Malik Pope

Malik Pope (born July 25, 1996) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Rostock Seawolves of the German ProA league. Before he joined Rostock, he played for Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the San Diego State Aztecs.[1]

Malik Pope
Pope in 2014
Free agent
PositionPower forward
Personal information
Born (1996-07-25) July 25, 1996
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High schoolLaguna Creek
(Sacramento, California)
CollegeSan Diego State (2014–2018)
NBA draft2018 / Undrafted
Playing career2018–present
Career history
2018–2019PAOK
2019Greensboro Swarm
2019Rostock Seawolves
Career highlights and awards

Early life

Pope is a native of Sacramento and played for Laguna Creek High School He measured 6'3 as a high school sophomore and 6'8 as a junior, crediting his growth spurt in part to drinking more milk. In 2012, while doing some drills, Pope broke his left leg. Several months later, he broke it again and tore his meniscus, causing him to miss his entire senior season of high school.[2] Even so, he was a 5 star recruit in the class of 2014 who committed and played for San Diego State.[3]

College career

Pope had a career high 22 points and seven rebounds in a game against Colorado State as a freshman, sending his name up NBA Draft boards.[4] As a sophomore at San Diego State, he averaged 7.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He increased those numbers to 12.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in March 2016 as he led the Aztecs to the NIT finals. Following the season he declared for the 2016 NBA draft but did not hire an agent.[5]

Pope had an injury-riddled junior campaign and missed nine games.[4] He still managed to average 11 points per game.[6] As a senior, Pope was named to the Second Team All-Mountain West Conference.[7] He was suspended on February 23, 2018 for allegedly receiving a $1400 loan from an agent, according to an FBI investigation.[8] Pope was cleared to return to the team on February 28.[9] He averaged 12.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots per game, shooting 52.1 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from 3-point range. Pope led San Diego State to an NCAA Tournament berth as an 11 seed after winning the conference tournament.[2]

Professional career

Pope joined the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2018 NBA Summer League.[10] On August 10, 2018, Pope officially started his professional career by signing with Greek team PAOK.[11]

On January 13, 2019, Pope signed with the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League.[12] He averaged 6.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game. Pope joined the Rostock Seawolves of the German ProA league in August 2019.[13] In 13 games, he averaged 7.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game. In December 2019, Pope left the Seawolves.[14]

References
  1. "Malik Pope 21". GoAztecs.com. Archived from the original on 2018-07-23. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
  2. Davidson, Joe (March 14, 2018). "Malik Pope fueled by bad breaks, a lost friend and milk. He seeks NBA after NCAAs". Sacramento Bee. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  3. "Malik Pope - Basketball Recruiting - Player Profiles - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  4. Zeigler, Mark (January 1, 2018). "SDSU's Malik Pope: 'I set my bar pretty high.'". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  5. Greene, Dan (May 23, 2016). "Stay or Go? San Diego State forward Malik Pope". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  6. Grammer, Geoff (November 7, 2017). "MWC basketball preview: San Diego State transitions to a new coach". The Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  7. Zeigler, Mark (March 6, 2018). "SDSU's Malik Pope named second team all-conference". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  8. Zeigler, Mark (February 23, 2018). "SDSU suspends Malik Pope after allegations he received $1,400 loan from pro agent". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  9. Boone, Kyle (February 28, 2018). "College basketball scandal: San Diego State's Malik Pope cleared to return". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  10. Cunningham, Sean (June 23, 2018). "Sacramento's Malik Pope will begin NBA dream with Los Angeles Lakers". ABC10. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  11. "PAOK signed Malik Pope". EuroHoops.net. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  12. Trujillo, Justin (January 13, 2019). "Greensboro Acquires Malik Pope". NBA G League. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  13. "Habemus Papam – Malik Pope komplettiert SEAWOLVES-Kader". Rostock Seawolves (in German). August 5, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  14. "SEAWOLVES trennen sich von Malik Pope". Rostock Seawolves (in German). December 22, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
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