Know Your Team: Olumuyiwa Famutimi
Cape Breton Highlanders
6'5
Guard
From Toronto, Ontario
Always dependable for teams and always exciting for fans, Olumuyia "Olu" Famutimi has been a big proponent of Canadian basketball throughout his career.
Famutimi was rated by ESPN as the seventh best player in the USA while playing for Flint Northwestern in Michigan, which saw him appear alongside many future stars including LeBron James at the 2003 All-American Game. From here he was recruited to play two seasons for the NCAA Division 1 team the Arkansas Razorbacks, where he averaged 8.2 points and was named to the 2004 Southeastern Conference Freshman team.
Turning professional in 2005, Famutimi appeared in the NBA Summer League for the Philadelphia 76ers and played four pre-season games, but was ultimately cut from the roster. It would be the first of his four NBA Summer leagues, later representing Seattle in 2007 and New York at the 2006 and 2010 editions.
Famutimi began his professional career proper with the Arkansas RimRockers in the American Basketball Association, averaging 6.8 points per game on 51% field shooting in two seasons. He then went on to play for Khimik in Ukraine, Oyak in Turkey and for French club Paris Levallois.
In this time, Famutimi was part of the Canadian national team for the 2007 and 2009 FIBA Americas Championships, reaching the semi-finals of the latter, and the 2010 World Championship, which would be his last appearance. He scored 7.7 points and grabbed 2.9 rebounds per game throughout his international career.
In 2010, he joined the Dusseldorf Giants in the German Bundesliga, where he started in all 13 games and averaged 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in each. He then played his second season in Turkey, this time for Ankara Kolejliler, recording 10.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.
After brief stints in Bahrain with Al-Manama and Slovakia with Inter Bratislava, Famutimi signed with the Halifax Rainmen in 2013. Appearing in 35 games, twenty of which he started, he averaged 13.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Staying in Canada the following season he joined the Island Storm, but saw his role reduced on his new team. He made the move to the Saint John Mill Rats the following season, where his scoring improved to 8.2 points per game.
Famutimi started the 2017 season with Quilmes in Argentina, but left after ten games and returned to Saint John to join the re-vamped team now known as the Riptide. He finished the season on 10.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He then appeared for Al Kahraba in the Iraqi Basketball League.
The 2018-19 season saw him join his fourth NBL Canada team in the Cape Breton Highlanders, who are already benefitting from his presence and the wealth of his basketball experience, playing his part in helping lift the Highlanders to be one of the best teams in the Atlantic Division.
Picture: Rod Stears
