Christian Laettner Biography

Christian Laettner came into the NBA after one of the most successful college basketball careers in NCAA History. The first player in history to start in four consecutive NCAA Final Fours Laettner led Duke to consecutive NCAA titles in 1991 and 1992. He is the All-time NCAA Tournament career scoring leader with 407 points. Winner of the Wooden, Kodak/NABC and Naismith Awards as the National Player of the Year in 1992. He was a member of the 1992 U.S Men's Olympic Basketball Team better known as the Dream Team which won the gold medal in Barcelona. After being drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves as the third overall selction of the 1992 NBA Draft he averaged 16.5 ppg and 7.8 rpg in his first seven seasons with the Timberwolves and Atlanta Hawks.

Minnesota traded him to the Atlanta Hawks during the 1995-96 season, and Atlanta traded him to the Detroit Pistons in 1998. He played in only 16 games in 1998-99 because of an injury. He was traded from Pistons to the Mavericks prior to the 2000-01' season. After spending part of the 2000-01 season with the Dallas Mavericks, he was traded again, this time to the Washington Wizards with whom he played 76 games in the 2002-03' season. He has been an excellent NBA player, but never reached the superstardom expected of him.

A four-year starter at Duke University, the 6-foot-11, 235-pound Laettner set an NCAA Division I record for most games, (148). He played for two NCAA tournament champions, in 1991 and 1992. He averaged 16.6 points for his collegiate career and 21.5 as a senior, when he was an almost unanimous choice as college player of the year. Although a center at Duke, Laettner is not the standard post-up, back-to-the-basket player. He prefers facing the basket and shooting. In his college career, he hit 45.5 percent of his 3-point shots (79 of 163) and his 17-foot shot while double-teamed with time running out in overtime beat Kentucky 104-103 to get Duke into the Final Four in 1992. Laettner was the only non-NBA player on the U. S. "Dream Team" that easily won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics.

Some of his accomplishments are:

Minnesota Timberwolves 1st round, third overall, pick of the 1992 NBA Draft
Highest draft pick in Timberwolves history
Named to the 1992-93 NBA All-Rookie Team
Averaged 16.5 ppg and 7.8 rpg in his first seven seasons
Appeared in 32 career NBA Playoff games
Ranked 9th in the NBA in 1997-98' in free-throw percentage
Olympic Gold Medal Winner
Winner of the Naismith, Kodak/NABC and Wooden Awards as college player of the year
Member of the 1991 and 1992 back-to-back NCAA Champion Duke Blue Devils
All-time NCAA Basketball Tournament career scoring leader