Julian Emil-Jamaal Wright (born May 20, 1987) 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 court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. 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

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

. In 2014–15, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League.

High school career

Julian Wright played competitive basketball at Homewood-Flossmoor High School in

Flossmoor, Illinois Flossmoor () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,704 at the 2020 census. Flossmoor is approximately 25 miles south of the Chicago Loop. Geography Flossmoor is located at (41.541684, -87.684970). According ...

. There he led the Vikings to second place in the IHSA state AA tournament his junior year, losing to Peoria Central in the championship game, who were led by future NBA player

Shaun Livingston Shaun Patrick Livingston (born September 11, 1985) is an American professional basketball executive and former player. Livingston entered the league directly out of high school and was selected fourth by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2004 NBA dr ...

. In 2005, he was selected to the McDonald's All-American team, and he was rated among the top ten basketball players in his class by several recruiting services) due to his talent and versatility. At 6'8" and , Wright combines good size with excellent athleticism and skills, which allowed him to play numerous positions in high school, including shooting guard,

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger ...

, and

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

College career

Wright entered the 2005–2006

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

season for the Kansas Jayhawks as the pre-season freshman of the year in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. Though he did not start at the beginning of the season, he quickly played his way into the starting power forward slot. His superior athleticism often allowed him to score baskets simply by virtue of his beating the defense down the court. A highlight of his freshman campaign may have been against the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in the Big 12 Tournament Championship game when he put an exclamation mark on KU's win with two magnificent breakaway slam dunks in the closing minutes of the game. During his freshman season, Wright averaged 8.5 points per game, but he was praised more for his ability to help his team without scoring. He was named to the All- Big 12 tournament Team and the All-Big 12 Freshman Team along with fellow Kansas freshmen

Brandon Rush Brandon Leray Rush (born July 7, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He was drafted in the first round of the 2008 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, before being traded to the Indiana Pacers on draft day, after pla ...

and Mario Chalmers. During the 2007 tournament, he was again placed on the All-Tournament Team. Wright garnered national attention for a 33-point performance against the

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

. For his play during the 2006–2007 season, Wright was named a third team All-American by the National Association of Basketball Coaches' All-America Team. Despite statements to the contrary, on Monday, April 9, 2007, Wright announced that he was making himself eligible for the NBA draft. He hired an agent, making him ineligible to return to school prior to the draft.

Professional career

Wright was selected as the 13th overall selection in the 2007 NBA draft by the

New Orleans Hornets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

. In his rookie season in the NBA, Wright averaged 3.9 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game. On October 26, 2009 the Hornets picked up the option on Wright's contract for the 2010–11 season. On August 11, 2010, Wright was traded to 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 ...

for

Marco Belinelli Marco Stefano Belinelli (; born 25 March 1986) is an Italian professional basketball player and the team captain for Virtus Bologna of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He was selected 18th overall in the 2007 NBA draft by the ...

. Wright signed with the Austin Toros of the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

in February 2012. In October 2012, Wright signed with Maccabi Rishon LeZion of Israel. In September 2013, he signed with Krasnye Krylia of the

VTB United League VTB United League (russian: Единая Лига ВТБ) is an international professional men's club basketball league that was founded in 2008. It is made up of mostly Russian clubs, along with one each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Since 2013, it ...

. On October 16, 2014, he signed with Panathinaikos of the Greek League. On December 31, 2014, Panathinaikos decided to terminate his contract. On January 9, 2015 he signed with Bnei Herzliya of the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

for the rest of the season. In 2014–15, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League. On June 8, he signed with Cangrejeros de Santurce of Puerto Rico for the rest of the 2015 BSN season. On August 4, 2015, Wright joined Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

side Dolomiti Energia Trento for the 2015–16 season. On July 17, 2016, Wright signed with Turkish club

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. On May 1, 2017, he parted ways with Trabzonspor after averaging 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Three days later, he signed with Italian club

