Huntingdon Valley’s Collin Gillespie is a Philadelphia Catholic League, PIAA and NCAA basketball champion, and now he’s an NBA champion.
Gillespie, 24, is a guard with the Denver Nuggets, who in June defeated the Miami Heat in five games to capture their first NBA title.
Gillespie was unable to play last season, as he was recovering from a lower leg fracture suffered in July 2022.
Earlier this summer, a healthy Gillespie played in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He averaged 7.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.4 steals in five games.
The Nuggets signed Gillespie to a two-way contract for the upcoming season, and he is expected to play for both Denver and the Grand Rapids (Michigan) Gold, the Nuggets’ affiliate in the G League, the NBA’s minor league.
Gillespie is a former Villanova star who did not get selected in the 2022 NBA Draft, but was immediately signed afterward by the Nuggets.
The 6-foot-3, 195-pounder enjoyed a brilliant college basketball career. He appeared in 156 games (125 starts) in five seasons at Villanova, averaging 11.9 points, 3.1 assists and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 42.2 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from three in 29.0 minutes per game. Gillespie earned the 2021-22 Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s top point guard, helping to guide the Wildcats to the NCAA Final Four after recovering from a knee injury that ended his 2021 season prematurely. He ended his career at Villanova with a national championship (2018), two Final Four appearances and two Big East Conference Player of the Year awards.
Photo credit: Denver Nuggets
In high school, Gillespie led Archbishop Wood to the Catholic League and state championships as a senior in 2017.
One of his Wood teammates, Andrew Funk, is also with the Nuggets, playing with them in the Summer League and signing a training camp contract. ••
