Luc Mbah a Moute
Luc Mbah a Moute | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 9, 1986 Cameroon |
| Occupation(s) | Professional basketball player (retired), sports agent |
| Years active | 2008–2020 (NBA career) |
| Known for | NBA player, UCLA Bruins basketball, Cameroon national team member |
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute ( ; born September 9, 1986) is a retired Cameroonian professional basketball athlete who spent 13 seasons competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played collegiate basketball with the UCLA Bruins and was a member of the Cameroon national team.
Currently, Mbah a Moute works as a player representative for Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
College career
From 2001 to 2005, Mbah a Moute attended Montverde Academy in Florida, where he was coached by Kevin Sutton. He then proceeded to play under coach Ben Howland at the University of California, Los Angeles.
During his freshman year in 2005–06, he led the Bruins—who won the Pac-10 Conference championship—in rebounds, leading or sharing the top spot in 27 regular-season games. In the NCAA tournament, he made the decisive layup during a comeback victory against Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 and contributed 17 points and 9 rebounds in UCLA’s Final Four triumph over LSU. He averaged 8.9 points along with 8.1 rebounds that season and was honored as the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.
Together with fellow Cameroonian player Alfred Aboya, Mbah a Moute helped inspire the "Cameroon Crazies" fan section at UCLA, which gained notable popularity. He earned the nickname The Fresh Prince of Africa.
His parents made the journey from Cameroon to watch him compete at the 2008 NCAA Final Four, where UCLA completed a 35–4 season, capturing their third straight Pac-10 title and Final Four berth.
Mbah a Moute finished his UCLA tenure with honorable mention All-Pac-10 and All-Defensive Team accolades. He ranked fifth in scoring average (8.8 points per game) and fifteenth all-time in rebounds (775). Notably, he became the first UCLA player in over three decades to start in three consecutive Final Fours, joining distinguished players such as Bill Walton and Jamaal Wilkes.
Milwaukee Bucks (2008–2013)
Mbah a Moute declared for the 2008 NBA draft after leaving UCLA early, where he was chosen by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 37th overall pick. He quickly established himself as an essential defensive asset and became popular among fans, surpassing Charlie Villanueva to become the starting power forward within just nine games. In only his second start, he achieved personal bests of 19 points and 17 rebounds during a victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Milwaukee’s management commended his defensive contributions.
Following the 2010–11 season, Mbah a Moute entered restricted free agency. On December 10, 2011, he signed a four-year contract offer worth $18.7 million from the Denver Nuggets, but the Bucks matched this offer three days later to keep him on their roster.
Sacramento Kings (2013)
On 12 July 2013, Mbah a Moute was acquired by the Sacramento Kings through a trade.
Minnesota Timberwolves (2013–2014)
Mbah a Moute was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on 26 November 2013 in exchange for Derrick Williams.
Philadelphia 76ers (2014–2015)
On 23 August 2014, Mbah a Moute, along with teammate Alexey Shved, was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a three-team deal involving Minnesota and Cleveland. This transaction also included a 2015 first-round draft pick from Cleveland. The Cavaliers received Kevin Love, while Minnesota obtained Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, and Thaddeus Young. This move reunited Mbah a Moute with fellow Cameroonian Joel Embiid, whom he had supported through his Basketball Without Borders program.
Mbah a Moute agreed to return to Sacramento on 14 July 2015; however, two days later the team voided his contract after he did not pass the physical examination. Feeling aggrieved by this decision, he filed a grievance against the Kings but subsequently cleared medical evaluations in order to participate with Team Africa at the NBA Africa Game 2015.
Los Angeles Clippers (2015–2017)
On 25 September 2015, Mbah a Moute signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. During the middle of the 2015–16 season, he earned a spot in the starting lineup. He re-signed with the Clippers on 8 July 2016. In Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs against the Utah Jazz on 21 April 2017, Mbah a Moute posted a career playoff-best of 15 points, contributing to the Clippers’ 2–1 lead in the series. Despite this, Los Angeles was eliminated after seven games.
Houston Rockets (2017–2018)
Mbah a Moute joined the Houston Rockets on 19 July 2017. On 22 November that year, he achieved a +57 plus–minus rating during a dominant 125–95 victory over the Denver Nuggets, marking the highest plus–minus in an NBA game in two decades; he finished with a flawless shooting performance totaling 13 points in 26 minutes. On 14 December 2017, he was ruled out for two to three weeks due to a shoulder injury. He suffered another shoulder dislocation on 10 April 2018 during a win against the Los Angeles Lakers, which caused him to miss Houston’s first-round playoff series.
