Arinze Onuaku

Arinze Onuaku
Free agent
Position Center
Personal information
Born (1987-07-13) July 13, 1987
Lanham, Maryland
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight 275 lb (125 kg)
Career information
High school DuVal (Lanham, Maryland)
Episcopal (Alexandria, Virginia)
College Syracuse (2005–2010)
NBA draft 2010 / Undrafted
Playing career 2011–present
Career history
2011 Rio Grande Valley Vipers (D-League)
2011 Neptūnas Klaipėda (Lithuania)
2012–2013 Canton Charge (D-League)
2013 New Orleans Pelicans
2013–2014 Canton Charge (D-League)
2014 Cleveland Cavaliers
2014 →Canton Charge (D-League)
2014 Canton Charge (D-League)
2014 Chongqing Flying Dragons (China)
2014–2015 Canton Charge (D-League)
2015 Minnesota Timberwolves
2015–2016 Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
2016 Meralco Bolts (Philippines)
Career highlights and awards
  • All-NBA D-League Second Team (2015)
  • All-NBA D-League Third Team (2014)
  • 3x NBA D-League All-Star (2013–2015)

Arinze Christopher Onuaku (born July 13, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. He played college basketball for Syracuse University.

High school career

Onuaku attended DuVal High School in Lanham, Maryland before transferring in 2003, following his sophomore year, to Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia.[1] As a senior in 2004–05, he earned the Episcopal High School William Caskie Watts MVP Award after helping his squad to a 12-11 record.[2]

College career

In his freshman season at Syracuse, Onuaku was named to the Big East Conference All-Academic Team and earned SU Athletic Director’s Honor Roll recognition in each of his first two semesters. In 29 games, he averaged 2.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.[2][3]

In October 2006, he underwent surgery on his left knee and subsequently redshirted the 2006–07 season. He was, however, named to the Big East Conference All-Academic Team and earned SU Athletic Director’s Honor Roll recognition for the second straight year following the fall and spring semesters.[2][3]

In his redshirted sophomore season, he ranked second in the Big East Conference and ninth in the nation in field-goal percentage with 62.8%. He was named to the Big East Conference All-Academic Team for the third straight year, and was on the SU Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the fall semester. In 35 games, he averaged 12.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.3 blocks per game.[2][3]

In his junior season, he was again named to the SU Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the fall semester. In 38 games, he averaged 10.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.[2][3]

In his senior season, he became the 52nd player in Syracuse history to score 1,000 points with four against Florida on December 10, 2009.[4] For the fourth straight year, he was named to the SU Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for the fall semester. He also earned 2009 Pre-season All-Big East Honorable Mention honors. In March 2010, he suffered a season-ending leg injury during the Big East Tournament quarter-finals against Georgetown. In 32 games (31 starts), he averaged 10.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 22.8 minutes per game.[2][3]

Onuaku finished his career first on the Syracuse all-time list with a .648 field goal percentage (540-for-833), and 11th all-time with 148 blocked shots.[2]

Professional career

2010–11 season

Onuaku went undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft. On March 2, 2011, he was acquired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.[5]

2011–12 season

On September 14, 2011, Onuaku signed with Klaipėdos Neptūnas of Lithuania for the 2011–12 season.[6] In December 2011, he parted ways with Neptūnas following a knee injury.

2012–13 season

On November 2, 2012, Onuaku was selected by the Reno Bighorns in the fourth round of the 2012 NBA D-League draft. Four days later, he was traded to the Canton Charge. On February 4, 2013, he was named to the Futures All-Star roster for the 2013 NBA D-League All-Star Game.[7]

2013–14 season

In July 2013, Onuaku joined the Phoenix Suns for the 2013 NBA Summer League.[8]

On August 22, 2013, Onuaku signed with the New Orleans Pelicans.[9] On November 12, 2013, he was waived by the Pelicans.[10] On November 27, 2013, he was re-acquired by the Canton Charge.[11] On February 13, 2014, he was named to the Futures All-Star team for the 2014 NBA D-League All-Star Game, as a replacement for Dewayne Dedmon.[12]

On February 22, 2014, Onuaku signed a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers.[13] He was assigned back down to the Charge the same day.[14] The next day, he was recalled by the Cavaliers.[15] On March 4, 2014, he signed a second 10-day contract with the Cavaliers.[16] On March 8, 2014, he was reassigned to the Charge. He was recalled the same day after playing in the Charge's 118-110 win over the Idaho Stampede.[17][18] He also received assignments to the Charge on March 9 and March 11.[19] On March 12, 2014, he was waived by the Cavaliers.[20] The next day, he was re-acquired by the Charge.

In May 2014, he joined the Chongqing Flying Dragons for the 2014 NBL season. He left the team in late June after averaging 28.6 points and 14.8 rebounds in 19 games.

2014–15 season

In July 2014, Onuaku joined the Indiana Pacers for the Orlando Summer League[21] and the New Orleans Pelicans for the Las Vegas Summer League. On September 5, 2014, he signed with the Pacers,[22] only to be waived by the team on October 25, 2014.[23] On November 25, 2014, he was reacquired by the Canton Charge.[24] On February 4, 2015, he was named to his third Futures All-Star team, this time for the 2015 NBA D-League All-Star Game.[25]

On April 7, 2015, Onuaku signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the rest of the season to help the team deal with numerous injuries. Minnesota had to use an NBA hardship exemption in order to sign him as he made their roster stand at 16, one over the allowed limited of 15.[26] He made his debut for the Timberwolves later that day, recording 6 points and 5 rebounds in a loss to the Sacramento Kings.[27]

2015–16 season

Onuaku during his stint with the Meralco Bolts.

