Chad Kinch

Chad Kinch
Personal information
Born(1958-05-22)May 22, 1958
DiedApril 3, 1994(1994-04-03) (aged 35)
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight190 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High schoolPerth Amboy
(Perth Amboy, New Jersey)
CollegeCharlotte (1976–1980)
NBA draft1980: 1st round, 22nd overall pick
Drafted byCleveland Cavaliers
Playing career1980–1981
PositionPoint guard / shooting guard
Number20, 21
Career history
1980–1981Cleveland Cavaliers
1981Dallas Mavericks
Career highlights
  • 3× First-team All-Sun Belt (1978–1980)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference Edit this at Wikidata

Chadwick Oliver Kinch ((1958-05-22)May 22, 1958 – (1994-04-03)April 3, 1994) was an American professional basketball player. He was a 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m), 190-pound (86 kg) shooting guard and played collegiately at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte after starring at Perth Amboy High School in Perth Amboy, New Jersey,[1] his place of birth.

He was selected with the 22nd pick in the first round of the 1980 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.[2] He spent his only NBA season (1980–81) split between the Cavaliers and the Dallas Mavericks. The Cavs traded Kinch, along with a 1985 first-round draft choice, to the Mavericks in exchange for Geoff Huston and a 1983 third-round draft choice on February 7, 1981.[2] Kinch averaged 2.9 points per game in his only season in the NBA.

The loss of his brother, Raymond, in a house fire reportedly strongly affected Kinch, impacting his NBA career. After leaving the NBA and starting a family, he descended further into a drug habit, eventually contracting HIV.[3] Kinch died of AIDS-related complications in 1994,[4] aged 35, at his home in Carteret, New Jersey.[1][3]

Career statistics

[edit]
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

NBA

[edit]

Source[5]

Regular season

[edit]
Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1980–81 Cleveland 29 8.5 .396 .800 .8 1.2 .3 .2 2.8
Dallas 12 8.8 .311 .769 .8 .8 .2 .1 3.2
Career 41 8.6 .369 .778 .8 1.1 .3 .1 2.9

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Staff. Chad Kinch, 35, Ex-Basketball Star, The New York Times, April 8, 1994. Accessed February 28, 2011. "CARTERET, N.J., April 7— Chad Kinch, a former basketball star at Perth Amboy High School in New Jersey and the Cleveland Cavaliers' No. 1 draft choice in 1980, died at home on Sunday. He was 35."
  2. ^ a b "Cavaliers All-Time Roster" (PDF). NBA.com. (4.14 MiB); retrieved June 26, 2007
  3. ^ a b Araton, Harvey (1994). "Glory Days Died Too Soon; Then Kinch Did(.) Life Never Lived Up to that Moment in the Sun" New York Times 18 April 1994. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  4. ^ Still stunning the world 10 years later, ESPN The Magazine
  5. ^ "Chad Kinch NBA stats". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved October 26, 2025.
[edit]

season in the NB