Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973) is an American retired professional basketball player. He is a five-time NBA All-Star, a five-time All-NBA Team member, a former NBA Rookie of the Year, and a former number one overall NBA draftee. As a collegiate athlete, he was a first-team All-American and led the Michigan Wolverines' 1991 incoming freshman class known as the Fab Five that reached the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games as freshmen and sophomores. However, Webber was indicted by a federal grand jury and stripped of his All-American honors by the NCAA as a result of his direct involvement in the Ed Martin scandal. He is also a former National High School Basketball Player of the Year who led his high school Detroit Country Day to three Michigan State High School Basketball Championships. He also played middle school basketball at Riverside Middle School at Dearborn Heights, Michigan where he won a city championship there in 1986.
Webber attended Detroit Country Day School and at the time was the most recruited Michigan high school basketball player since Magic Johnson. Webber led Country Day to three MHSAA State championships. As a senior in high school Webber averaged 29.4 points and 13 rebounds per game. He was named Michigan's Mr. Basketball and the 1990–1991 National High School player of the year. He was named MVP in both the McDonald's and Dapper Dan All-Star games.
After graduating from Detroit Country Day School, Webber attended the University of Michigan for two years. While a Michigan Wolverine, Webber led the group of players known as the Fab Five, which included himself, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson. This group, all of whom entered Michigan as freshmen in the fall of 1991, took the basketball team to the NCAA finals twice, losing both times. The Fab Five, sporting long, baggy shorts and black socks, became immensely popular as they were seen as bringing a hip hop flavor to the game. Four of the Fab Five (Webber, Rose, Howard, and King) made it to the NBA.
Due to concerns that Webber's amateur status had been compromised, Michigan forfeited its victory in the 1992 Final Four over Cincinnati, as well as its runner-up status in the 1992 tourney. Michigan also forfeited the entire 1992–93 season, removed the 1992 and 1993 Final Four banners from the Crisler Arena rafters, and deleted Webber's records from its record book. The NCAA also ordered Michigan to disassociate itself from Webber until 2013. Webber later called Michigan's decision "hurtful" because he and his Fab Five teammates "gave everything to Michigan" while they played there.
Webber is active in various charities and created The Timeout Foundation in 1993. The foundation's mission is to provide positive educational and recreational opportunities to youth.
Webber has a personal collection of African-American artifacts which he began collecting in 1994. Upon entering the NBA, he began collecting artifacts, starting with the purchase of two slave records. Webber believes that these artifacts are a reflection of his beliefs and aspirations. He initially collected them as encouragements to face life obstacles. However, he had no intentions on exhibiting them until the growth of his collection prompted additional storage. His collection includes an original 1901 publication of an autobiography by Booker T. Washington, various documents, letters, and postcards signed by Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X. When not on public exhibit, the artifacts are stored at the Sacramento Public Library's Archival Vault. In previous years the Chris Webber Collection has previously been featured in Crocker Art Museum and Wayne State University.
Webber was traded in his second year to the Washington Bullets where he was reunited with his college teammate and friend, Juwan Howard. He spent the next three years with the Bullets (later renamed the Washington Wizards), although in the 1995–96 season injuries limited him to only 15 games. Webber rebounded the following year and was named to his first All-Star team in 1997. The same season, Webber led the Bullets into the playoffs for the first time in nine years, but they were swept by the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls in three games. By 1998, Webber had established himself as a great power forward, but his time in Washington had also worn out.
Webber averaged 20.7 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 4.2 assists during his NBA career. The Golden State Warriors did not make the playoffs during the first 12 years after they traded Webber. In 1997, he led Washington to their first playoff appearance since 1989. They would not reach the playoffs again until 2005, seven years after trading Webber. Prior to Webber's arrival in 1998, the Kings made the playoffs only twice (1985 and 1996) since they moved to Sacramento from Kansas City in 1985.