Second Tenure with the Clippers (2018–2019)
On 19 July 2018, Mbah a Moute inked a new contract to return to the Los Angeles Clippers, marking his second period with the team. His 2018–19 season was limited to just four appearances before he suffered a left knee injury during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans on 23 October 2018, which forced him out of action. Following attempts at conservative treatment, he underwent surgery involving a partial medial meniscectomy and medial femoral condyle chondroplasty on 28 March 2019. Subsequently, the Clippers released him from their roster on 7 April.
Return to Houston Rockets (2020)
On July 7, 2020, the Houston Rockets officially announced the signing of Mbah a Moute.
Regular season
|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | style="background:#cfecec;"| 82* || 51 || 25.8 || .462 || .000 || .729 || 5.9 || 1.1 || 1.1 || .5 || 7.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 73 || 62 || 25.6 || .480 || .353 || .699 || 5.5 || 1.1 || .8 || .5 || 6.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 79 || 52 || 26.5 || .463 || .000 || .707 || 5.3 || .9 || .9 || .4 || 6.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 43 || 22 || 23.5 || .510 || .250 || .641 || 5.3 || .7 || .9 || .5 || 7.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 58 || 45 || 22.9 || .401 || .351 || .571 || 4.4 || .9 || .7 || .2 || 6.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Sacramento | 9 || 5 || 21.8 || .469 || .333 || .692 || 3.0 || 1.7|| 1.0|| .6||4.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Minnesota | 55||2||14.7||.447||.214||.685||2.2||.4||.4||.2||3.3 |- | style="text-align:left;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | Philadelphia |67||61||28.6||.395||.307||.589||4.9||1.6|||1.2||.3|||9.9 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | L.A. Clippers |75||61||17.0||.454||.325||.526||2..3||..4||..6||..3||3..1 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | L.A.Clippers |80||| 76|||22..3|||..505||| ..391|||..678|||2..2|||..5|||1..0|||..4|||6..1 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | Houston |61|||15|||25..6|||..481|||..364|||..684|||3..0|||..9||| 1..2||| ..4|||7..5 |- | style="text-align:left;" | | style="text-align:left;" | L.A.Clippers |4|||0|||15..3|||..444|||..333|||..400|||1..8|||0..5|||0..3|||0..3|||5..0
|-
|style="text-align:left"| |style="text-align:left"|2019–20 Houston Rockets season |3|||0|||8..3|||..400|||..000|||..500|||..7||||-||||6||||-||||1..7
|- class="sortbottom"
|style="text-align:center" colspan=2>Career |689||||453||||23..3||||..454||||..334||||..659||||4..1||||..9||||..9||||..4||||6..4
Playoff Performance
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2010 | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 7 || 7 || 25.4 || .520 || .000 || .600 || 5.6 || .7 || .3 || .0 || 9.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2013 | style="text-align:left;"| Milwaukee | 4 || 4 || 34.0 || .435 || .000 || .722 || 3.5 || 1.8 || 1.0 || .0 || 8.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2016 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Clippers | 5 || 5 || 15.6 || .667 || - || 1.000 || 2.0 || .2 || .6 || .0 || 1.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2017 | style="text-align:left;"| L.A. Clippers | 7 || 7 || 32.0 || .395 || .313 || .700 || 5.0 || 1.0 || 1.1 || .6 || 7.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2018 | style="text-align:left;"| Houston | 9 || 0 || 16.6 || .250 || .200 || .571 || 2.4 || .3 || .7 || .4 || 2.8 |-class=sortbottom | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Total | 32 || 23 || 23.9 || .418 || .216 || .667 || 3.8 || .7 || .7 || .3 || 5.8
University Career Statistics
|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2005–06 | style="text-align:left;"| UCLA | 39||38||29.5||.538||.132||.723||8.2||1.3||1.1||.6||9.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2006–07 | style="text-align:left;"| UCLA | 35||35||29.9||.492||.222||.570||7.4||1.9||1.7||.8||8.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2007–08 | style="text-align:left;"| UCLA |33||32||29.0||.478||.200||.689||6.0||1.5||1.0||.5||8.8 |-class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center" colspan=2 | Overall
|107||106||29.5||.503||.215||.668||7.2||1.6||1.3||.6||8.7
Personal Background
Luc Mbah a Moute holds the title of prince in Bia Messe, a village located near Yaoundé. He is the son of Camille Mouté à Bidias, the elected chief of the village, who also directs Cameroon's National Employment Fund, an agency focused on job placement.[1] Luc has a twin brother, Emmanuel Bidias a Moute, who played collegiate basketball at Texas State University, while his younger sibling Roger competed for the California Golden Bears.[2] In February 2020, he wed Aurelie Van Assche in Yaoundé.[3]
He has been instrumental in identifying prominent Cameroonian basketball players such as Joel Embiid (selected third overall in the 2014 NBA Draft) and Pascal Siakam (27th overall pick in 2016), along with Landry Nnoko, who earned the NBA G-League Defensive Player of the Year honor.[4]