Kelly Oubre Jr.
Kelly Oubre Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kelly Paul Oubre Jr. December 9, 1995 New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Professional basketball player |
| Years active | 2015–present |
| Known for | Playing in the NBA |
Kelly Paul Oubre Jr. ( ; born December 9, 1995) is a professional basketball athlete from the United States currently playing for the Philadelphia 76ers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After completing one collegiate season at the University of Kansas, Oubre was chosen 15th overall in the 2015 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who immediately traded him to the Washington Wizards. His career also includes stints with the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, and Charlotte Hornets.
Early life
Oubre was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and spent his early years living in the Magnolia public housing area before relocating to Eastover. Following Hurricane Katrina, his family moved to Richmond, Texas. He attended Edward Hynes Elementary School and participated in local basketball teams prior to relocating. For high school, Oubre first enrolled at George Bush High School in Fort Bend, Texas, later transferring to Findlay Prep in Nevada for his senior year. In October 2013, he committed to join the Kansas Jayhawks for the 2014–15 college basketball season.
College career
During his freshman year with the Kansas Jayhawks in 2014–15, Oubre earned recognition twice as the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week and received honors on both the All-Newcomer Team and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention list. Over 36 games (starting 27), he averaged 9.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game while playing approximately 21 minutes each contest.
On April 1, 2015, Oubre announced his decision to enter the NBA draft, opting to leave college basketball with three years of eligibility remaining.
Washington Wizards (2015–2018)
Selected by the Atlanta Hawks as the 15th pick in the 2015 NBA draft, Oubre was promptly traded to the Washington Wizards. He achieved a personal best of 18 points on December 16, 2015, despite a defeat against the San Antonio Spurs. Throughout his rookie campaign, he demonstrated promise as a reliable "3 and D" contributor.
On November 28, 2016, Oubre posted his inaugural double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds during a victory over the Sacramento Kings. Shortly after, on December 10, he tallied a then-career-high of 19 points along with nine rebounds and three steals versus the Milwaukee Bucks. However, during the second-round playoff series against Boston, he received a suspension for Game 4 following an ejection due to shoving Kelly Olynyk.
In the 2017–18 season, Oubre scored more than 20 points on five occasions, including setting a new career peak of 26 points on January 19 in a win against the Detroit Pistons. Despite shooting efficiently early in the season (44.9% FG and 40.5% from three-point range), his shooting percentages dropped considerably over the last 35 games.
On December 10, 2018, he recorded a then season-best of 23 points during a loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Phoenix Suns (2018–2020)
Oubre was traded to the Phoenix Suns alongside Austin Rivers on December 17, 2018, in exchange for Trevor Ariza. He made his Suns debut two days later by scoring 13 points in a win over the Boston Celtics, finishing at 111–103. On January 8, 2019, he matched his career high with a 26-point performance in a narrow victory against the Sacramento Kings, followed four days later by another game tying that mark with an additional double-double effort of 26 points and 11 rebounds versus the Denver Nuggets. On February 8, he contributed 25 points and set a then personal best with 12 rebounds during a loss to the Golden State Warriors. Five days later, he surpassed that scoring mark by posting a then career-high of 28 points in a defeat against the Los Angeles Clippers. On March 16, Oubre achieved a new career scoring record with 32 points in an overtime win over the New Orleans Pelicans, but was subsequently sidelined for the remainder of that season starting March 21 due to a left thumb injury.
On July 16, 2019, Oubre secured a two-year contract extension worth $30 million with Phoenix. He set a new personal rebound record on December 5 by grabbing 15 boards along with adding 14 points and four blocks during an overtime victory against the New Orleans Pelicans. He matched this rebound total again on December 28 while scoring 20 points in a win over the Sacramento Kings. On January 12, 2020, he once more recorded fifteen rebounds paired with twenty-five points in triumph against the Charlotte Hornets. On February 7, Oubre established a new career high by scoring thirty-nine points during a decisive win over the Houston Rockets. Despite logging thirty-eight minutes on February 24 in a victory over Utah Jazz, he was forced out of action due to a right knee injury diagnosed as a meniscus tear. Following arthroscopic surgery performed on March 3 that was deemed successful, plans were made for reassessment after four weeks.
Golden State Warriors (2020–2021)
On November 16, 2020, Oubre was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder along with Jalen Lecque, Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, and a 2022 first-round draft pick in exchange for Abdel Nader and Chris Paul. Shortly after, on November 22, Oubre was moved to the Golden State Warriors in return for a conditional first-round pick and a second-round pick in 2021. He made his Warriors debut on December 22, 2020, registering six points and seven rebounds during a 125–99 defeat to the Brooklyn Nets. On February 4, 2021, Oubre achieved a career-best performance by scoring 40 points in a commanding 147–116 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Charlotte Hornets (2021–2023)
On August 7, 2021, Oubre agreed to a two-year contract worth $25 million with the Charlotte Hornets. He made his first appearance for the team on October 20, contributing 14 points in a narrow 123–122 win against the Indiana Pacers. On January 26, 2022, he posted a season-high of 39 points and established a personal record by sinking 10 three-pointers in a dominant 158–126 triumph over the Pacers.
