Sidney Wicks

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American basketball player

title: "Sidney Wicks" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1949-births", "living-people", "20th-century-african-american-sportsmen", "alexander-hamilton-high-school-(los-angeles)-alumni", "all-american-college-men's-basketball-players", "american-expatriate-basketball-people-in-italy", "american-men's-basketball-players", "basketball-coaches-from-california", "basketball-players-from-los-angeles", "boston-celtics-players", "centers-(basketball)", "dallas-chaparrals-draft-picks", "nba-all-stars", "national-collegiate-basketball-hall-of-fame-inductees", "portland-trail-blazers-draft-picks", "portland-trail-blazers-players", "power-forwards", "reyer-venezia-players", "san-diego-clippers-players", "santa-monica-corsairs-men's-basketball-players", "texas-chaparrals-draft-picks", "ucla-bruins-men's-basketball-coaches", "ucla-bruins-men's-basketball-players", "20th-century-american-sportsmen"] description: "American basketball player" topic_path: "science/astronomy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Wicks" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American basketball player ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox basketball biography"]

FieldValue
nameSidney Wicks
imageSidney Wicks – Trail Blazers (1).jpg
captionWicks with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1972
birth_date
birth_placeContra Costa County, California, U.S.
height_ft6
height_in8
weight_lb225
high_schoolAlexander Hamilton
(Los Angeles, California)
draft_year1971
draft_round1
draft_pick2
draft_teamPortland Trail Blazers
career_start1971
career_end1982
career_positionPower forward
career_number21, 12
years1–
team1Portland Trail Blazers
years2–
team2Boston Celtics
years3–
team3San Diego Clippers
years41981–1982
team4Reyer Venezia Mestre
stats_leagueNBA
stat1labelPoints
stat1value12,803 (16.8 ppg)
stat2labelRebounds
stat2value6,620 (8.7 rpg)
stat3labelAssists
stat3value2,437 (3.2 apg)
CBBASKHOF_year2010
::

| name = Sidney Wicks | image = Sidney Wicks – Trail Blazers (1).jpg | width = | caption = Wicks with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1972 | birth_date = | birth_place = Contra Costa County, California, U.S. | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 8 | weight_lb = 225 | high_school = Alexander Hamilton (Los Angeles, California) | college =

Early life

Wicks was born on September 19, 1949, in Contra Costa County, California. He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. Because of non-qualifying grades in high school, Wicks attended Santa Monica College for a year before he could attend his preferred university, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Wicks later received Academic All-America honors at UCLA in 1971. He earned a degree in sociology from the school.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Sidney_Wicks_1971.jpg" caption="UCLA Bruins]] in 1971"] ::

A 6'8" power forward/center, Wicks was a phenom at UCLA, playing on three straight NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championships from 1969 to 1971. He was the Bruins' star player on the latter two championship teams. Wicks was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in 1970, the Helms National Co-Player of the Year (1970), and the USBWA and Sporting News Player of the Year (1971), and was a consensus All-American in 1970 and 1971. On February 1, 1996, his jersey #35 was retired in a halftime ceremony at UCLA's home court, Pauley Pavilion. Wicks was a 1985 inductee into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was selected to the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Professional career

The Portland Trail Blazers selected Wicks with the second pick of the 1971 NBA draft after paying the Cleveland Cavaliers $250,000 not to select him. The Dallas Chaparrals chose him in the 1971 ABA draft. After averaging 24.5 points and 11.5 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, Wicks was named NBA Rookie of the Year. He also played in the NBA All-Star Game.

Wicks played for the Trail Blazers from 1971 to 1976, earning a total of four All-Star selections (1972–1975). He held the Blazers' franchise record for rebounds in a game with 27 until being surpassed by Enes Kanter Freedom. Wicks averaged 22.3 points and 10.3 rebounds a game in his five years with the team.

In October 1976, the rights to Wicks were sold to the Boston Celtics; Portland went on to win an NBA championship the next season. Wicks played for the Celtics from 1976 to 1978. Wicks then went to the San Diego Clippers and played there until 1981. Overall, Wicks averaged 16.8 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game over ten seasons and 760 games in the NBA. His scoring average dropped every year after his rookie season. Following his NBA career, Wicks played one season in Italy.

