Tariq Abdul-Wahad

Tariq Abdul-Wahad

No. 9
Shooting guard/small forward
Personal information
Date of birth	November 3, 1974 (1974-11-03) (age 37)
Place of birth	Maisons-Alfort, Val-de-Marne, France
Nationality	French
High school	Lycee Aristide Briand
Listed height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Listed weight	223 lb (101 kg)
Career information
College	San Jose State
NBA Draft	1997 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11th overall
Selected by the Sacramento Kings
Pro career	1997–2003
Career history
Sacramento Kings (1997–1999) Orlando Magic (1999–2000) Denver Nuggets (2000–2002) Dallas Mavericks (2002–2003)
Career highlights and awards
No notable achievements
Career statistics
Points	1,830
Rebounds	776
Assists	266
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Tariq Abdul-Wahad (born Olivier Michael Saint-Jean; November 3, 1974) is a French former professional basketball player.

Saint-Jean was born near Paris from parents who were natives of French Guiana. He changed his name to Tariq Abdul-Wahad after converting to Islam in 1997. He is the first player to be born and raised in France and play in the NBA. Tariq first played college basketball at the University of Michigan, but later transferred to San Jose State, and was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 1997. He was known as a defensive specialist, but his playing time was restricted in later seasons due to injuries. He only played in 236 out of a possible 788 games. In the whole 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons Abdul-Wahad was on the Dallas Mavericks' roster on injured reserve, as he was permanently unable to play. He was released by Mavericks on 28 September 2005, during training camp prior to the 2005–06 season. In November 2006 Italian team Climamio Bologna invited Abdul-Wahad to a try out, but he was not signed.^[1]

His No. 3 jersey was retired by San Jose State in 2002, however the banner hanging in the Event Center Arena refers to him as Olivier Saint-Jean, the name he used while in college.

Abdul-Wahad's peak year as a pro was with the Sacramento Kings in the lockout-shortened 1999 NBA season, when he was a starter for the team. They pushed the Utah Jazz to the brink of elimination but lost in the fifth and final game of the series.

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
1997–98	Sacramento	59	16	16.3	.403	.211	.672	2.0	.9	.6	.2	6.4
1998–99	Sacramento	49	49	24.6	.435	.286	.691	3.8	1.0	1.0	.3	9.3
1999–00	Orlando	46	46	26.2	.433	.095	.762	5.2	1.6	1.2	.3	12.2
1999–00	Denver	15	10	24.9	.389	.500	.738	3.5	1.7	.4	.8	8.9
2000–01	Denver	29	12	14.5	.387	.400	.583	2.0	.8	.5	.4	3.8
2001–02	Denver	20	12	20.9	.379	.500	.750	3.9	1.1	.9	.5	6.8
2001–02	Dallas	4	0	6.0	.000	–	.000	1.5	.5	.5	.3	.0
2002–03	Dallas	14	0	14.6	.466	.000	.500	2.9	1.5	.4	.2	4.1
Career		236	145	20.4	.417	.237	.703	3.3	1.1	.8	.4	7.8

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1998–99	Sacramento	5	5	19.8	.455	.000	.813	3.8	.8	.8	.8	8.6
2003–03	Dallas	8	0	9.9	.300	.000	.875	2.8	.9	.0	.0	3.1
Career		13	5	13.7	.381	.000	.833	3.2	.8	.3	.3	5.2

Post-NBA

Assistant coach, Cal State Monterey Bay women

On July 21, 2011, the Division II Cal State Monterey Bay Otters women's basketball team announced the hiring of Abdul-Wahad as an assistant coach.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Tariq Abdul-Wahad leaves Bologna
2. ^ Tariq Abdul–Wahad Joins Women's Basketball Staff

External links

• NBA bio
• Complete stats @ basketball-reference.com

Persondata
Name	Abdul-Wahad, Tariq
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1974-11-03
Place of birth	Maisons-Alfort, Val-de-Marne, France
Date of death
Place of death