On November 18, 2022, Oubre scored 34 points while also adding three rebounds and steals each in a 132–122 overtime loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He suffered an injury to his left hand on December 29 during a 121–113 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Subsequently, on January 5, 2023, Oubre underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in that hand and was placed on indefinite injured reserve. Returning to action on February 24, he contributed eight points and three rebounds in a 121–113 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Philadelphia 76ers (2023–present)
Oubre signed a one-year deal valued at $2.9 million with the Philadelphia 76ers on September 26, 2023. On November 11, he was involved in an accident where he was hit by a vehicle near his residence in Center City, Philadelphia, resulting in a fractured rib along with hip and right leg injuries. He received treatment at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and was discharged thereafter. Prior to the incident, Oubre was averaging 16.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting at a rate of 50 percent across approximately 29 minutes per contest. In response to this event, teammate Tyrese Maxey dedicated his own 50-point performance to Oubre. After missing eleven games due to recovery, Oubre returned to play on December 6, 2023.
On March 29, 2024, Oubre was penalized with a $50,000 fine following an outburst directed at an official after a controversial call during a close defeat against the Clippers. The Sixers re-signed him on July 15, 2024.
On December 30, 2024, Oubre posted totals of 15 points, five rebounds, and achieved a career-high eight steals in a decisive 125–103 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Regular season
|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 63 || 9 || 10.7 || .427 || .336 || .633 || 2.1 || .2 || .3 || .1 || 3.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 79 || 5 || 20.3 || .421 || .287 || .758 || 3.3 || .6 || .7 || .2 || 6.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 81 || 11 || 27.5 || .403 || .341 || .820 ||4.5||1.2||1.0|| .4||11.8 |- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington |29||7||26.0|| .433|| .311|| .800||4.4|| .7|| .9|| .7||12.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix |40||12||29.5|| .453|| .325|| .761||4.9||1.6||1.4|| 1.0||16.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix |56||55||34.5|| .452|| .352|| .780|| 6.4||1.5||1.3|| .7||18.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Golden State |55||50||30.7|| .439|| .316|| .695||6.0||1.3||1.0|| .8||15.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte |76||13||26.3|| .440|| .345|| .667||4.0||1.1||1.0|| .4||15.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Charlotte |48||40||32.2|| .431|| .319|| .760||5.2||1.1||1.4|| .4||| 20.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Philadelphia |68||52||30.2|| .441||| .311||| .750|||5.0|||1.5|||1.1||| .7|||15.4 |- |- | style="text-align:left;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Philadelphia |60|||57|||34.6|||.470||| .293||| .751|||6.1|||1.8|||1.5||| .5|||15.1
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career |655|||311|||27.1||| .438||| .325||| .751|||4.6|||1.1|||1.0||| .5|||13.3
Playoffs
|- | style="text-align:left;" |2017 | style="text-align:left;" |Washington | 12||0||15.4|| .426|| .367|| .700||2.3||.3||.8||.4||5.8 |- | style="text-align:left;" |2018 | style="text-align:left;" |Washington |6||1||24.7|| .375|| .211|| .889||3.8||.7||1.0||.5||9.3 |- | style="text-align:left;" |2024 | style="text-align:left;" |Philadelphia |6|||6|||37.3|||.484|||.391|||.727|||4.0|||1.7|||1.8|||1.2|||13.2 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career |24|||7|||23.2||| .434||| .333||| .795|||3.1|||.8|||1.1|||.6|||8.5
College
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014–15 | style="text-align:left;"| Kansas | 36 || 27 || 21.0 || .444 || .358 || .718 || 5.0 || .8 || 1.1 || .4 || 9.3
Personal life
During his tenure with the Phoenix Suns, Oubre introduced the "Valley Boyz" apparel line to honor the Arizona community and encourage support for the franchise's development. This initiative began as an Instagram hashtag in January 2019, with initial earnings directed to teammate Deandre Ayton's hurricane relief campaign in the Bahamas through UNICEF assistance. Additionally, Oubre played a role in creating and endorsing the Suns' "City Edition" uniforms for the 2020–21 and 2021–22 NBA seasons.
On November 11, 2023, Oubre was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Philadelphia, resulting in a fractured rib and other injuries; he was subsequently discharged from medical care. Later, on April 23, 2024, he was part of another traffic incident after reportedly running a red light, though no injuries were sustained.