.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. On April 18, 2021, he transferred to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. In 2021–22, he started in all 34 games for the Sooners, averaging 11.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists per game and shooting over 38 percent from three. In 2022–23, he averaged 10.2 points, 7.2 boards and 1.1 blocks per game, recording the team-high six double-doubles.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA draft, Groves joined the Oklahoma City Thunder 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, ...

. He started the 2023–24 season in Poland with

Anwil Włocławek Anwil is a municipality in the district of Sissach in the canton of Basel-Country in Switzerland. History Anwil is first mentioned in 1276. Geography Anwil has an area, , of . Of this area, or 63.6% is used for agricultural purposes, whil ...

, leaving in early January 2024 to join the

Xinjiang Flying Tigers The Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers () is a professional basketball team based in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China. The team play its home games at the Hongshan Arena, which has a capacity for 3,800 spectators. The club joined the Chinese Basketball ...

in China. In February 2024, he joined German team

SC Rasta Vechta Sports Club Rasta Vechta is a German basketball club based in Vechta, Lower Saxony. The club plays in the ProA, the second tier of professional Basketball in Germany. Founded in 1979, the club spent the majority of its history in the lower-tier ...

. On May 7, 2024, Groves signed with the

in Australia for the 2024–25 NBL season.

Career statistics

College

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

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Eastern Washington , 28 , , 2 , , 8.6 , , .417 , , .385 , , .650 , , 2.1 , , .3 , , .1 , , .6 , , 2.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Eastern Washington , 30 , , 1 , , 9.9 , , .589 , , .424 , , .636 , , 2.8 , , .3 , , .1 , , .6 , , 5.1 , - , 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;", Eastern Washington , 24 , , 24 , , 27.0 , , .560 , , .349 , , .778 , , 8.0 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , 1.1 , , 17.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 25.0 , , .532 , , .381 , , .729 , , 5.8 , , 1.6 , , .4 , , .4 , , 11.6 , - , 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;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 25.4 , , .508 , , .286 , , .724 , , 7.2 , , 1.4 , , .8 , , 1.1 , , 10.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 148 , , 93 , , 19.3 , , .532 , , .353 , , .733 , , 5.1 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .7 , , 9.2

References

External links

Oklahoma Sooners bioEastern Washington Eagles bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groves, Tanner 1999 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Poland American men's basketball players Basketball players from Spokane, Washington Centers (basketball) Eastern Washington Eagles men's basketball players KK Włocławek players Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball players Power forwards SC Rasta Vechta players Xinjiang Flying Tigers players