Post-NBA career

Following his playing career, Wicks lived for a year in Italy before returning to the United States. He served as an assistant coach at UCLA during Walt Hazzard's four years as head coach. Following coaching, he entered the real estate field, living in Atlanta, Florida, and Los Angeles.

Personal life

Wicks was married from 1973 to 1979. He has one daughter, Sibahn Epps.

At 9 a.m. on May 5, 1989, in Mira Mesa, San Diego, California, Wicks was seriously injured in a car accident. A loaded cement truck failed to stop at a red light and struck the driver's side of Wicks's vehicle. Wicks had his ruptured spleen removed at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California. He also had facial lacerations and minor head injuries. A passenger in Wicks' car suffered a mild concussion and facial injuries. The cement truck driver was not injured.

As of 2006, Wicks lived in North Carolina and Los Angeles.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Portland | 82 || || 39.6 || .427 || || .710 || 11.5 || 4.3 || — || — || 24.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Portland | 80 || || 39.4 || .452 || || .723 || 10.9 || 5.5 || || || 23.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Portland | 75 || || 38.0 || .459 || || .762 || 9.1 || 4.3 || 1.2 || .8 || 22.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Portland | 82 || || 38.6 || .497 || || .706 || 10.7 || 3.5 || 1.3 || 1.0 || 21.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Portland | 79 || || 38.5 || .483 || || .674 || 9.0 || 3.1 || 1.0 || .7 || 19.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | 82 || || 32.2 || .458 || || .668 || 10.0 || 2.1 || .8 || .7 || 15.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | 81 || || 29.8 || .467 || || .660 || 8.3 || 2.1 || .8 || .6 || 13.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|San Diego | 79 || || 25.6 || .462 || || .650 || 5.1 || 1.6 || .9 || .5 || 9.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|San Diego | 71 || || 30.2 || .423 || .000 || .546 || 5.8 || 3.0 || 1.1 || .7 || 7.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|San Diego | 49 || || 22.1 || .437 || .000 || .507 || 4.6 || 2.3 || .8 || .8 || 6.7 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 760 || || 33.9 || .459 || .000 || .685 || 8.7 || 3.2 || 1.0 || .7 || 16.8 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|All-Star | 4 || 1 || 20.3 || .450 || || .722 || 8.3 || 1.0 || || || 12.3

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"|1977 | style="text-align:left;"|Boston | 9 || || 29.0 || .519 || || .732 || 9.2 || 1.8 || 1.4 || .3 || 13.1 |- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career | 9 || || 29.0 || .519 || || .732 || 9.2 || 1.8 || 1.4 || .3 || 13.1

References

References

  1. "Sidney Wicks was born on September 19, 1949 in Contra Costa County, California". [[California Birth Index]].
  2. "UCLA All -Time Academic All-Americans - UCLA Athletics - UCLA Official Athletic Site".
  3. "Sidney Wicks". [[College Basketball Experience.
  4. (May 15, 2021). "NBA: The 25 worst players to ever win Rookie of the Year".
  5. "Sidney Wicks 1972 All-Star Game Stats".
  6. Quick, Jason. (March 20, 2010). "Trail Blazers Top 40: No. 14 Sidney Wicks".
  7. "Sidney Wicks: All-Star Game Log".
  8. Eggers, Kerry. (March 25, 2008). "Star on home court". The Portland Tribune.
  9. Eggers, Kerry. (February 17, 2006). "Wicks keeps NBA life in past". The Portland Tribune.
  10. "Sidney Wicks Stats".
  11. JERRY CROWE, [https://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-crowe3-2009mar03,0,5727955.column?page=1 "In time of great change, Sidney Wicks helped UCLA stay the same"], ''Los Angeles Times'', March 2, 2009
  12. (May 6, 1989). "Archives".
  13. LePage, Andrew. (May 6, 1989). "Wicks Is Seriously Injured When Truck Hits His Car". [[Los Angeles Times]].
  14. Smith, Sam. (May 6, 1989). "NBA Notes". [[Chicago Tribune]].

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