Arsalan Kazemi Naeini (Persian:ارسلان کاظمی نائینی; born 22 April 1990) is anIranian professionalbasketball player forShahrdari Gorgan of theIranian Basketball Super League. He playedcollege basketball for theOregon Ducks and theRice Owls basketball teams. He was the 54th overall pick in the2013 NBA draft by theWashington Wizards, becoming the first Iranian to be drafted into the league. His rights were later traded to thePhiladelphia 76ers.

Arsalan Kazemi

No. 14 – Shahrdari Gorgan
Position	Power forward
League	Iranian Basketball Super League Basketball Champions League Asia FIBA West Asia Super League
Personal information
Born	(1990-04-22)22 April 1990 (age 34) Isfahan, Iran
Nationality	Iranian
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	226 lb (103 kg)
Career information
High school	The Patterson School (Lenoir, North Carolina)
College	Rice (2009–2012) Oregon (2012–2013)
NBA draft	2013: 2nd round, 54th overall pick
Drafted by	Washington Wizards
Playing career	2013–present
Career history
2007–2008	Zob Ahan Isfahan
2013–2014	Petrochimi Bandar Imam
2014–2015	Chongqing Soaring Dragons
2015–2016	Samen Mash'had
2016–2017	Niroo Zamini (Army)
2017–2019	Petrochimi Bandar Imam
2019–2020	Mahram Tehran
2020–2021	Chemidor Qom
2021–2023	Zob Ahan Isfahan BC
2023–present	Shahrdari Gorgan
Career highlights and awards
Iranian League champion (2014) Pac-12 All-Defensive Team (2013) 2× Second-team All-C-USA (2011, 2012) FIBA World Cup Steals Leader (2010)
Stats atBasketball Reference
Medals Men'sbasketball Representing Iran FIBA Asia Cup 2017 Beirut FIBA Asia Challenge 2014 Wuhan 2016 Tehran Asian Games 2018 Asian Games

He was the captain of theIranian under-18 national basketball team and has previously played forZob Ahan Isfahan in theIranian Basketball Super League at the age of 17 before travelling to theUnited States in February 2008.^[1]

Kazemi received scholarship offers fromMaryland,Seton Hall,Oklahoma State,Missouri,Nebraska andRice. On 1 November 2008, Kazemi committed to play forRice University. He became the first Iranian national to play Division I basketball. He was a member of McMurtry College at Rice University.^[2][3][4]

Kazemi averaged 10.3 ppg and 9.1 rpg in his first season at Rice.^[5] Kazemi was named in theConference USA (C-USA) All-Freshman Team alongside HS teammate and current NBA playerHassan Whiteside.^[6]

As a sophomore Kazemi was picked by the league's coaches to the pre-season all C-USA 2nd team. Kazemi got off to a fast start averaging 17.5 points and 11.14 rebounds in the first 14 games of the season, before conference play started. He recorded nine total double double's in the first 14 games, which included a 26-point and 14-rebound game against Miami in the ACC^[7] and a 19-point and 17-rebound game against LSU in the SEC.^[8] In the weeks of 27 December 2010 and 3 January 2011 Kazemi was named C-USA player of the week becoming the first and only player to receive the honor two weeks in a row for the 2010–2011 season.^[9] Kazemi didn't miss a beat when entering conference play putting up a career high 28 points in the team's first conference game of the season against Tulane University on 5 January 2011.^[10] Kazemi would get another career high against Tulane, this time grabbing 19 rebounds on 2 February 2011.^[11] Kazemi finished conference play with 8 more double doubles. Some notable games included a 28-point 13-rebound game against Tulane, a 17-point 13-rebound game against University of Houston, a 21-point 16-rebound game against SMU, and a 24-point 18-rebound game against SMU again. Kazemi finished up C-USA play with 9 double doubles (including the conference tournament) and a conference average of 13.6 points and 10.9 rebounds. This brought his season total of double doubles to 18, which placed him in the top ten among all of active Div I players.^[12] His play in Conference USA earned him a spot on the All Conference 2nd team just as predicted in the pre-season.^[12] Kazemi averaged 15.2 points and 11 rebounds, having a total of 487 points, 120 offensive rebounds, 231 defensive rebounds making a grand total of 351 rebounds on the year.^{[citation needed]}

The all-conference team was not Kazemi's only honor in the 2010–2011 season. To go along with his 2 time player of the week and all conference team, Kazemi was named to the allNational Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) all-district second team for district 11 along with Aaron Johnson from UAB and Will Barton from Memphis.^[13] Later Kazemi was named to the NCAA all-international first team that includedTristan Thompson fromTexas andNikola Vučević fromUSC.^[14] Kazemi made one more all-district team, this one being theUnited States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District VII team. The team also featured 2010 C-USA player of the yearRandy Culpepper fromUTEP, the Big 12's all-time leading scorerLaceDarius Dunn fromBaylor, andJordan Hamilton from Texas.^[15] Kazemi would be honored one more time by the USBWA. They gave him the 2010-2011 Most Courageous Award. Kazemi became the third recipient of the award.Dave Rose, the coach ofBYU, and Kelvin Davis ofSan Diego State were the other two winners in years past.^[16]

