| Christian Koloko | |
| Position: | Center |
| Height Ft: | 7 |
| Height In: | 0 |
| Weight Lb: | 230 |
| Team: | Free agent |
| Birth Date: | 20 June 2000 |
| Birth Place: | Douala, Cameroon |
| High School: | |
| College: | Arizona (2019–2022) |
| Draft Year: | 2022 |
| Draft Round: | 2 |
| Draft Pick: | 33 |
| Draft Team: | Toronto Raptors |
| Career Start: | 2022 |
| Years1: | – |
| Team1: | Toronto Raptors |
| Years2: | 2023 |
| Team2: | →Raptors 905 |
| Highlights: |
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Christian Junior Koloko (born 20 June 2000) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player who last played for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. He was named first-team All-Pac-12 and was voted the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year after his junior season.
Koloko is a native of Douala, Cameroon and attended Collège Libermann in his hometown.[1] He grew up playing football and started playing basketball at age 12.[2] In 2017, Koloko moved to the United States to play basketball for Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa, California as a junior, despite not speaking English at first.[3] For his senior season, he transferred to Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, California, where he was teammates with Cassius Stanley, Kenyon Martin Jr. and Scotty Pippen Jr.[4] Koloko helped his team claim its second straight Open Division state title.[2] A four-star recruit, he committed to playing college basketball for Arizona over offers from California, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Harvard and Princeton.[5]
As a freshman at Arizona, Koloko averaged 2.3 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.[6] In his sophomore season, he averaged 5.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.[7] On 21 November 2021, Koloko posted a career-high 22 points, seven rebounds and four blocks in an 80–62 win over fourth-ranked Michigan at the Roman Main Event title game, earning tournament MVP honors.[8] As a junior, he was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Pac-12 Most Improved Player, and first-team All-Pac-12.[9]
On 18 April 2022, Koloko declared for the 2022 NBA draft, forgoing his remaining college eligibility.[10] [11]
Koloko was selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors.[12] On 26 August 2022, Koloko signed a rookie-scale contract with the Raptors.[13] On 17 January 2024, Koloko was waived by the Raptors.[14] A day later, he was put into NBA's Fitness-to-Play panel due to discovering career-threatening blood clot issues, meaning no teams can claim waiver to sign him until he is medically cleared to play.[15]
|-| style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Toronto| 58 || 19 || 13.8 || .480 || .083 || .627 || 2.9 || .5 || .4 || 1.0 || 3.1|- class="sortbottom"| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career| 58 || 19 || 13.8 || .480 || .083 || .627 || 2.9 || .5 || .4 || 1.0 || 3.1
|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2019–20| style="text-align:left;"| Arizona| 28 || 0 || 8.3 || .483 || .000 || .350 || 2.4 || .2 || .3 || .9 || 2.3|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2020–21| style="text-align:left;"| Arizona| 26 || 19 || 17.3 || .520 || .000 || .625 || 4.8 || .3 || .5 || 1.3 || 5.3|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2021–22| style="text-align:left;"| Arizona| 37 || 37 || 25.4 || .635 || .000 || .735 || 7.3 || 1.4 || .8 || 2.8 || 12.6|- class="sortbottom"| style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career| 91 || 56 || 17.9 || .590 || .000 || .670 || 5.1 || .7 || .5 || 1.8 || 7.3