Wesley Matthews

This article is about the current basketball player. For his father and former player, see Wes Matthews.

Wesley Joel Matthews Jr.^[1] (born October 14, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Marquette Golden Eagles. He is the son of former NBA player Wes Matthews.^[2]

Wesley Matthews

Matthews with the Dallas Mavericks in 2017
Free agent
Position	Shooting guard / small forward
Personal information
Born	(1986-10-14) October 14, 1986 (age 38) San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight	220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school	James Madison Memorial (Madison, Wisconsin)
College	Marquette (2005–2009)
NBA draft	2009: undrafted
Playing career	2009–present
Career history
2009–2010	Utah Jazz
2010–2015	Portland Trail Blazers
2015–2019	Dallas Mavericks
2019	New York Knicks
2019	Indiana Pacers
2019–2020	Milwaukee Bucks
2020–2021	Los Angeles Lakers
2021–2023	Milwaukee Bucks
2023–2024	Atlanta Hawks
Career highlights and awards
Second-team All-Big East (2009) Wisconsin Mr. Basketball (2005)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Early life

Matthews was born in San Antonio, Texas to Wesley Sr., a former NBA point guard and two-time NBA champion with the 1987 and 1988 Los Angeles Lakers, and Pam Moore, an All-American runner and basketball player. Matthews starred on the James Madison Memorial High School basketball and soccer teams.^[2] He was named Wisconsin Mr. Basketball in 2005.^[3]

College career

Matthews chose to attend Marquette University despite being pressured to play for the University of Wisconsin–Madison like his father.

Wesley was the biggest of the "three amigos", the three guards in the starting lineup for Marquette. This trio, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Matthews, started nearly every game together from their first year onwards. With the lack of height in the 2008–09 season at Marquette, Matthews learned to play against bigger opponents. He grabbed 13 rebounds in a Marquette 48-point win over Division II opponent Lewis Flyers on December 28, 2005.^[4]

In a game against the Tennessee Volunteers on December 16, 2008, Matthews scored a career-high^[5] 30 points, making 15 of 18 free throws.^[6] On January 7, 2009, he set a school record for field goal accuracy (minimum 10 attempts) when he went 10-for-10 en route to 23 points in an 81–76 win over Rutgers.^[7]

Professional basketball career

Utah Jazz (2009–2010)

After completing four years at Marquette, Matthews entered the 2009 NBA draft, but went undrafted. He joined the Utah Jazz for the Orlando Summer League and the Sacramento Kings for the Las Vegas Summer League. In September 2009, he signed a one-year deal with the Jazz. In February 2010, after the team's trade of Ronnie Brewer, head coach Jerry Sloan made Matthews the team's starting shooting guard. The following month, on March 14, Matthews scored a then-career-high 29 points, including six made three-point shots, in a 119–111 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.^[8]

On June 29, 2010, the Jazz extended Matthews the league-specified qualifying offer, thereby making him a restricted free agent and giving the Jazz the opportunity to match any other free agent offer.^[9]

Portland Trail Blazers (2010–2015)

On July 10, 2010, the Trail Blazers signed Matthews to a five-year, $34 million offer sheet.^[10] On July 21, 2010, following the Jazz's decision not to match the Trail Blazers' offer sheet, Matthews officially signed the five-year, $34 million contract.^[11]

In his first season with Portland, Matthews averaged 15.9 points per game, and his three-point shot improved from 38 percent to 41 percent. After Brandon Roy began missing time due to knee problems, Matthews gained a spot in the Blazers' starting lineup.

The durable Matthews played in 250 consecutive NBA games before being forced to sit out of a game on December 10, 2012, due to an injury to his left hip.^[12] Matthews' ability and willingness to play through minor injuries and pain earned him the nickname "Iron Man", an appellation used by Trail Blazers fans, television and radio commentators, and arena public address announcers alike.^[13]

On November 23, 2013, in a game against the Golden State Warriors, Matthews was involved in an altercation and was ejected along with teammate, Mo Williams. He scored 23 points in 25 minutes of action before leaving the game. On November 25 it was announced that he was fined $20,000.^[14]

On January 17, 2015, Matthews became the Trail Blazers all-time career leader in three-point field goals made, surpassing Terry Porter's franchise record of 773.^[15] On March 5, 2015, in a game against the Dallas Mavericks, Matthews tore his left achilles tendon and was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season.^[16]

Dallas Mavericks (2015–2019)

On July 9, 2015, Matthews signed a four-year, $70 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks.^[17] On December 6, 2015, he scored 28 of his season-high 36 points in the second half of the Mavericks' 116–104 win over the Washington Wizards. He hit 10 three-pointers in the game, with eight of them coming in the second half.^[18]

On November 30, 2016, Matthews scored a season-high 26 points in a 94–87 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.^[19] He tied that mark three times in early December.^[20] Matthews set a new season high on February 3, 2017, scoring 27 points in a 108–104 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.^[21]

On November 18, 2017, Matthews scored a season-high 22 points in a 111–79 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.^[22] On December 8, 2017, he set a new season high with 29 points in a 109–102 loss to Milwaukee.^[23] On January 24, 2018, he matched a pair of season highs with 29 points and seven 3-pointers in a 104–97 loss to the Houston Rockets.^[24] On February 13, 2018, in a 114–109 loss to Sacramento Kings, Matthews became the seventh Dallas player to hit 500 3-pointers with the team.^[25] On April 30, 2018, Matthews exercised his player option for the 2018–19 season.^[26]

In January 2019, Matthews became the sixth player in Mavericks history to make 600 3-pointers,^[27] and the first undrafted player in NBA history (and 31st overall) to make 1,500 3-pointers.^[28]

New York Knicks (2019)