After his junior year, Kazemi transferred to theUniversity of Oregon.^[17] He was granted a hardship waiver by the NCAA over Rice's objections, meaning that he could play immediately, without needing to sit out a year. Kazemi was granted a hardship waiver by the NCAA in light of alleged discrimination that he experienced while a member of the basketball team at Rice. According to Kazemi's application for a hardship waiver, Rice Athletic Director Rick Greenspan allegedly made derogatory remarks to Kazemi, his teammates, and an assistant coach, Marco Morcos. One of Kazemi's teammates, Omar Oraby, was granted a hardship waiver as well and was able to play for theUniversity of Southern California immediately. Subsequently, Morcos was fired and has since filed a complaint with theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the existence of a hostile work environment at Rice, although Morcos has failed to produce any evidence of such treatment. Kazemi would not comment on the hardship waiver and Rice has categorically denied the allegations.^[18] The hardship waiver claims made by Kazemi and Oraby were not investigated by the NCAA, which granted the waivers over Rice's objections.^{[citation needed]}

Kazemi had a successful senior season with Oregon, and averaged nearly a double-double in points and rebounds.^[19] He led the Ducks to the Sweet Sixteen of theNCAA men's basketball championships, in those 3 games he averaged 15 rebounds, 10 points, and 2.3 assists a game. The Ducks were knocked out by the eventual winners, the Louisville Cardinals.^{[citation needed]}

Kazemi was drafted by theWashington Wizards with the 54th pick in the2013 NBA draft. His rights were later traded to thePhiladelphia 76ers on draft night. Kazemi became the first Iranian-born player to be drafted by an NBA team.^[20] He joined the 76ers for the2013 NBA Summer League where he averaged 4.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in five games. Despite showing potential during the summer league, Sixers General ManagerSam Hinkie said "He would get a chance to work on his game somewhere else for a year, then [we] would have the opportunity to reassess where he is later."^[21]

Kazemi returned to Iran for the 2013–14 season and signed withPetrochimi Bandar Imam.^[22]

In July 2014, Kazemi re-joined the 76ers for the2014 NBA Summer League. In September 2014, he signed with theChongqing Soaring Dragons of theChinese Basketball Association.^[23] He appeared in 27 games for Chongqing and averaged 15.0 points and 13.7 rebounds per game.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2015, Kazemi again re-joined the 76ers for the2015 NBA Summer League, where he led the game against theBoston Celtics in rebounds.^[24][25] On 29 September 2015, he signed a training camp deal with theAtlanta Hawks after the 76ers renounced his draft rights.^[26] He was waived by the Hawks on 10 October after appearing in one preseason game.^[27] Two days later, he was claimed off waivers by theHouston Rockets and joined their team.^[28] He was waived by the Rockets on 24 October after appearing in one preseason game.^[29] On 29 December, he returned to his native Iran, signing with Samen Mash'had, reuniting with former Petrochimi Bandar Imam's coach Mehran Hatemi.^[30]

Kazemi spent the 2019–20 season withMahram Tehran BC and averaged 9.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game. On 7 September 2020, Kazemi signed withChemidor Tehran BC.^[31]

He joinedShahrdari Gorgan for the 2023–24 season.^[32]

As captain of theIranian under-19 team, Kazemi led the Iranian national team with 16.6PPG, 12.2RPG and 3 assists to become the team's highest scorer at theFIBA Under-19 World Championship 2009 inAuckland, New Zealand.^[33]

Kazemi was initially called up to thenational senior team in August 2010 for theStanković Cup, ahead of the much anticipated2010 FIBA World Championship. Kazemi went on to be Iran's second leading scorer in the competition afterHamed Haddadi with an average of 12ppg, 7.4rpg and 2.8spg.^[34]

Following several impressive performances, Kazemi received much praise amongst international media.^[35]SLAM Magazine rated Kazemi as one of the top 5NBA draft prospects competing in the tournament.^[36]

• Iranian American

• Career statistics fromNBA.com and Basketball Reference  
• Arsalan Kazemi atFIBA (archive)
• Arsalan Kazemi international stats atBasketball-Reference.com 
• Arsalan Kazemi at Oregon
• Arsalan Kazemi at Rice
• Arsalan Kazemi at RealGM
• Arsalan Kazemi at Asiabasket
• Arsalan Kazemi atOlympedia 
• Arsalan Kazemi atOlympics.com