Bill Wennington

Bill Wennington
Personal information
Born (1963-04-26) April 26, 1963
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Listed height7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Listed weight245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High schoolLong Island Lutheran
(Brookville, New York)
CollegeSt. John's (1981–1985)
NBA draft1985: 1st round, 16th overall pick
Drafted byDallas Mavericks
Playing career1985–2000
PositionCenter
Number23, 34, 7
Career history
1985–1990Dallas Mavericks
1990–1991Sacramento Kings
1991–1993Virtus Bologna
1993–1999Chicago Bulls
1999–2000Sacramento Kings
Career highlights
Career NBA statistics
Points3,301 (4.6 ppg)
Rebounds2,148 (3.0 rpg)
Assists440 (0.6 apg)
Stats at NBA.com 
Stats at Basketball Reference 
Medals
Representing  Canada
Universiade
1983 Edmonton National team

William Percey Wennington (born April 26, 1963) is a Canadian former professional basketball player who won three National Basketball Association (NBA) championships with the Chicago Bulls. A center, he represented Canada in the 1984 Olympics and the 1983 World University Games, where the team won gold. He was on the Canadian team which narrowly missed qualifying for the 1992 Olympics. Wennington has been inducted into the Quebec Basketball Hall of Fame and the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.

Amateur career

Born in Montreal, Wennington moved to Long Island as a child. He did not play basketball until moving to the United States and claimed he "didn't touch a basketball" until he was 11 years old.[1] He attended Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School in Brookville, New York, where he played under coach Bob McKillop, and led the Crusaders to a No. 1 ranking in the northeast region and a top 10 ranking in the U.S. He was recruited to St. John's University in Queens, New York and he played on an NCAA Final Four team under coach Lou Carnesecca.

Professional career

Wennington was drafted 16th in the first round of the 1985 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He made his NBA debut on October 29, 1985.[2] On June 26, 1990, he was traded to the Sacramento Kings along with two 1990 first-round draft picks in exchange for Rodney McCray and two future second-round draft picks.[2]

Before signing as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls in 1993, he spent a few years playing for Virtus (Knorr) in Bologna, Italy. In 1998, Chicago-area McDonald's restaurants sold a sandwich named after Wennington called the Beef Wennington.[3] After the break-up of the Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s, Wennington played his final NBA season with the Sacramento Kings.[2]

Post-basketball career

After his playing career ended, Wennington became a radio color commentator for the Bulls.[4] He was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.[5] He was featured in the 2020 docuseries The Last Dance.[6]

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
 †  Won an NBA championship

NBA

Source[2]

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1985–86 Dallas 56 3 10.0 .471 .000 .726 2.4 .4 .3 .4 3.4
1986–87 Dallas 58 0 9.7 .424 .000 .750 2.2 .4 .2 .2 2.7
1987–88 Dallas 30 0 4.2 .510 .500 .632 1.3 .1 .2 .3 2.1
1988–89 Dallas 65 9 16.5 .433 .111 .744 4.4 .7 .2 .5 4.6
1989–90 Dallas 60 2 13.6 .449 .000 .800 3.3 .7 .3 .4 4.5
1990–91 Sacramento 77 23 18.9 .436 .200 .787 4.4 .9 .6 .8 5.7
1993–94 Chicago 76 0 18.0 .488 .000 .818 4.6 .9 .6 .4 7.1
1994–95 Chicago 73 1 13.1 .492 .000 .810 2.6 .5 .3 .2 5.0
1995–96† Chicago 71 20 15.0 .493 1.000 .860 2.5 .6 .3 .2 5.3
1996–97† Chicago 61 19 12.8 .498 .000 .830 2.1 .7 .2 .2 4.6
1997–98† Chicago 48 8 9.7 .436 – .810 1.7 .4 .1 .1 3.5
1998–99 Chicago 38 3 11.9 .348 1.000 .818 2.1 .5 .3 .3 3.8
1999–00 Sacramento 7 0 8.1 .316 – 1.000 2.7 .1 .3 .3 2.0
Career 720 88 13.5 .459 .139 .787 3.0 .6 .3 .3 4.6

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1986 Dallas 6 0 3.0 .333 1.000 1.000 .8 .0 .0 .0 1.2
1987 Dallas 4 0 11.8 .500 – .600 2.5 1.0 .0 .8 3.8
1988 Dallas 6 0 2.3 .000 – – .7 .2 .2 .0 .0
1990 Dallas 3 0 8.3 .200 – – 1.0 .3 .0 .3 .7
1994 Chicago 7 0 6.7 .500 – .667 1.0 .6 .0 .1 1.1
1995 Chicago 10 0 13.3 .412 – 1.000 2.8 .3 .3 .3 4.8
1996† Chicago 18 0 9.4 .520 .000 .500 1.7 .5 .2 .1 3.0
1998† Chicago 16 0 7.4 .526 – .500 .9 .2 .4 .1 2.8
Career 70 0 8.2 .459 .500 .679 1.4 .4 .2 .2 2.5

See also

References

  1. ^ Anderson, Dave (February 28, 1985). "Sports of the Times; 'I Told Patrick'". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d "Bill Wennington NBA Stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 14, 2025.
  3. ^ Elliott Harris. "Beefing up his role - Bulls' Wennington latest burger celebrity". Chicago Sun-Times. March 8, 1998. Sports, 14.
  4. ^ "2012-13 Chicago Bulls media guide" (PDF). I.cdn.turner.com. p. 418. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  5. ^ "Wennington Honored With Canadian Hall of Fame Induction". Archived from the original on October 25, 2010. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  6. ^ Mayberry, Darnell (April 18, 2020). "Q&A: Bill Wennington dishes on Michael Jordan, 'The Last Dance' documentary". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 13, 2025.
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