In July 2015, Onuaku joined the Indiana Pacers for the Orlando Summer League and the Brooklyn Nets for the Las Vegas Summer League. On October 6, 2015, he signed a 2-month contract with the Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv, with a team option for extension to the whole season.[28][29] On January 22, 2016 Arinze has been released from Maccabi, after declining a one-month contract extension offered by Maccabi.[30]

On February 6, 2016, Onuaku was signed by the Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association as the team's import for the 2016 PBA Commissioner's Cup. He replaced Malcolm Thomas who was injured before the start of the tournament.[31]

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

NBA Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2013–14 New Orleans 3 0 8.3 .250 .000 .500 2.3 1.0 .0 .0 1.0
2013–14 Cleveland 2 0 2.5 .000 .000 .000 .5 .0 .0 .0 .0
2014–15 Minnesota 6 1 11.3 .857 .000 .375 3.5 .7 .2 .5 4.5
Career 11 1 8.9 .684 .000 .400 2.6 .6 .1 .3 2.7

Domestic leagues

Season Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010-11 Rio Grande Valley Vipers D-League 11 9.7 .512 --- .333 3.3 .3 .3 .5 4.4
2011-12 BC Neptūnas Lithuania LKL 3 21.7 .565 .000 .714 7.0 .0 1.0 .0 12.0
Baltic League 3 14.0 .714 --- .600 3.3 .0 .7 .3 12.0
2012–13 Canton Charge D-League 41 23.8 .568 .000 .559 9.5 .7 .6 .9 12.6
2013–14 35 25.5 .623 --- .557 10.5 1.1 .6 .9 14.7
2014 Chongqing Flying Dragons China NBL 19 45.4 .747 .000 .443 14.8 2.4 1.7 .6 28.6
2014–15 Canton Charge D-League 41 34.1 .623 .000 .485 12.2 1.4 .8 .9 17.5
2015–16 Maccabi Tel Aviv Israeli Premier League 11 12.0 .625 .000 .300 3.6 .3 .7 .4 7.2
2016 Meralco Bolts Philippines PBA 1 43:28 .640 .000 1.00 22 3.0 .00 .00 25.0

Personal

Onuaku is the son of Christopher and Anastasia Onuaku,[2] and has three siblings: Ify, Chuk and Michael.[32]

References

  1. ↑ Ramsey, Ethan (April 16, 2005). "MBB: Arinze Onuaku: The next big thing". DailyOrange.com. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Arinze Onuaku - 2009-10 Men's Basketball". Cuse.com. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Arinze Onuaku Stats". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  4. ↑ Waters, Mike (December 16, 2009). "Sweat Equity: Arinze Onuaku's path to 1,000 points". Syracuse.com. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Vipers Acquire Former Syracuse Star". NBA.com. March 2, 2011. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Neptunas lands Arinze Onuaku". Sportando.com. September 14, 2011. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  7. ↑ 2013 NBA Development League All-Star Game Rosters Announced
  8. ↑ Suns Announce 2013 NBA Summer League Roster
  9. ↑ PELICANS SIGN LANCE THOMAS AND ARINZE ONUAKU
  10. ↑ PELICANS SIGN AMUNDSON AND CHILDRESS
  11. ↑ Charge Sign Onuaku as Returning Player
  12. ↑ Replacements Announced For 2014 NBA D-League All-Star Game Presented by Kumho Tire
  13. ↑ "Cavs Sign Arinze Onuaku to 10-Day Contract". NBA.com. February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  14. ↑ Cavs Assign Onuaku to Charge
  15. ↑ Cavs Recall Onuaku from Charge
  16. ↑ Cavs Sign Arinze Onuaku to Second 10-Day Contract
  17. ↑ ARMOR UPENDED IN CANTON, 118-110
  18. ↑ Pair of Cavs Assignments Lead Charge to Win
  19. ↑ 2013-14 NBA Assignments
  20. ↑ Cavs Sign Shane Edwards to 10-Day Contract
  21. ↑ "Rookie/Free Agent Camp Update". NBA.com. July 3, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  22. ↑ Pacers Sign Four Free Agents
  23. ↑ Pacers Waive Four Players
  24. ↑ Arinze Onuaku Returns to Canton Charge
  25. ↑ "Thirteen NBA Veterans Headline Rosters for NBA Development League All-Star Game Presented by Kumho Tire". NBA.com. February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  26. ↑ "Wolves Sign Forward Arinze Onuaku". NBA.com. April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  27. ↑ Kings hold off Timberwolves behind Casspi
  28. ↑ "Maccabi adds size with Onuaku". euroleague.net. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  29. ↑ "Maccabi Tel Aviv: Nigerian Center Onuaku Officialy signed". walla.co.il. 6 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  30. ↑ "Onuaku demand from Maccabi: a contract until the summer or a release". sport5.co.il. 22 January 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
  31. ↑ Sacamos, Karlo (February 6, 2016). "Arinze Onuaku replaces injured Malcolm Thomas in last-minute import change for Bolts". Spin.ph. Retrieved February 6, 2016.
  32. ↑ Celebrating Ndi-Igbo: Arinze Onuaku

External links

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