Brady Manek

Brady Reece Manek (born September 4, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Brady Manek
Manek with the Perth Wildcats in 2022
No. 45 – Žalgiris Kaunas
PositionPower forward
LeagueLithuanian Basketball League
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1998-09-04) September 4, 1998
Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight231 lb (105 kg)
Career information
High schoolHarrah (Harrah, Oklahoma)
College
NBA draft2022: undrafted
Playing career2022–present
Career history
2022–2023Perth Wildcats
2023Tofaş
2023–presentŽalgiris Kaunas
Career highlights and awards

Early life and high school career

Manek was born and raised in Edmond, Oklahoma and started playing basketball from a young age against older competition.[1] He often played against future college teammate Trae Young while attending elementary school.[2] His family moved to Harrah, Oklahoma, where he began playing varsity basketball for Harrah High School in his freshman season.[1] Between his freshman and sophomore years, Manek greatly improved his dunking ability.[3] He was named Little All-City Player of the Year by The Oklahoman in each of his final two seasons.[4] As a senior, Manek averaged 24.3 points and 11.6 rebounds, leading Harrah to the state quarterfinals.[5] Rated either a three-star and four-star recruit by several services, he committed to play college basketball for Oklahoma after his sophomore season of high school.[1]

College career

Oklahoma
Manek with Oklahoma in 2018

As a freshman at Oklahoma, Manek averaged 10.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in 32 appearances. He and Trae Young were the highest scoring freshman duo in the NCAA Division I.[2] Manek recorded 59 three-pointers, the fourth-most by a freshman in school history. In his sophomore season, he made national headlines for his resemblance to Larry Bird.[6][7] He averaged 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore and was an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection.[8] On January 18, 2020, Manek scored a career-high 31 points and seven three-pointers, while reaching 1,000 career points, in an 83–63 win over TCU.[9] Manek scored 30 points on February 1, in an 82–69 victory over Oklahoma State.[10] As a junior, he averaged 14.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, earning Third Team All-Big 12 honors.[11] In his senior season, Manek averaged 10.8 points and five rebounds per game. Following the season, he transferred to North Carolina.[12]

North Carolina
Manek with North Carolina in 2021

After four years at Oklahoma, Manek transferred to North Carolina as a graduate student. He took advantage of the extra year of NCAA eligibility granted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to play in Chapel Hill. After being used primarily as the sixth man for the first part of the season, Manek was inserted to the starting lineup following an injury to Dawson Garcia. Manek's elevation to the starting five coincided with a turnaround in the Tar Heels' fortunes, as the team was able to play their way to a tie for second place in the ACC regular season standings and the third seed in the conference's tournament. He scored 20 points in the Tar Heels' 94–81 victory in the regular-season finale against Duke. Following the regular season, Manek was named Honorable Mention All-ACC.[13] In the first round of the NCAA tournament against Marquette, Manek scored a season-high 28 points, three shy of his career high.[14] He scored 26 points in just 28 minutes of action against Baylor in the second round of the tournament. Manek was ejected from the game following a flagrant 2 foul on Baylor's Jeremy Sochan. At the time, the Tar Heels held a 25-point lead. Following the ejection, Baylor was able to come back and force overtime, but the Tar Heels held on and advanced to the Sweet 16, 93–86.

On April 1, 2022, Manek was named as the recipient of the Riley Wallace Player of the Year Award, given to the top transfer player in college basketball.[15]

Professional career

Perth Wildcats (2022–2023)

After going undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft, Manek joined the Charlotte Hornets for the 2022 NBA Summer League.[16] On August 1, 2022, he signed with the Perth Wildcats in Australia for the 2022–23 NBL season.[17]

Tofaş (2023)

On February 24, 2023, Manek signed with Tofaş of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL).[18]

Žalgiris (2023–present)

On July 21, 2023, Manek signed a two-year (1+1) deal with Žalgiris Kaunas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL) and the EuroLeague.[19]

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

College
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2017–18 Oklahoma 322623.7.466.383.6005.2.5.3.710.2
2018–19 Oklahoma 343427.8.469.358.7645.9.8.7.712.2
2019–20 Oklahoma 313130.5.453.380.7796.2.9.51.214.4
2020–21 Oklahoma 252025.1.422.375.7675.0.8.5.810.8
2021–22 North Carolina 392730.4.493.403.6976.11.8.6.715.1
Career 16113827.7.465.382.7335.71.0.5.812.7

Personal life

Manek's older brother, Kellen, was his basketball teammate at Harrah High School for three years and played for Oral Roberts and Southeastern Oklahoma State.[20]

References
  1. Engelbrecht, Chandler (February 10, 2020). "Brady Manek's family, high school coach reflect on his journey from Harrah to Norman". The Oklahoma Daily. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. Rohde, John (January 26, 2018). "Brady Manek: The Sooners' other prize freshman". Rohde on Sports. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  3. Stavenhagen, Cody (November 7, 2017). "Harrah's Brady Manek is another OU freshman earning a big role". Tulsa World. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  4. Wright, Scott (April 15, 2017). "Little All-City Boys Basketball Player of the Year: Harrah's Brady Manek pushing himself as college nears". The Oklahoman. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  5. Coldagelli, Ben (July 30, 2017). "Introducing: Brady Manek". University of Oklahoma. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  6. Carroll, Charlotte (October 3, 2018). "Seeing Double? Larry Bird Has an Identical Twin in Oklahoma's Brady Manek". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  7. Hunsinger Benbow, Dana (October 2, 2018). "Larry Bird has an identical twin (Brady Manek) playing college basketball at Oklahoma". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  8. Coldagelli, Ben (October 17, 2019). "Manek Named to Malone Award Watch List". University of Oklahoma. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  9. Bitterman, Abby (January 18, 2020). "Brady Manek joins Sooners' 1,000-point club in 83-63 win against TCU". The Oklahoman. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  10. "Manek scores 30, leads Oklahoma past Oklahoma State 82–69". ESPN. Associated Press. February 1, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  11. Parker, Derek (March 8, 2020). "Austin Reaves, Brady Manek named to All-Big 12 teams". Sooners Wire. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  12. Kosko, Nick (April 16, 2021). "Brady Manek announces transfer to North Carolina". 247Sports. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  13. "ACC Unveils 2021-22 Men's Basketball Awards" (Press release). Atlantic Coast Conference. March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  14. "Brady Manek". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  15. "North Carolina's Brady Manek is the recipient of the 2022 Riley Wallace award, presented annually to the top impact transfer". CollegeInsider.com. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  16. "Charlotte Hornets 2022 NBA2K23 Summer League Roster". NBA.com. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
  17. "Perth Wildcats sign Brady Manek as third import". Wildcats.com.au. August 1, 2022. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  18. "BRADY MANEK TOFAŞ'TA". tofasspor.com (in Turkish). February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
  19. "Zalgiris complete roster with Brady Manek". basketnews.com. July 21, 2023. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
  20. McCoury, Caleb (October 29, 2019). "Brady Manek plays older brother Kellen Manek in front of family, hometown crowd". The Oklahoma Daily. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
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