CHICAGO, Ill. – Former Chicago State men's basketball player Deji Akindele will be playing for the second consecutive year in the NBA Summer League presented by EA Sports in Las Vegas, Nev., from July 10-19.
The 6-foot-11, 240-pound center from Lagos, Nigeria will compete for the Portland Trail Blazers which also features 2009 team draftees Dante Cunningham, Jeff Pendergraph and Patrick Mills along with 2008 Summer League MVP Jerryd Bayless. The Blazers kick off their five-game schedule on Monday, July 13 against the Toronto Raptors at Cox Pavilion with a start time of 7 p.m. (Central).
Akindele completed his fourth professional season in 2008-09 in the Italian League's First Division (Lega Basket Serie A) as a member of Scavolini Spar Pesaro team, where he averaged 11.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. His best game of the season was on March 7 when he posted a double-double of 20 points and 16 boards in addition to a season-best six steals against Snaidero.
Last summer, Akindele competed in the NBA Summer League with the Raptors while posting averages of 7.4 points, 5.2 caroms and 1.2 blocks a game. Two of his best games came against a pair of Western Conference teams in the Sacramento Kings (13 points, seven boards) and Los Angeles Lakers (12 points, seven boards).
A two-year letterwinner at CSU, Akindele averaged 9.4 points and 6.6 rebounds and is the school's all-time leader in blocked shots with 132 swats. He led the Summit League (formerly Mid-Continent Conference) and ranked 21st in the nation with 2.5 blocks per game in 2004-05 en route to earning the league's Defensive Player of the Year award before turning pro.
Akindele tallied career highs of 28 points and 21 rebounds against Green Bay, while posting a career-best eight blocks at Southern Utah during his sophomore campaign. He also led the Summit League in blocks as a freshman in 2003-04.
~CSU~
