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Chris Obekpa
Obekpa playing for Trabzonspor in 2018
No. 77 – Sichuan Blue Whales
Position Center
League Chinese Basketball Association
Personal information
Born (1993-11-14) 14 November 1993 (age 30)
Makurdi, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian
Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
High schoolOur Savior New American
( Centereach, New York)
College St. John's (2012–2015)
NBA draft 2016: undrafted
Playing career2016–present
Career history
2016–2017 Santa Cruz Warriors
2017–2018 Trabzonspor
2018–2019 Al Riyadi
2019–2020 New Zealand Breakers
2021-2022 SLAC
2022 Al-Ahli Benghazi
2022 Rivers Hoopers
2023 ABC Fighters
2023 Dynamo
2023–present Sichuan Blue Whales
Career highlights and awards
Stats  Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Christopher Ewaoche Obekpa (born 14 November 1993) [1] is a Nigerian professional basketball player for the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for St. John's University in Jamaica, New York from 2012 to 2015. As a freshman in 2012–13 he led NCAA Division I in blocks per game with a 4.03 average. After three years at St. John's, Obekpa transferred to UNLV, redshirted 2015–16, but then declared for the 2016 NBA draft. On 23 April 2016, Obekpa hired an agent, which officially prohibited him from finishing his college career.

Early life

Chris Obekpa was born in Makurdi, Nigeria to parents Elizabeth O. Ameh, his mother, and Gabriel Obekpa. [2] He has six sisters and three brothers. [2] His grandfather used to be the king of the Idoma tribe, his father is a prince, and his uncle Elias Ikeoyi Obekpa is the current king. [2]

Obekpa's grew up around soccer fans, but his interest in basketball was stronger. [2] Word of his talents spread and he eventually was selected to play for the Nigerian under-16 national team. [3] In 2010, he moved to the United States to attend his final two years of high school in hopes of being noticed by college programs (Chris' older brother, Ofu, played one year of basketball at the University of Maine at Machias). [2] He moved to New York City and enrolled at Our Savior New American School (OSNAS) in Centereach. [4] As a junior in 2010–11 he helped the school finish with a 17–10 record behind averages of 10 points, eight rebounds and five blocks per game. [4] In three separate tournaments he was named the Most Valuable Player. [4]

The following season, Obekpa's senior year in 2011–12, he led OSNAS to a 25–5 overall record as well as a final national top-10 ranking by MaxPreps.com. [4] He nearly averaged a triple-double: 12 points, 13 rebounds and nine blocks per game. [4] The National Association of Christian Athletes named him a first team All-American, and national recruiting services listed him as a top-100 overall recruit (top-20 for centers). [4]

College career

Colleges that expressed interest in him were UCLA, Connecticut, DePaul, Cincinnati, Oregon, and St. John's, among others. [3] Obekpa ultimately chose St. John's because it was in his adopted home city and he did not want to have to re-adjust to another city's culture so quickly; he felt comfortable in New York. [2]

Obekpa quickly established himself as a premier shot blocker during his freshman campaign in 2012–13. In his first collegiate game, he set a St. John's record with eight blocks. [5] Less than one month later, on 8 December 2012, he recorded a new school record 11 blocks in a game against Fordham; [5] this total was one shy of the Big East Conference record. [3] Obekpa finished his first year as the top shot blocker in the nation with a 4.03 per game average after recording 133 blocks in 33 games. [6] St. John's earned a berth into the 2013 National Invitation Tournament where they lost to Virginia in the second round. [7]

On 4 August 2015, Obekpa announced he was transferring to UNLV. [8] After sitting out the 2015–16 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Obekpa declared for the NBA draft.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, Obekpa joined the Miami Heat for the 2016 NBA Summer League. [9] On 21 October, he signed with the Golden State Warriors, but was waived the next day. [10] On 31 October 2016, he was acquired by the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League as an affiliate player of Golden State. [11] In July 2017, Obekpa played for the Phoenix Suns during the 2017 NBA Summer League. [12]

