Kyle Wiltjer

Kyle Gregory Wiltjer (born October 20, 1992) is a Canadian-American professional basketball player for Reyer Venezia Mestre of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).

He chose to play basketball for the University of Kentucky Wildcats and coach John Calipari on August 28, 2010.

He had also considered Kansas, California, Texas, Gonzaga, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest.

Although he was a five-star recruit according to all of the recruiting analysts, Kyle Wiltjer never started a game his freshman season at Kentucky, and did not play as many minutes as fellow freshmen Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Marquis Teague.

He averaged only 11.3 MPG and 4.8 PPG, although his three-point percentage was an impressive 42.5%.

Wiltjer played in the 2011 McDonald's All-American Game in Chicago.

He also played in the 2011 Nike Hoop Summit in his hometown of Portland and in the 2011 Jordan Brand Classic in Charlotte.

Wiltjer was ranked as the No. 18 recruit in the class of 2011 in the ESPNU 100, the No. 25 recruit by Rivals.com, and the No. 22 recruit by Scout.com.

The Kentucky Wildcats won the 2012 NCAA championship during Wiltjer's freshman year.

Wiltjer began the 2012–13 season as a starter.

In his third game of the season, against Lafayette, he accumulated 23 points, two assists, and four rebounds.

However, he would eventually settle into an off-the-bench role, being named the SEC's Sixth Man of the Year.

He spent two seasons of college basketball with the Kentucky Wildcats before transferring to play with the Gonzaga Bulldogs in 2013.

A dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, he has played for the Canada national team.

Born and raised in Portland, Wiltjer attended Jesuit High School in Beaverton, Oregon, where he led the school to three consecutive Oregon state championships.

In April 2013, he had announced he would remain at Kentucky for his junior season.

However, he eventually changed his mind, posting a letter on Kentucky's official athletic website on June 23 indicating that he would transfer in order to "compete the way I know I can. ... wherever that may be."

A later report indicated that Wiltjer had drawn interest from three of the four Division I programs in his home state of Oregon (Oregon, Oregon State, Portland), Gonzaga, Stanford, and Texas.

According to that report, "he left the door open to return to Kentucky if he can't find the right situation."

On July 19, multiple media outlets reported that Wiltjer had chosen Gonzaga.

The transfer became official the next day, when Gonzaga received a signed copy of a financial aid agreement.

After sitting out the 2013–14 season due to NCAA transfer rules, he had two remaining seasons of eligibility.

In February 2015 he scored a career-high 45 points against Pacific.

Wiltjer led Gonzaga to its second ever Elite Eight appearance and a school record 35–3 record.

He was named a Consensus Second-Team All-American, as well as First-Team All-WCC and WCC Newcomer of the Year.

In his first season with Gonzaga he appeared in 38 games averaging 16.8 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game and 1.9 assists per game in 27.6 minutes per game.

After contemplating forgoing his remaining eligibility to enter the 2015 NBA draft, Wiltjer decided to return to Gonzaga for his senior year.

Entering his second season with Gonzaga, Wiltjer was named CBS Sports' preseason player of the year.

Sports Illustrated projected Wiltjer as the preseason player of the year, scoring champion, and the top-usage player in all of NCAA Division 1 basketball.

He was named to the 35-man midseason watchlist for the Naismith Trophy on February 11.

After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, Wiltjer joined the Houston Rockets for the 2016 NBA Summer League.

On September 23, 2016, he signed with the Rockets.

Wiltjer appeared in four of the Rockets' first 25 games of the 2016–17 season, scoring a total of three points.

On December 14, 2016, he scored a season-high seven points in a 132–98 win over the Sacramento Kings.

During his rookie season, Wiltjer had multiple assignments with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets' D-League affiliate.

On June 28, 2017, the Los Angeles Clippers acquired Wiltjer, Patrick Beverley, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, Darrun Hilliard, DeAndre Liggins, Lou Williams and a 2018 Top 3 Protected first-round pick (which ended up being pick #30) from the Houston Rockets in exchange for Chris Paul.

He was later waived by the Clippers on July 15, 2017.

On August 15, 2017, Wiltjer signed with the Toronto Raptors.

On October 7 he was waived by the Raptors.

On October 21, he signed with the Toronto Raptors' NBA G League affiliate, the Raptors 905.