NEW YORK — Former Gonzaga forward Corey Kispert was taken by Washington Wizards in the NBA Draft with the 15th pick on Thursday night.
Kispert was a fan favorite with the Bulldogs for the leader became and his personality. He was a monster on the court too. After what his journey so far, this was a special moment for him.
"It was so much failure and trying again and then failure and trying again," Kispert said. "Sticking to it and making gains slowly and surely, it's been a long process, but everything is worth it. I'm ecstatic and over the moon with how it turned out."
He wants to go in and make an immediate impact with the Wizards.
"I expect to jump in and not miss a beat," Kispert said. "I want to help Washington win like they were at the end of last season."
Kispert will be reunited with former teammate Rui Hachimura in our nation's capital city.
"Rui is my guy," he said. "I played a lot of my time playing with Rui and developing a little more time with him so playing professionally with him is really, really cool."
In his senior season Kispert averaged 18.6 points and five rebounds per game while shooting a stellar 44 percent from three-point range. His percentage on the long ball ranked sixth in the nation.
Against Virginia this past December, he tied a school record of nine made threes. He scored a career high in that win.
Kispert was named to the Associated Press All-American First Team. He was also named to the Wooden All-American Team and was a Wooden Player of the Year Finalist.
He was West Coast Conference Player of the Year, All-Conference First Team, and named to the WCC All-Tournament team.