For the 2017–18 season, he played in Turkey with Trabzonspor. For the 2018–19 season, Obekpa played in Lebanon for Al Riyadi. [13]

On 7 June 2019, Obekpa signed with Italian team Sidigas Avellino. [14] He never made it to Italy however, instead signing with the New Zealand Breakers for the 2019–20 NBL season on 6 August 2019. [15] He was released by the Breakers a week before the start of the season due to a knee injury. [16]

On 28 February 2022, Obekpa joined Guinean club SLAC of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) [17] In five games in the Sahara Conference, he led the league with 4.6 blocks per game. On 25 September 2022, he joined Al-Ahli Benghazi for the Arab Club Basketball Championship. [18] In November 2022, Obekpa signed a short-term contract with Nigerian club Rivers Hoopers in the 2022 NBBF Premier League Final 8. [19]

In February 2023, he signed with the ABC Fighters for Season 3 of the BAL. [20] He averaged 3.6 points and 7.4 rebounds in five games with the Fighters. On November 21, 2023, Obekpa made his debut for Burundian club Dynamo with 8 points and 8 rebounds in a 76–61 Road to BAL loss to the Cape Town Tigers. [21]

BAL career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 *  Led the league
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2022 SLAC 5 5 34.0 .553 .571 .615 10.2 2.0 1.8 4.6* 13.4
2023 ABC Fighters 5 5 26.4 .333 .000 1.000 7.4 2.4 1.2 1.4 3.6

See also

References

  1. ^ "#12 Chris Obekpa". NBADraft.net. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Waters, Mike (10 February 2013). "St. John's freshman Chris Obekpa is the new King of Queens". Syracuse.com. Syracuse Media Group. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Clemmons, Anna Katherine (10 February 2013). "The building blocks of Chris Obekpa". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Chris Obekpa Bio". RedStormSports.com. St. John's University. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  5. ^ a b Zagoria, Adam (8 December 2012). "'Oblockpa' Notches New St. John's-Record 11 Blocks as NBA Personnel Slowly Take Notice". ZagsBlog.com. SNY.TV. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  6. ^ "Chris Obekpa stats". Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  7. ^ "2012–13 St. John's Red Storm Schedule and Results". Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  8. ^ Borzello, Jeff (4 August 2015). "Chris Obekpa says he's transferring from St. John's to UNLV". ESPN. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  9. ^ "HEAT Announce Summer League Information". NBA.com. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  10. ^ "2016-17 Golden State Warriors Transactions". Basketball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.{{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown ( link)
  11. ^ "Santa Cruz Warriors Announce 2016 Training Camp Roster". NBA.com. 31 October 2016. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  12. ^ "Phoenix Suns announce roster for NBA Summer League in Las Vegas". Arizona Sports. 3 July 2017. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  13. ^ "Chris Obekpa signs with Al Riyadi Club". Sportando. Archived from the original on 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  14. ^ Carchia, Emiliano (7 June 2019). "Sidigas Avellino signs Chris Obekpa". Sportando. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Breakers Complete Roster With Three Signings". NBL.com.au. 6 August 2019. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  16. ^ NZBreakers (28 September 2019). "Due to a lingering knee injury we've had to say goodbye..." Twitter. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
  17. ^ "Nous souhaitons la bienvenue à nos nouveaux guerriers". Instagram.com. SLAC Basketball. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  18. ^ "Christopher Obekpa (ex SLAC) agreed terms with Ahly Benghazi for Arabic Championship". Afrobasket. 25 September 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  19. ^ "Rivers Hoopers sign D'Tigers' Obekpa". Punch Newspapers. 7 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  20. ^ Zahe, Charles (23 February 2023). "BAL 2023 : L' ABC se renforce". AFRIKSPORTSMAGAZINE (in French). Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  21. ^ "Cape Town Tigers v Dynamo boxscore - Africa Champions Clubs ROAD TO B.A.L. 2024 2023 - 21 November". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 23 November 2023.

External links

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