Dan Nwaelele
{{short description|American professional basketball player (born 1984)}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Dan Nwaelele
| image = Dan_Nwaelele.jpg
| image_size = 300
| caption = Nwaelele (right) playing for the Air Force Academy in 2007.
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 4
| weight_lb = 205
| nationality = American
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1984|3|5}}
| birth_place = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
| highschool = Inglemoor (Kenmore, Washington)
| college = Air Force (2003–2007)
| draft_year = 2007
| career_start = 2012
| career_end = 2018
| career_number =
| career_position = Shooting guard
| years1 = 2012–2016
| team1 = Santa Cruz Warriors
| years2 = 2016–2017
| team2 = Austin Spurs
| years3 = 2017–2018
| team3 = Levallois Metropolitans
| highlights =
- First-team All-MWC (2007)
}}
Onyenma Daniel Nwaelele Jr (born March 5, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Paris-Levallois of the French LNB Pro A. He played college basketball for the Air Force Falcons.
High school career
Nwaelele attended Inglemoor High School where he averaged 17 points and six rebounds per game as a senior an all-state and first-team all-league selection. During his three years at Inglemoor, he became the second leading scorer in Inglemoor history, three-year letterwinner in basketball and three-time team MVP.{{cite web|title=Dan Nwaelele Bio|work=GoAirForceFalcons.com|url=http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/nwaelele_dan00.html|accessdate=October 4, 2015|archive-date=July 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721160944/http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/nwaelele_dan00.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Warriors Waves: For Five Years Dan Nwaelele was a Real Warrior|work=Patch.com|url=http://patch.com/california/santacruz/bp--warriors-waves-following-the-dream|date=December 12, 2012|accessdate=October 4, 2015}}
College career
After graduating from high school, Nwaelele joined Air Force Falcons. In four seasons, he averaged 9.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. At the end of his stay at the academy, he was ranked second in program history in three-point field goal percentage with 45.1 percent.
Professional career
After going undrafted in the 2007 NBA draft, Nwaelele was invited by the San Antonio Spurs to their training camp, but couldn't go for his commitment to the Air Force.{{cite news|title=Air Force won't let ex-Inglemoor star out of service to sign with Spurs|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Air-Force-won-t-let-ex-Inglemoor-star-out-of-1252062.php|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=SeattlePi.com|date=October 9, 2007}} A year later he signed with the Spurs for the 2008 NBA Summer League before returning to the Air Force.
After concluding his commitment with the Air Force, Nwaelele joined the Santa Cruz Warriors for their 2012 training camp roster after a successful tryout,{{cite news|title=Santa Cruz Warriors Announce Training Camp Roster|url=http://www.nba.com/dleague/santacruz/santa_cruz_warriors_training_camp_roster.html|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=NBA.com|date=November 8, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026223238/http://www.nba.com/dleague/santacruz/santa_cruz_warriors_training_camp_roster.html|archivedate=October 26, 2013}} making the opening day roster.{{cite news|title=Santa Cruz Warriors bring a promising roster into inaugural season in California|url=http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2012/11/15/3645422/santa-cruz-warriors-nba-d-league-training-camp-roster|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=GoldenStateOfMind.com|date=November 15, 2012}}
On September 30, 2013, Nwaelele signed with the Spurs for their training camp,{{cite news|title=Spurs notebook: Single roster spot up for grabs|url=http://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/Spurs-notebook-Single-roster-spot-up-for-grabs-4857432.php|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=ExpressNews.com|date=September 30, 2013}} but was waived on October 20.{{cite news|title=Spurs Waive Fells and Nwaelele|url=http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/131020_spurs_waive_fells_and_nwaelele|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=NBA.com|date=October 20, 2013}} He returned to Santa Cruz afterwards,{{cite news|title=Santa Cruz Warriors Primed For New Season|url=http://www.gtweekly.com/index.php/santa-cruz-blogs-commentary/88-culture-beat/5192-santa-cruz-warriors-primed-for-new-season.html|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=GTWeekly.com|date=November 7, 2013}} averaging 7.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 2013–14.
On January 9, 2015, Santa Cruz reacquired Nwaelele via his Returning Player Rights,{{cite news|title=Santa Cruz Acquires Daniel Nwaelele|url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4913526|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=OurSportsCentral.com|date=January 9, 2015}} but waived him on March 26 before he could appear in a game for them.{{cite news|title=Santa Cruz Announces Roster Moves|url=http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=4942842|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=OurSportsCentral.com|date=March 26, 2015}}
On September 28, 2015, Nwaelele signed with the Memphis Grizzlies.{{cite news|title=Grizzlies announce 2015 training camp roster|url=http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/training-camp-roster-150928|accessdate=October 4, 2015|work=NBA.com|date=September 28, 2015}} However, he was waived on October 5.{{cite news|title=Memphis Grizzlies waive Daniel Nwaelele|url=http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/grizzlies-waive-nwaelele-151005|accessdate=October 5, 2015|work=NBA.com|date=October 5, 2015}} On November 2, he was reacquired by Santa Cruz.{{cite web|url=http://santacruz.dleague.nba.com/news/santa-cruz-warriors-announce-2015-training-camp-roster/|title=Santa Cruz Warriors Announce 2015 Training Camp Roster|work=NBA.com|date=November 2, 2015|accessdate=November 3, 2015|archive-date=November 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151114061414/http://santacruz.dleague.nba.com/news/santa-cruz-warriors-announce-2015-training-camp-roster/|url-status=dead}} On April 1, he was waived by Santa Cruz after suffering a season-ending injury.{{cite web|title=NBA D-League Transactions {{!}} 2015–2016 Season|url=http://dleague.nba.com/transactions/|work=NBA.com|accessdate=April 5, 2016|url-status=unfit|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406044624/http://dleague.nba.com/transactions/|archivedate=April 6, 2016}}
On December 20, 2016, Nwaelele was acquired by the Austin Spurs.{{cite web|first=Meagan|last=Miller|url=http://austin.dleague.nba.com/news/austin-spurs-acquire-daniel-nwaelele/|title=Austin Spurs Acquire Daniel Nwaelele|work=NBA.com|date=December 20, 2016|accessdate=December 20, 2016|archive-date=December 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222235144/http://austin.dleague.nba.com/news/austin-spurs-acquire-daniel-nwaelele/|url-status=dead}}
Following the 2016–17 campaign, Nwaelele signed with Paris-Levallois of the French LNB Pro A.{{cite web| last = | first = | title = Daniel Nwaelele rejoint Levallois | work = Paris-Levallois Basket | date = June 30, 2017 | url = https://parislevallois.com/2017/06/30/daniel-nwaelele-rejoint-levallois/ | accessdate = July 4, 2017 |language = German}}
Military career
After finishing his college career at the academy, Nwaelele spent five years in the Air Force being deployed overseas twice. The first one was in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and in his second one, he was stationed in Saudi Arabia.
Personal life
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/nwaelele_dan00.html Air Force bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721160944/http://www.goairforcefalcons.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/nwaelele_dan00.html |date=2016-07-21 }}
- [http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Dan-Nwaelele/Summary/1911 RealGM profile]
- [http://basketball.usbasket.com/player/Daniel_Nwaelele/60568 USBasket profile]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwaelele, Dan}}
Category:Air Force Falcons men's basketball players
Category:American expatriate basketball people in France
Category:American men's basketball players
Category:Metropolitans 92 players
Category:Santa Cruz Warriors players
Category:Basketball players from King County, Washington
Category:Basketball players from Oklahoma City
Category:United States Air Force personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)