Pallacanestro Reggiana Pallacanestro Reggiana, also known for sponsorship reasons as UnaHotels Reggio Emilia, is an Italian professional basketball team based in Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna. It plays in the LBA as of the 2022-23 season. History 1970s Pallacanestro ...

for the rest of the 2016–17 Lega Basket Serie A season. On September 21, 2017, Pallacanestro Reggiana announced the return of Wright. On August 30, 2018, Wright signed with

Levallois Metropolitans Metropolitans 92 is a French professional basketball club that is based in Levallois-Perret, in the Paris metropolitan area. The club currently plays in the LNB Pro A, the highest-tier level in French basketball. The club was established in 2007 ...

in France. However, in February 2019, Wright left Levallois after a dispute with the team. He later posted a video on Linkedin explaining the situation. On September 29, 2020, Wright signed with the Hsinchu Lioneers of the P.League. On December 21, 2021, Wright signed with the Taichung Wagor Suns of the T1 League. One May 25, 2022, Wright was drafted by 3's Company as the fifth overall pick in the 2022

BIG3 Big3 (stylized BIG3) is a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by hip hop musician and actor Ice Cube and entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz. The league consists of 12 teams whose rosters include both former NBA players and international play ...

draft.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, 57 , , 1 , , 11.2 , , .533 , , .417 , , .635 , , 2.1 , , .7 , , .5 , , .2 , , 3.9 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, 54 , , 19 , , 14.3 , , .466 , , .095 , , .567 , , 2.8 , , .8 , , .6 , , .4 , , 4.4 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, 68 , , 14 , , 12.8 , , .500 , , .333 , , .610 , , 2.1 , , .6 , , .4 , , .3 , , 3.8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, 52 , , 6 , , 14.7 , , .512 , , .200 , , .512 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , .8 , , .4 , , 3.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 231 , , 40 , , 13.2 , , .499 , , .262 , , .584 , , 2.3 , , .8 , , .6 , , .3 , , 3.9

Playoffs

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2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, align="left" ,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, 11 , , 0 , , 11.9 , , .455 , , .222 , , .833 , , 1.6 , , .5 , , .9 , , .1 , , 4.3 , - , align="left" , 2009 , align="left" ,

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, 4 , , 0 , , 8.0 , , .429 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .0 , , .3 , , 2.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 15 , , 0 , , 10.9 , , .451 , , .222 , , .700 , , 1.6 , , .5 , , .7 , , .1 , , 3.7

Personal life

His hometown is

Chicago Heights, Illinois Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 27,480 at the 2020 census. In earlier years, Chicago Heights was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the Nation". Currently, it is nicknamed "The Heights". Geogra ...

and he attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School class of 2005. Wright is a

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

hobbyist, and was described by the Kansas City Star as having bowled at the

's Jay Bowl "at least one night a week". He owns both a bowling ball and bowling shoes, the latter of which are KU's blue and crimson colors.

Awards and Highlights

High School *

McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger s ...

( 2005) * Illinois Mr. Basketball ( 2005) NBA * Led 2008 NBA Playoffs in Steal Pct.

References

External links

eurobasket.com profileKansas Jayhawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Julian 1987 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Aquila Basket Trento players Austin Toros players Basketball players from Chicago BC Krasnye Krylia players Big3 players Cangrejeros de Santurce basketball players Homewood-Flossmoor High School alumni Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players Maccabi Rishon LeZion basketball players McDonald's High School All-Americans Metropolitans 92 players New Orleans Hornets draft picks New Orleans Hornets players Pallacanestro Reggiana players Panathinaikos B.C. players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Chicago Heights, Illinois Power forwards (basketball) Small forwards Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois Toronto Raptors players Trabzonspor B.K. players 20th-century African-American people American men's 3x3 basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Taiwan Hsinchu JKO Lioneers players Taichung Wagor Suns players T1 League imports P. League+ imports