Chase Budinger is an up-and-coming National Basketball Association player.
Though he is an average player with regards to height and weight, Budinger has many aspects of his life which extend far beyond the basketball court. For starters, he was born on May 22, 1988 and raised by his parents, Mara and Duncan in San Diego, California.
He loves the movie Gladiator and his favorite television show is Entourage. Growing up, he looked up to Michael Jordan, so it is no surprise that his dream would be to play professional basketball.
High School Basketball
Budinger’s basketball career began in high school at La Costa Canyon High School. He was committed to both academics and athletics, as he received a scholar athlete award. Further, he not only played in the McDonald’s 2006 High School All-America Game, but he received co-MVP honors for his spectacular performance.
During his high school career, he clinched many other honors such as the 2005-2005 San Diego County Player of the Year, the 2006 Mizuno National High School Volleyball Player of the Year and Parade Magazine First-Team All-American.
College Career
After high school, Chase Budinger decided to attend the University of Arizona where he studied sociology. During his three years at Arizona, he averaged 17 points per game, along with 5.8 rebounds.
He finished his college career 11th on Arizona’s overall scoring list. His 1,697 career points is the highest point total in three seasons at Arizona. In his rookie year, he became the fifth Wildcat to receive the honor of Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Further, he finished his freshman season 7th in scoring in the Pac-10 league.
In his sophomore season, Budinger became one of only two Arizona players to start in every game. Further, he received All-Pac-10 Third-Team honors. As a junior, he improved even more and was named to the First-Team All-Pac-10.
The NBA
In 2009, Budinger was originally going to be drafted by the Detroit Pistons, but his draft rights ended being acquired by the Houston Rockets. On August 13, 2009 he was signed by the Rockets, thus beginning his professional basketball career. During his first season with the Rockets, he posted a scoring average of 8.9 points and averaged 3 rebounds per game.
He played in a whopping 74 games and started in four of those. Due to an ankle sprain, he was on the injured list for four games. However, he still had excellent performances in most games he played in.