Wenyen Gabriel (born March 26, 1997) is a South Sudanese-American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. Gabriel was a 5-star prospect who in 2016 was ranked number 14 on ESPN's Top 10.
Gabriel attended
Wilbraham & Monson Academy in
Wilbraham,
Massachusetts since 2014.
[1] Prior to that, he played at
Trinity High School in
Manchester,
New Hampshire for three years.
[2] As a senior in 2015-16, he averaged 22.0
points per game, 14.0
rebounds per game, 7.0 blocks per game and 6.3 assists per game. In October 2015, he announced his decision to enroll at the
University of Kentucky.
Maryland,
Duke,
UConn and
Providence were other schools on his shortlist.
[3] He played 19:17 minutes in the 2016
Nike Hoop Summit, scoring two points, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out two assists.
[4] He also played in the 2016
Jordan Brand Classic. Gabriel was rated as a five-star recruit and ranked #14 in the Class of 2016 by
ESPN
He made his debut for the UK Wildcats in an exhibition game on 31 October 2016 against
Clarion University, tallying nine points, two rebounds and one assist in 17 minutes coming off the bench.
[5] As a freshman, he played in 38 games, including 23 starts, averaging 4.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 17.8 minutes.
[6] During his sophomore year, Gabriel became more of a key figure for Kentucky's success that season, tallying 6.8 points and 5.4 rebounds in 37 games. He led UK with 40 blocked shots.
[7]
Professional career[edit]
Sacramento Kings (2018–2020)[edit]
2018–2019 season[edit]
Gabriel declared for the
2018 NBA draft,
[8] but went undrafted.
[9] He joined the
Sacramento Kings for the
2018 NBA Summer League.
[10] On 31 July 2018, he signed a two-way contract with the Kings.
[11] However, he did not appear in a game during that season.
2019–2020 season[edit]
Just prior to the start of the
2019–20 season, the Kings converted Gabriel’s contract to a standard deal.
[12] He had a double-double of 16 points and 16 rebounds for the
Stockton Kings on December 20, 2019, in a win over the
Delaware Blue Coats.
[13] On January 11, 2020, Gabriel had 37 points, 11 rebounds and three assists for Stockton in its 163-143 win over the
Iowa Wolves.
[14]
Portland Trail Blazers (2020–present)[edit]
On January 20, 2020, Gabriel was traded to the
Portland Trail Blazers along with
Trevor Ariza and
Caleb Swanigan in exchange for
Kent Bazemore,
Anthony Tolliver and two future second round picks.
[15] He made his debut for the Trail Blazers on January 31, going 0-for-3 from the field with one rebound, one assist and a block in 13 minutes as the Blazers defeated the
Los Angeles Lakers 127-119.
[16]
Personal life[edit]
Gabriel was born in
Khartoum, Sudan, on 26 March 1997.
[17] Because his sister – born a year earlier – had died in infancy, Gabriel was given the name "Wenyen", which means "wipe your tears" in his native
Dinka language.
[17] Two weeks after he was born, Gabriel's mother, Rebecca Gak, moved with him and his three siblings to
Cairo,
Egypt to escape the violence of the
Second Sudanese Civil War.
[17] While Gabriel's mother worked to earn enough money to move his father, Makuac, to Cairo, his seven-year-old brother, Komot, became Gabriel's primary care giver.
[17][18] Two years after moving to Egypt, the
United Nations granted an appeal to move the refugee family to
Manchester, New Hampshire, an American city with a large South Sudanese population.
[17]
Gabriel received a US passport in 2015
[19] and represented the
USA Basketball Junior National Select Team at the 2016
Nike Hoop Summit. He considers
South Sudan his rightful home country.
[20]
