Willie Cauley-Stein

Willie Cauley-Stein
Cauley-Stein in 2015 with Kentucky
No. 00 – Sacramento Kings
Position Center
League NBA
Personal information
Born (1993-08-18) August 18, 1993
Spearville, Kansas
Nationality American
Listed height 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
High school Olathe Northwest (Olathe, Kansas)
College Kentucky (2012–2015)
NBA draft 2015 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6th overall
Selected by the Sacramento Kings
Playing career 2015–present
Career history
2015–present Sacramento Kings
Career highlights and awards
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Willie Trill Cauley-Stein (born Willie Durmond Cauley Jr. on August 18, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball with the Kentucky Wildcats.

High school career

Cauley-Stein attended Olathe Northwest High School in Olathe, Kansas, where he played basketball and football. As a junior, he averaged 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Cauley-Stein was listed as the No. 9 center and the No. 40 player in the nation in 2012.[1]

College career

Cauley-Stein dunks against the Florida Gators his junior season

Freshman season

Cauley-Stein started out his college career as a bench center, backing up top prospect Nerlens Noel. During his time as a back-up, Cauley-Stein ended up averaging 7.8 points on 63.9% field goal shooting, 5.5 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 1.0 assists, and 0.8 steals in 20 games of play.

Cauley-Stein earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors twice (1/7, 2/25). Cauley-Stein's season-high came against Vanderbilt as he posted 20 points to go with 7 rebounds. In a couple weeks prior, he was a perfect 5-5 from the field against Auburn.

On February 12, 2013, in a game against the Florida Gators, Noel tore the ACL in his left knee after blocking a Florida lay-up, forcing him to sit out the remainder of the season. Cauley-Stein was given the starting center position due to Noel's season-ending injury. In Noel's absence, he recorded three double-doubles in six games including 10 points and 11 rebounds against Georgia and 13 points, 10 rebounds to go with four blocks at Arkansas.

After SEC play ended he was named to the All-SEC Freshman team. At the end of the season he averaged 8.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game after appearing in 29 games while making 14 starts.

Sophomore season

During the 2013–14 season, he appeared in 37 games, making 18 starts while averaging 6.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. His tallied 106 blocks for the season is a total that ranks as the second-most in a single season in school history.

His terrific sophomore season led to him being named to the All-SEC Defensive Team. He recorded a career-high nine blocks twice during the season against Providence and Boise State. He really started coming into his own towards the end of the season. In the SEC Tournament, he recorded 10 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks vs. #1 Florida in the SEC Championship game.

Due to an injury to his leg suffered during the 2014 NCAA Tournament in a game against Louisville, Cauley-Stein missed the remainder of the season. He decided to return for his junior season due to his injury; he was a projected top-15 pick in the 2014 NBA draft prior to his injury.

Junior season

In 2014–15, Cauley-Stein was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. He was also selected to the All-SEC First Team, the All-SEC Defensive Team and the USA Today first team All-American Team.

On April 9, 2015, Cauley-Stein along with Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Dakari Johnson, Devin Booker, Trey Lyles, and Karl-Anthony Towns all declared to enter their names into the NBA draft.

Professional career

Sacramento Kings (2015–present)

On June 25, 2015, Cauley-Stein was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the sixth overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft.[2] On July 16, 2015, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Kings.[3] He made his debut for the Kings in their season opener on October 28, 2015, recording two points and two rebounds in a 111–104 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.[4] He made his first career start two days later and recorded 17 points and nine rebounds in a 132–114 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.[5] On December 3, 2015, he was ruled out for four to six weeks after sustaining an open dislocation of his right index finger earlier that night against the Boston Celtics.[6] He returned to action on January 2, 2016 against the Phoenix Suns, playing out the game's final five minutes.[7] On January 20, 2016, he recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in a 112–93 win over the Lakers.[5] On March 25, 2016, he scored a then career-high 26 points in a 116–94 win over the Phoenix Suns.[8] At the season's end, he earned NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors.[9]

On February 23, 2017, following the DeMarcus Cousins trade, Cauley-Stein was given extended minutes off the bench and came through with a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds to help the Kings defeat the Denver Nuggets 116–100.[10]

On January 6, 2018, Cauley-Stein recorded a career-best seven steals in a 106–98 win over the Denver Nuggets.[11]

NBA 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

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2015–16 Sacramento 663921.4.563.000.6485.3.6.71.07.0
2016–17 Sacramento 752118.9.530.000.6694.51.1.7.68.1
2017–18 Sacramento 735728.0.502.250.6197.02.41.1.912.8
Career 21411722.8.524.188.6415.61.4.8.89.4

Personal life

On May 1, 2015, Willie officially filed a name-change order with the Probate Division of the Fayette District Court to change his birth name. He did it to honor his mother, Marlene Stein, and her family, who raised him after his father left him at a young age. He also added "Trill" as a middle name, a nickname given to him by friends.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Willie Cauley-Stein". Rivals.com. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Kings Select Willie Cauley-Stein In The First Round". NBA.com. June 25, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Kings Sign Willie Cauley-Stein". NBA.com. July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Griffin leads Clippers past Kings 111-104 in opener". NBA.com. October 28, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Willie Cauley-Stein 2015-16 Game Log". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Willie Cauley-Stein Injury Update". NBA.com. December 3, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Kings beat Suns; coach Karl ties for 5th most wins". NBA.com. January 2, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Cauley-Stein busts out offensively, Kings beat Suns 116, 94". NBA.com. March 25, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Wolves' Towns, Knicks' Porzingis lead 2015-16 NBA All-Rookie teams". NBA.com. May 19, 2016. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Cauley-Stein scores 29, Kings beat Nuggets 116-100". ESPN.com. February 23, 2017. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Carter has big fourth quarter to lead Kings past Nuggets". ESPN.com. January 6, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  12. ↑ Sherman, Rodger (May 4, 2015). "Willie Cauley-Stein legally changes name to 'Willie Trill Cauley-Stein'". SBNation.com. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
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