Bill Wennington
Canadian basketball player (born 1963)
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William Percey Wennington (born April 26, 1963) is a Canadian former professional basketball player who won three National Basketball Association (NBA) championships with the Chicago Bulls. A center, he represented Canada in the 1984 Olympics and the 1983 World University Games, where the team won gold. He was on the Canadian team which narrowly missed qualifying for the 1992 Olympics. Wennington has been inducted into the Quebec Basketball Hall of Fame and the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.
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(Brookville, New York)
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | April 26, 1963 Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |||||||||||
| Listed height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) | |||||||||||
| Listed weight | 245 lb (111 kg) | |||||||||||
| Career information | ||||||||||||
| High school | Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, New York) | |||||||||||
| College | St. John's (1981–1985) | |||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1985: 1st round, 16th overall pick | |||||||||||
| Drafted by | Dallas Mavericks | |||||||||||
| Playing career | 1985–2000 | |||||||||||
| Position | Center | |||||||||||
| Number | 23, 34, 7 | |||||||||||
| Career history | ||||||||||||
| 1985–1990 | Dallas Mavericks | |||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Sacramento Kings | |||||||||||
| 1991–1993 | Virtus Bologna | |||||||||||
| 1993–1999 | Chicago Bulls | |||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Sacramento Kings | |||||||||||
| Career highlights | ||||||||||||
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| Career NBA statistics | ||||||||||||
| Points | 3,301 (4.6 ppg) | |||||||||||
| Rebounds | 2,148 (3.0 rpg) | |||||||||||
| Assists | 440 (0.6 apg) | |||||||||||
| Stats at NBA.com | ||||||||||||
| Stats at Basketball Reference | ||||||||||||
Medals
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Amateur career
Born in Montreal, Wennington moved to Long Island as a child. He did not play basketball until moving to the United States and claimed he "didn't touch a basketball" until he was 11 years old.[1] He attended Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School in Brookville, New York, where he played under coach Bob McKillop, and led the Crusaders to a No. 1 ranking in the northeast region and a top 10 ranking in the U.S. He was recruited to St. John's University in Queens, New York and he played on an NCAA Final Four team under coach Lou Carnesecca.
Professional career
Wennington was drafted 16th in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He made his NBA debut on October 29, 1985.[2] On June 26, 1990, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings along with two 1990 first-round draft picks in exchange for Rodney McCray and two future second-round draft picks.[2]
Before signing as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls in 1993, he spent a few years playing for Virtus (Knorr) in Bologna, Italy. In 1998, Chicago-area McDonald's restaurants sold a sandwich named after Wennington called the Beef Wennington.[3] After the break-up of the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s, Wennington played his final NBA season with the Sacramento Kings.[2]
Post-basketball career
After his playing career ended, Wennington became a radio color commentator for the Bulls.[4] He was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.[5] He was featured in the 2020 docuseries The Last Dance.[6]
Career statistics
| 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 |
| † | Won an NBA championship |
NBA
Source[2]
Regular season
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985–86 | Dallas | 56 | 3 | 10.0 | .471 | .000 | .726 | 2.4 | .4 | .3 | .4 | 3.4 |
| 1986–87 | Dallas | 58 | 0 | 9.7 | .424 | .000 | .750 | 2.2 | .4 | .2 | .2 | 2.7 |
| 1987–88 | Dallas | 30 | 0 | 4.2 | .510 | .500 | .632 | 1.3 | .1 | .2 | .3 | 2.1 |
| 1988–89 | Dallas | 65 | 9 | 16.5 | .433 | .111 | .744 | 4.4 | .7 | .2 | .5 | 4.6 |
| 1989–90 | Dallas | 60 | 2 | 13.6 | .449 | .000 | .800 | 3.3 | .7 | .3 | .4 | 4.5 |
| 1990–91 | Sacramento | 77 | 23 | 18.9 | .436 | .200 | .787 | 4.4 | .9 | .6 | .8 | 5.7 |
| 1993–94 | Chicago | 76 | 0 | 18.0 | .488 | .000 | .818 | 4.6 | .9 | .6 | .4 | 7.1 |
| 1994–95 | Chicago | 73 | 1 | 13.1 | .492 | .000 | .810 | 2.6 | .5 | .3 | .2 | 5.0 |
| 1995–96† | Chicago | 71 | 20 | 15.0 | .493 | 1.000 | .860 | 2.5 | .6 | .3 | .2 | 5.3 |
| 1996–97† | Chicago | 61 | 19 | 12.8 | .498 | .000 | .830 | 2.1 | .7 | .2 | .2 | 4.6 |
| 1997–98† | Chicago | 48 | 8 | 9.7 | .436 | – | .810 | 1.7 | .4 | .1 | .1 | 3.5 |
| 1998–99 | Chicago | 38 | 3 | 11.9 | .348 | 1.000 | .818 | 2.1 | .5 | .3 | .3 | 3.8 |
| 1999–00 | Sacramento | 7 | 0 | 8.1 | .316 | – | 1.000 | 2.7 | .1 | .3 | .3 | 2.0 |
| Career | 720 | 88 | 13.5 | .459 | .139 | .787 | 3.0 | .6 | .3 | .3 | 4.6 | |
Playoffs
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Dallas | 6 | 0 | 3.0 | .333 | 1.000 | 1.000 | .8 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 1.2 |
| 1987 | Dallas | 4 | 0 | 11.8 | .500 | – | .600 | 2.5 | 1.0 | .0 | .8 | 3.8 |
| 1988 | Dallas | 6 | 0 | 2.3 | .000 | – | – | .7 | .2 | .2 | .0 | .0 |
| 1990 | Dallas | 3 | 0 | 8.3 | .200 | – | – | 1.0 | .3 | .0 | .3 | .7 |
| 1994 | Chicago | 7 | 0 | 6.7 | .500 | – | .667 | 1.0 | .6 | .0 | .1 | 1.1 |
| 1995 | Chicago | 10 | 0 | 13.3 | .412 | – | 1.000 | 2.8 | .3 | .3 | .3 | 4.8 |
| 1996† | Chicago | 18 | 0 | 9.4 | .520 | .000 | .500 | 1.7 | .5 | .2 | .1 | 3.0 |
| 1998† | Chicago | 16 | 0 | 7.4 | .526 | – | .500 | .9 | .2 | .4 | .1 | 2.8 |
| Career | 70 | 0 | 8.2 | .459 | .500 | .679 | 1.4 | .4 | .2 | .2 | 2.5 | |
