A 12-year veteran of professional basketball, including 10 in the National Basketball Association, Bonzi Wells joined the Georgia Tech men’s basketball staff as an assistant coach in August of 2023. Wells concentrates his efforts on player development and on-court coaching.
Wells, 46, came to Tech following two seasons as the head coach at Division II LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tenn., where he led the Magicians to a 34-23 record across his two years, including an 18-11 mark in 2022-23.
A native of Muncie, Ind., Wells starred at Ball State University for four years (1994-98), earning second-team All-America honors by the United States Basketball Writers Association and third-team recognition by the Associated Press in his senior year. He earned first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors three times, was voted MAC freshman of the year in 1995 and the MAC Player of the Year in 1996 and 1998. His jersey number 42 was retired by the Cardinals, and he set MAC career records for points (2,485) and steals (347).
After his senior year, he was made the 11th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. After the Pistons traded his rights to the Portland Trail Blazers on draft night, Wells played five-and-a-half seasons in Portland, where he was a teammate of Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire, and 10 years overall, also playing for the Memphis Grizzlies, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets. He played two seasons overseas, in China in 2008-09 and Puerto Rico (2009-10), before retiring from competition.
After retirement, Wells went on to train and lead young athletes to develop their basketball and leadership skills. He helped organize and competed in the BIG3 League and served as a volunteer assistant coach for four years at his former high school, Muncie Central, before taking the head coach position at LeMoyne-Owen.
Wells received his bachelor’s degree in general studies from Ball state in 1998.
The father of five sons, Duane, Gawen, Christian, Cooper and Legend, Wells was honored on 2003 by having the gymnasium at the Roy C. Buley Community Center in his hometown of Muncie named in his honor, having donated money to keep the gym from closing its doors. In 2019, Wells served as a sports envoy to China for the United States State Department’s Sports Diplomacy Office.
