Kenny Wooten


Kenneth Wooten Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, on a two-way contract with the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Oregon Ducks.

Early life and high school career

Wooten was born and grew up in Stockton, California and initially attended Stagg High School before transferring to Manteca High School after his sophomore year. As a senior, he averaged 13.6 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 4.0 blocks per game and scored 26 points with 18 rebounds and nine blocks in the Buffaloes win over Ayala High School in the 2016 State title game. Rated a four-star recruit, Wooten initially signed a national letter of intent to play college basketball at Nevada before asking to be released from his commitment in order to re-open his recruiting due to coaching changes at the school. He then transferred to Trinity International School in Las Vegas, Nevada for a postgraduate year in order to reclassify for the class of 2017. After initially committing to Arizona State, Wooten de-committed and accepted a scholarship to play at Oregon.

College career

As a freshman, Wooten averaged 6.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and a Pac-12 Conference-leading 2.6 blocks per game and was named to the conference's All-Defensive team. Wooten's 92 blocked shots was the third most in a single season by an Oregon player. He averaged 6.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game and was again named to the Pac-12 All-Defensive team in his sophomore season. Wooten had a career-high 20 points on December 8, 2018, in an 84–61 win over Omaha. Following the end of the season, Wooten announced that he would forgo his final two seasons of NCAA eligibility to enter the 2019 NBA draft. Despite only playing two seasons, Wooten left Oregon as the Ducks' third all-time leading shot blocker with 166 blocks.

Professional career

After going unselected in the 2019 NBA Draft, Wooten was invited to play for the New York Knicks' summer league team. The Knicks signed Wooten to an Exhibit 10 contract on July 20, 2019. Wooten was waived by the Knicks on October 19, 2019 and joined the team's NBA G League affiliated, the Westchester Knicks. The Knicks signed Wooten to a two-way contract for two years on January 14, 2020. However, he did not play a game for the Knicks in the 2019–20 season as he suffered a thumb injury requiring surgery in late February 2020. He averaged 7.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 blocks per game while shooting 65.1% from the field for Westchester.

Career statistics

College