Matthew Wright (basketball)

Matthew Andrew Cristopher Wright (born February 7, 1991) is a Filipino-Canadian professional basketball player for the Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He played collegiate basketball at St. Bonaventure University.[2]

Matthew Wright
No. 35 – Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters
PositionShooting guard / Small forward
LeaguePBA
Personal information
Born (1991-02-07) February 7, 1991
Toronto, Ontario[1]
NationalityFilipino / Canadian
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High schoolMartingrove Collegiate Institute
(Toronto, Ontario)
CollegeSt. Bonaventure (2010–2014)
NBA draft2014 / Undrafted
PBA draft2016 / Special draft
Selected by the Phoenix Fuel Masters
Playing career2014–present
Career history
2014–2015Quimper
2015–2016Westports Malaysia Dragons
2016–presentPhoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  Philippines
SEABA Championship
2017 Quezon CityTeam
Southeast Asian Games
2019 PhilippinesTeam

Professional career

UJAP Quimper 29

After he had graduated, he signed a professional contract to play for the French club Quimper.[3] He made his debut in a 91-87 loss to Cognac on October 25, 2014. He did not score but he dished out three assists in 14 minutes of action.[4]

Westports Malaysia Dragons

On November 7, 2015, Wright recorded 30 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 6 3-pointers made in a 100-92 win over the Saigon Heat.[5] In the 2015–16 ABL season, Wright was named as the ASEAN Heritage MVP after he helped lead the Westports Malaysia Dragons to the finals of the ASEAN Basketball League on his maiden season with an average of 23.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.[6]

Mighty Sports

On September 16, 2016, it was reported that he will be part of the Mighty Sports lineup for 2016 Merlion Cup.[7] In the team's second game on the group stages, he scored 20 points against Westports Malaysia Dragons to help the team get a semifinals berth.[8] Mighty Sports eventually lost to the Shanghai Sharks in the finals of the 2016 Merlion Cup after Jimmer Fredette was fouled in the final possession taking a triple who then drained the 3 free throws.[9]

Phoenix Fuel Masters (PBA)

He reunites with Ariel Vanguardia who was his coach when he played for the Westports Malaysia Dragons, after he was selected by the Phoenix Fuel Masters as their Gilas draft selection in the 2016 PBA draft.[10] On November 8, 2016, he signed a 3-year, P8.5M rookie max deal with Phoenix.[11] Due to food poisoning he missed the team's first game of the 2016-17 PBA Philippine Cup where they lost 94-87 to Blackwater Elite.[12] In his PBA debut, he scored 14 points to help his team have an upset win against the San Miguel Beermen.[13]

International career

He was part of the Philippines men's national under-18 team coached by Franz Pumaren that competed in the four-nation Nokia Manila Youth Basketball Invitational 2008 and 2008 FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship.[14][15] In 2016, he was included in the pool of the Philippine men's senior national team where the members of the Philippine squad that participated at the 2016 FIBA Asia Challenge was derived from.[16]

International Career Statistics
Year Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2014-15 Quimper LNB Pro B 1623.9.403.343.6491.72.21.4.19.8
2015-16 Westports Malaysia Dragons ABL 2734.8.453.425.7404.13.02.0.221.2
Career International League 4330.9.442.404.7153.22.71.8.117.0

PBA 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

As of the end of 2020 season[17]

Season-by-season averages
Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2016–17 Phoenix 2632.9.363.336.7886.13.71.1.016.5
2017–18 Phoenix 3533.1.405.343.7484.84.51.4.117.6
2019 Phoenix 3733.0.380.343.8444.24.41.4.118.9
2020 Phoenix 1737.2.446.394.8024.45.51.2.021.1
Career 11533.6.393.351.8004.84.41.3.118.3

Personal life

As of 2017, he is involved in a long-distance relationship with Gabriela Moscoso.[18]

References
  1. Chot Reyes [@coachot] (July 8, 2017). "🙏🙏🙏 #💪🇵🇭❤️" (Tweet). Retrieved July 11, 2017 – via Twitter.
  2. "Matthew Wright at ESPN".
  3. "Ex-RP youth team member Matthew Wright inks deal with French club Quimper". Slam Philippines. November 8, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
  4. http://gobonnies.sbu.edu/sports/m-baskbl/2014-15/releases/201410278qij1e
  5. "Saigon Heat - KL Dragons 92-100". EuroBasket. November 7, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  6. Albelda, Josiah (March 13, 2016). "Filipino Matthew Wright is ABL ASEAN Heritage MVP". Fox Sports Asia. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
  7. http://www.spin.ph/basketball/news/mighty-sports-goes-for-2nd-straight-title-merlion-cup-singapore
  8. http://sports.abs-cbn.com/basketball/news/2016/09/23/mighty-sports-destroy-abl-champs-book-merlion-cup-semis-15792
  9. http://www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/basketball/147306-mighty-sports-ph-heartbreaking-loss-shanghai-sharks-merlion-cup-final
  10. http://www.interaksyon.com/interaktv/pba-gilas-draft-blackwater-nabs-mac-belo-ginebra-gets-kevin-ferrer
  11. http://www.foxsportsasia.com/en-ph/news/matthew-wright-signs-3-year-p8-5m-deal-phoenix/
  12. http://www.spin.ph/basketball/pba/news/rookie-matthew-wright-down-with-food-poisoning-as-he-misses-debut-gam
  13. http://m.spin.ph/basketball/news/phoenix-stuns-san-miguel-beer-behind-jc-intal-heroics
  14. http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/113112/sports/fil-canadians-to-reinforce-rp-youth-basketball-team
  15. http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/08/diamBall/men/news/lateNews/p/newsid/28408/FE_news_lateNews_arti.html
  16. "Fil-Canadian Matthew Wright in talks with SBP to join Gilas 5.0, confirms Butch Antonio". Sports Interactive Network Philippines. August 10, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2016.
  17. Real GM
  18. Carvajal, Dolly Anne (May 30, 2017). "PBA's latest sensation Matthew Wright is movie-star material". Inquirer.net. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.