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Game state source: whynba · Retrieved Oct 9, 6:37 pm EDTNBA legend. Named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Biography, honors and career statistics below.
Wes Unseld
Career at a glance
Wes Unseld played 13 NBA regular seasons between 1968 and 1981, appearing in 984 games and averaging 10.8 points, 14.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. He played for 3 teams: Baltimore (1968–73, 393 games), Capital (1973–74, 56 games), Washington (1974–81, 535 games). His best scoring season was 1969–70 with Baltimore: 16.2 points per game over 82 games.
He rebounded best in 1968–69 at 18.2 per game. The season table marks him as the league leader in rebounding once, field-goal percentage once. Championship season: 1977–78 (Washington).
Multiplying each season’s games by its scoring average gives roughly 10,600 regular-season points (an estimate from per-game figures, not an official total). Among the 404 players with at least 200 NBA games profiled on whynba, Unseld ranks No. 7 in rebounds per game.
whynba analysis of the season-by-season statistics below (Wikipedia revision, CC BY-SA 4.0). Totals are estimates from per-game averages.
About Wes Unseld
Westley Sissel Unseld Sr. (March 14, 1946–June 2, 2020) was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets. Unseld played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected with the second overall pick by the Bullets in the 1968 NBA draft. Known as "The Incredible Hulk" and "The Oak Tree" because of his immense physical presence, Unseld was named the NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Rookie of the Year during his rookie season and joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only two players in NBA history to accomplish the feat. He won an NBA championship with the Bullets in 1978 and the Finals MVP award to go with it.
After his retirement as a player in 1981, Unseld worked with the Bullets-Wizards organization as a vice president, head coach and general manager.
Unseld was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988 and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. His son, Wes Unseld Jr., is currently an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls.
- Born
- March 14, 1946 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
- Listed height
- 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
- Listed weight
- 245 lb (111 kg)
- Position
- Center
- High school
- Seneca (Louisville, Kentucky)
- College
- Louisville (1965–1968)
- NBA draft
- 1968: 1st round, 2nd overall pick
- Playing career
- 1968–1981
Career highlights and awards
- NBA champion (1978)
- NBA Finals MVP (1978)
- NBA Most Valuable Player (1969)
- 5× NBA All-Star (1969, 1971–1973, 1975)
- All-NBA First Team (1969)
- NBA Rookie of the Year (1969)
- NBA All-Rookie First Team (1969)
- NBA rebounding leader (1975)
- NBA anniversary team (50th, 75th)
- No. 41 retired by Washington Wizards
- J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (1975)
- 2× Consensus first-team All-American (1967, 1968)
- 3× First-team All-MVC (1966–1968)
- No. 31 retired by Louisville Cardinals
- First-team Parade All-American (1964)
- Kentucky Mr. Basketball (1964)
Career statistics
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968–69 | Baltimore | 82 | — | 36.2 | .476 | — | .605 | 18.2 | 2.6 | — | — | 13.8 |
| 1969–70 | Baltimore | 82* | — | 39.4 | .518 | — | .638 | 16.7 | 3.5 | — | — | 16.2 |
| 1970–71 | Baltimore | 74 | — | 39.2 | .501 | — | .657 | 16.9 | 4.0 | — | — | 14.1 |
| 1971–72 | Baltimore | 76 | — | 41.7 | .498 | — | .629 | 17.6 | 3.7 | — | — | 13.0 |
| 1972–73 | Baltimore | 79 | — | 39.1 | .493 | — | .703 | 15.9 | 4.4 | — | — | 12.5 |
| 1973–74 | Capital | 56 | — | 30.8 | .438 | — | .655 | 9.2 | 2.8 | 1.0 | .3 | 5.9 |
| 1974–75 | Washington | 73 | — | 39.8 | .502 | — | .685 | 14.8* | 4.1 | 1.6 | .9 | 9.2 |
| 1975–76 | Washington | 78 | — | 37.5 | .561* | — | .585 | 13.3 | 5.2 | 1.1 | .8 | 9.6 |
| 1976–77 | Washington | 82 | — | 34.9 | .490 | — | .602 | 10.7 | 4.4 | 1.1 | .5 | 7.8 |
| 1977–78† | Washington | 80 | — | 33.1 | .523 | — | .538 | 11.9 | 4.1 | 1.2 | .6 | 7.6 |
| 1978–79 | Washington | 77 | — | 31.2 | .577 | — | .643 | 10.8 | 4.1 | .9 | .5 | 10.9 |
| 1979–80 | Washington | 82 | — | 36.3 | .513 | .500 | .665 | 13.3 | 4.5 | .8 | .7 | 9.7 |
| 1980–81 | Washington | 63 | — | 32.3 | .524 | .500 | .640 | 10.7 | 2.7 | .8 | .6 | 8.0 |
| Career | 984 | — | 36.4 | .509 | .500 | .633 | 14.0 | 3.9 | 1.1 | .6 | 10.8 | |
| All-Star | 5 | 0 | 15.4 | .500 | — | .600 | 7.2 | 1.2 | .4 | .0 | 6.2 |
Per-game averages. † won an NBA championship · * led the league · ‡ NBA record (as marked).
Profile observation date unavailable.
- Height
- 6′ 7″
- Weight
- 245 lb
- Position
- Center
- Jersey
- Not listed
- Country
- USA
- School / last affiliation
- Not listed
- Draft year
- 1968
- Draft pick
- Round 1 · Pick 2
Height, Weight, Position, Country, Draft year, Draft pick: blank in the NBA.com profile, filled from the Wikipedia infobox credited in the About section above.
Roster observations
These dates show when our saved NBA directory observations listed this player with a team. They are not signing, trade or contract dates, and this is not a complete career history.
No roster observations are stored for this player. Historical profile details above do not establish a current team assignment.
Profile source
Biographical fields reflect the saved official profile at the check time shown above. Team assignments use the dated directory evidence in Roster observations. Offseason rosters and jersey numbers can change.
View the official NBA player profile ↗