BIOGRAPHY
Kendrick Melvin Nunn was born on August 3, 1995, in Chicago, Illinois. He is a guard in the NBA.
As a freshman, Nunn received his first scholarship offer from the late Rick Majerus while he was the head coach at Saint Louis University. In talking about schools he was considering, Nunn listed Illinois, Marquette, Memphis, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, and UCLA.
During his senior season, Simeon Career Academy celebrated its senior night by retiring Nunn's No. 20 and teammate Jabari Parker's No. 22. Nunn and Parker joined Derrick Rose, Bobby Simmons and Benji Wilson as the only other Wolverine basketball players to have their jersey number retired. Over the course of his high school career, Nunn won four IHSA state titles with Simeon.
Initially, Nunn had verbally committed to Texas A&M before the start of his junior year in August 2011. About two months later, Nunn had announced his de-commitment from Texas A&M to re-open his recruiting process.
In March 2011, Nunn was among the 24 players who earned an invitation to the June 10–18, 2011 tryouts for FIBA U16 competition at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Nunn was one of four Chicago products to emerge from the 27-man tryouts as part of the 12-man team. He won a gold medal in the 2011 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship, with Team USA in Cancun, Mexico. This qualified the United States for the 2012 FIBA U17 World Championship. The team, which was coached by Don Showalter of Mid-Prairie High School, scored over 100 points in each outing.
Nunn was selected for the USA team that competed in the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Kaunas, Lithuania from June 29 – July 8, 2012 along with Simeon teammate Parker and Whitney Young rival Jahlil Okafor. Again, Nunn won a gold medal with Team USA.
Nunn's father, Melvin, explained that Kendrick felt he committed too quickly in the process and wants to further explore all of his options. After his official visit to Illinois, Nunn verbally committed to the program and coach John Groce on September 15, 2012.
He made his first start for the Fighting Illini on February 9, 2014, against Penn State, scoring 19 points and helping the team end an eight-game losing streak. Nunn tied his career high of 19 points starting against Minnesota in Minneapolis on February 19, and he was awarded Big Ten Freshman of the Week on February 24, 2014, for his efforts in helping the Illini to a win. Following wins over Nebraska and Michigan State, in which Nunn averaged 10.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists, Nunn repeated as Big Ten Freshman of the Week on March 3. Following the regular season Nunn was named to the 2013–14 Big Ten All-freshman team by the coaches.
Nunn was dismissed from the Illinois basketball team on May 24, 2016, after he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge. Almost a month later, he transferred to Oakland University. Nunn had to sit out for the 2016–17 season per NCAA transfer rules. Nunn earned Horizon League Player of the Week for the 2017–18 Oakland Golden Grizzlies three times: November 13, December 18 and January 22.
As a senior, Nunn led NCAA Division I with 4.47 Three-point shots made per game, and he finished second in scoring to Trae Young with a 25.9 point per game average. On February 28, 2018, Nunn was chosen as the Horizon League Player of the Year.
After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft, Nunn signed a partially guaranteed deal with the Golden State Warriors. The contract guarantees him a spot on the Warriors NBA Summer League roster and an invitation to their fall camp, plus some guaranteed money. The Warriors released him on October 12. He was then added to the roster of the Warriors’ NBA G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors. In his November 4 professional debut in the NBA G League, Nunn recorded 15 points in a 118-108 win against the Northern Arizona Suns. On November 10, he posted 32 points off the bench against the Iowa Energy.
On April 10, 2019, the Miami Heat announced that they had signed Nunn. After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 2020.
On August 6, 2021, Nunn signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
