Felipe Lopez 13

Felipe Lopez is a former National Basketball Association player, and one of the three current distinguished ambassadors for the NBA’s philanthropic effort, the NBA Cares, alongside Bob Lanier and Dikembe Mutumbo. He is also an official representative and blogger/vlogger for the Latino arm of the NBA, éne•bé•a. In May 2011, Felipe was hired by legendary University of Kentucky Coach John Calipari to serve on his coaching staff (along with Rod Strickland and former NBA Coach Del Harris) for the Dominican national basketball team as they seek to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. He is also a founder and owner of FEnom 13, LLC a limited liability company that handles all of his business ventures and branding.  He also runs his foundations, The Felipe Lopez USA Foundation, a private 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable foundation in the United States since 1999 and Ministerio de FE, a nonprofit organization operating in the Dominican Republic that provides educational, recreational, arts & culture, and sports program for underprivileged youth in the Dominican Republic. 

 

Felipe played high school basketball at famed Rice High School in New York City, where he followed New York high school players Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Kenny Anderson in becoming one of the most highly touted recruits in U.S. high school history.  As a 6'5" guard Felipe made many All-American lists in 1994, earning Player of the Year honors from Gatorade, USA Today, Parade, and many others. He was selected as New York State Mr. Basketball and also named a McDonald’s All-American and took MVP honors at the 1994 McDonald's All-American Game, scoring 24 points amongst a group that included future collegiate standouts and NBA pros including Antoine Walker, Raef LaFrentz and Trajan Langdon.

 

Following high school, Felipe selected to play for St. John’s University, where he completed four years and finished strong as a senior, averaging 17.6 ppg and garnering All-Big East First Team honors. He finished his career with 1,927 points, placing him third all-time in St. John's history behind former St. John’s greats Chris Mullin and Malik Sealy and sixth in Big East history with 1,222 conference points, while also ranking seventh all time in steals, 14th in assists, and 20th in rebounds. He also holds the St. John's record for most three-pointers made in a single season (60) and in a career (148).

 

Felipe went on to play for six seasons in the NBA. He was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 24th pick in the 1998 NBA Draft and was immediately traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies. Following two years of play there, Felipe also played for the Washington Wizards and Minnesota Timberwolves. He holds career NBA averages of 5.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and one assist per game.