Michael Sharod Wilks, Jr. (born May 7 1979, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American professional basketball point guard, currently playing for the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics on a 10-day contract.
After graduating from Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wilks played four years of college basketball at Rice University, where he majored in Economics. His senior year, he averaged 20.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, earning Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete honors.
Wilks began his professional career as an undrafted free agent. He has since played for the Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets, Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs (with whom he won a title in 2005, averaging 1.8 points per game), Cleveland Cavaliers, Seattle SuperSonics, Denver Nuggets and Washington Wizards. After being waived by the Nuggets in October 2007 , Wilks was re-signed four days later after Chucky Atkins suffered an injury. He was waived again later in November and signed by the Wizards in December 2007. On February 29, 2008 the Sonics signed Wilks to a 10-day contract.
Wilks has worn number 29 throughout his career, as a tribute to Milwaukee's 29th Street playground where he grew up playing the game.
Mike Wilks (b. 1947, London, UK) is an artist, illustrator and author of nine books including the global bestseller The Ultimate Alphabet (Pavilion Books, 1987), which was New York Times bestseller and Sunday Times bestseller for 57 weeks with over 750 000 copies sold worldwide.
Mike Wilks won a scholarship to art school at the age of thirteen. After running his own successful design consultancy for several years, he devoted his time to painting and writing. In 1990, Mike Wilks was the subject of an award-winning documentary on BBC television. His original paintings and drawings, which have a surreal and dreamlike quality with an unsettling undertone, have been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as many private collections.
His first novel, Mirrorscape, is a fantasy adventure set in the land of Nem, a parallel world where the bizarre is commonplace and everyday logic is in abeyance. Two more Mirroscape books have been commissioned.
