Kiwane Garris

Medal record
Competitor for United States
World Championships
Bronze	1998 Greece	National team

Kiwane Garris (born September 24, 1974 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American former professional basketball player. He was listed as a 6'2" (1.88 m), 183 lb (83 kg) point guard.

Garris played college basketball at the University of Illinois, where his position was point guard. As a freshman in the 1993-94 season, Garris finished second on the Fighting Illini in scoring, behind Deon Thomas. In the next three seasons, Garris led the team lead in scoring and free-throw percentage. Garris also led the team in assists in the 1994-95 and 1996-97 seasons. Garris finished his career at Illinois as the second all-time leading scorer, behind former teammate Deon Thomas. Garris finished with 1948 career points, with a career scoring average of 16.8 points per game.

During the NBA lockout he played for the US national team in the 1998 FIBA World Championship, winning the bronze medal.

Career

Although Garris was projected to be a late first round or early second round pick in the NBA Draft, he went undrafted, but signed as a free-agent with the Denver Nuggets. He had been signed for a brief period by Los Angeles Clippers during their 1997 preseason but was waiveed. For the 1997-1998's 28 games he did 8MPG, 2.4 PPG. Playing for the Orlando Magic during 1999-2000, 3 games, 7.7 MPG, 1.3 PPG. In 2002 he was signed by the Sacramento Kings (2002 preseason), but was again waived before the regular season. He has also played with the Grand Rapids Hoops of the CBA.

Italian League

For nine years he played overseas for the Italian teams Banca Popolare Ragusa (Serie A2, 2001–2002), Porte Garofoli Osimo (Serie A2, 2002–2003), Bipop-Carire Reggio Emilia (Serie A2, 2003–2004, Serie A, 2004–2005), Climamio Bologna (2005–2006) (reached the Italian championship final and won Italian Supercup) and Armani Jeans Milano (2006–2007).

ABA

In 2006, the American Basketball Association, in an effort to spark interest from the potential fanbase invited Garris, along with other popular Chicago area college and high school stars, to try out for its 2006 team. Also invited were Kiwane's college teammates Kevin Turner and Jerrod Gee, as well as Thomas Hamilton, Rico Hill, Ronnie Fields, Sherrell Ford, Imari Sawyer, Tom Kleinschmidt, Najeeb Echols, Evan Eschmeyer, and T.J. Lux were also recruited to start training for the upstart Chicago Rockstars. The franchise has since halted operations.

After playing overseas in Italy for nine years from 2001–2010, Garris returned home. He is an Assistant Coach at Prairie State College.

Personal

Garris has a son from a previous relationship

In July 2006 he became engaged to R&B and soul singer-songwriter Syleena Johnson. Johnson is a fellow Chicagoan. On August 1, 2007 after forty-four hours of labor, their son Kiwane Garris Jr was born. The marriage was doubted to last as Garris was playing for Premiata Montegranaro of the Italian Basketball League, while Johnson remained in Illinois. On Sunday, February 6, 2010 she gave birth to their second son, Kingston. He weighed 8 lb 5oz.

External links

• Kiwane Garris player profile @ NBA.com
• Euroleague stats @ 24sec.net