On January 31, 2019, Matthews was traded to the New York Knicks in a multiplayer trade.^[29] On February 7, Matthews was waived by the Knicks after appearing in just two games for the team.^[30]

Indiana Pacers (2019)

On February 10, 2019, Matthews signed with the Indiana Pacers.^[31] On February 22, Matthews made 6 three-pointers and finished with 24 points, to lead the Pacers in a comeback win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Milwaukee Bucks (2019–2020)

On July 12, 2019, Matthews signed with the Milwaukee Bucks.^[32]

On November 25, 2019, Matthews scored 19 points and grabbed 4 rebounds while starting in place of injured All-Star Khris Middleton in a game against the Utah Jazz.^[33] On December 22, he again scored 19 points, this time in a win against his previous team, the Pacers.^[34]

Los Angeles Lakers (2020–2021)

On November 22, 2020, Matthews signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.^[35] He appeared in 58 games for the Lakers, averaging only 4.8 points and a career-worst 33% 3-point shot percentage.^[36]

Return to Milwaukee (2021–2023)

On December 3, 2021, Matthews was signed by the Milwaukee Bucks.^[37] During Milwaukee's Christmas Day game, Matthews scored just 9 points, but gave the Bucks the lead by making a 3-point shot with 30 seconds left to help complete a 19-point come back, in a 117–113 win over the Boston Celtics.^[38][39] Matthews was inserted into the starting lineup by Mike Budenholzer towards the end of the regular season to provide a defensive presence alongside All-Defensive guard Jrue Holiday.

On July 6, 2022, Matthews re-signed with the Bucks.^[40]

Atlanta Hawks (2023–2024)

On July 22, 2023, Matthews signed with the Atlanta Hawks.^[41]

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
*	Led the league

NBA

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2009–10	Utah	82*	48	24.7	.483	.382	.829	2.3	1.5	.8	.2	9.4
2010–11	Portland	82	69	33.6	.449	.407	.844	3.1	2.0	1.2	.1	15.9
2011–12	Portland	66*	53	33.8	.412	.383	.860	3.4	1.7	1.5	.2	13.7
2012–13	Portland	69	69	34.8	.436	.398	.797	2.8	2.5	1.3	.3	14.8
2013–14	Portland	82	82*	34.0	.441	.393	.837	3.5	2.4	1.3	.3	16.4
2014–15	Portland	60	60	33.7	.448	.389	.752	3.7	2.3	1.3	.2	15.9
2015–16	Dallas	78	78	33.9	.388	.360	.863	3.1	1.9	1.0	.2	12.5
2016–17	Dallas	73	73	34.2	.393	.363	.816	3.5	2.9	1.1	.2	13.5
2017–18	Dallas	63	63	33.8	.406	.381	.822	3.1	2.7	1.2	.3	12.7
2018–19	Dallas	44	44	29.8	.414	.380	.791	2.3	2.3	.8	.3	13.1
	New York	2	1	26.9	.211	.200	.800	1.5	2.5	.5	.5	7.0
	Indiana	23	23	31.5	.386	.369	.854	2.8	2.4	.9	.2	10.9
2019–20	Milwaukee	67	67	24.4	.396	.364	.765	2.5	1.4	.6	.1	7.4
2020–21	L.A. Lakers	58	10	19.5	.353	.335	.854	1.6	.9	.7	.3	4.8
2021–22	Milwaukee	49	14	20.5	.395	.338	.786	1.9	.7	.5	.2	5.1
2022–23	Milwaukee	52	0	15.8	.363	.315	.857	2.2	.7	.4	.3	3.4
2023–24	Atlanta	36	3	11.5	.351	.348	.750	1.5	.6	.4	.3	3.1
Career		986	757	29.0	.419	.375	.823	2.8	1.9	.9	.2	11.4

Play-in

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2021	L.A. Lakers	1	0	14.5	.250	.250	—	1.0	1.0	.0	.0	3.0
2024	Atlanta	1	0	9.7	.000	.000	—	.0	1.0	.0	.0	.0
Career		2	0	12.1	.167	.167	—	.5	1.0	.0	.0	1.5

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2010	Utah	10	10	37.1	.386	.357	.813	4.4	1.7	1.8	.5	13.2
2011	Portland	6	6	33.7	.474	.381	.842	1.2	1.0	.7	.2	13.0
2014	Portland	11	11	38.7	.412	.324	.813	3.8	1.3	1.3	.5	14.5
2016	Dallas	5	5	34.6	.333	.286	.789	3.6	1.2	1.2	.0	13.0
2019	Indiana	4	4	29.8	.300	.333	1.000	2.5	2.0	.8	.3	7.0
2020	Milwaukee	10	10	24.6	.421	.395	.700	1.8	.9	.9	.4	7.2
2021	L.A. Lakers	6	1	18.3	.303	.280	1.000	1.7	.3	.3	.0	5.5
2022	Milwaukee	12	12	28.7	.391	.400	.667	3.1	1.2	.8	.3	6.2
2023	Milwaukee	2	0	20.6	.444	.571	—	1.5	.5	1.0	.5	6.0
Career		66	59	30.8	.391	.352	.808	2.9	1.2	1.0	.3	9.9

College

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2005–06	Marquette	23	13	24.9	.399	.438	.788	4.0	2.2	1.3	.2	9.0
2006–07	Marquette	34	34	31.2	.438	.288	.770	5.3	2.2	1.4	.1	12.6
2007–08	Marquette	35	35	28.9	.434	.313	.790	4.4	1.7	1.0	.3	11.3
2008–09	Marquette	35	35	34.0	.475	.368	.829	5.7	2.5	1.2	.5	18.3
Career		127	117	30.2	.444	.341	.799	4.9	2.1	1.2	.3	13.2

See also

• Sports portal

• List of National Basketball Association career 3-point scoring leaders