Later in 1998 during the off-season, while leaving Puerto Rico on a promotional tour for Fila sneakers, Webber paid a $500 fine after U.S. Customs found marijuana in his bag. Soon after Fila dropped Webber as an endorser, a three-member panel of arbitrators awarded Webber $2.61 million for breach of contract.
In 1999, Webber created C-Webb's Crew where a group of tickets at every Kings regular home season game would be donated to at-risk youth and their families. To date, over 3,000 youths and their families have attended a game through C-Webb's Crew.
Webber peaked in the 2000–01 season, when he averaged a career-high 27.1 points. He also averaged 11.1 rebounds and was fourth in MVP voting, while starting at forward for the Western Conference All-Star Team in the 2001 All-Star Game in Washington. In the 2001 Playoffs, Webber and the Kings defeated the Phoenix Suns in four games of the first round to advance to the second round (first time of his career he advanced past the first round), where they faced the Los Angeles Lakers for a second year in a row. The Kings lost in four games to the Lakers despite Webber`s 21 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists in game four.
On July 27, 2001, Webber signed a $127 million, seven-year contract with the Kings. In the 2001–02 season, Webber played in 54 games leading the Kings to a Pacific division title and a franchise-record (and league-best) 61–21 season. He also made his fourth All-Star team and the All-NBA Second Team. In the 2002 Playoffs the Kings defeated the Utah Jazz in four games and Dallas Mavericks in five games in the first two rounds en route to reaching the Western Conference Finals against their archrivals, the defending-champion Los Angeles Lakers led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, a series that would prove to be one of the most memorable (and most controversial) in NBA History. The series was nip and tuck all the way as both teams traded wins in the first six games of the series as the Lakers won games one, four (highlighted by the game winner from Robert Horry) and six (a game which featured many controversial calls, including a late-game foul on Mike Bibby)after he was bleeding from being elbowed in the nose by Bryant. All told, the Lakers shot 27 free throws in the fourth quarter NBA Commissioner David Stern denied Donaghy's allegations. Lawrence Pedowitz, who led a review of the league's officiating following the outbreak of the scandal, concluded that while Game 6 was poorly officiated, no concrete evidence existed of it having been fixed. Former NBA Referee Tim Donaghy filed in court papers in 2008 said that Game 6 was fixed by the NBA.), while the Kings won games two, three and five, including 29 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists from Webber plus the game-winner from teammate Mike Bibby in game five, heading into the deciding seventh game back at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, a game which would proved to be most memorable of the series. The game was nip and tuck all the way with Webber recording 20 points 11 assists 8 rebounds 2 blocks and 1 steal and Bryant and O'Neal recording 30 points 10 rebounds 7 assists and 2 steals with 35 points 13 rebounds 4 blocks and 2 assists, respectively, as the game went into overtime with missed shots from teammates Stojakovic and Doug Christie, boilling to the last minutes of the game with Webber fouling O'Neal with 1:27 left in overtime causing O'Neal made both free throws and the Kings would go on to lose Game 7 of the series at home. It was the closest that Webber ever got to a championship.
In 2002, Webber was charged for lying to a grand jury as part of a larger investigation of a numbers gambling operation, run by Michigan basketball program booster Ed Martin, in Ford Motor Company plants in the Detroit area. The investigation, originally focused on the numbers operation and tax evasion, soon widened to include the University of Michigan basketball program. Martin was convicted on counts of tax evasion and robbery and was scheduled to testify on the financial connections between himself and Webber at a sentencing hearing, but died of a heart attack before the hearing.
Community awards Webber has won include the inaugural Sacramento Kings/Oscar Robertson Triple Double Award, which is annually awarded to a Kings player who exemplifies: team leadership, all-around game, and sportsmanship; the NBA Community Assist Award for his contributions in February 2003, and the Wish Maker of the Year in 2003 awarded by the Sacramento Chapter of the Make a Wish Foundation.
In February 2005, Webber was traded, along with Michael Bradley and Matt Barnes, to the Philadelphia 76ers for power forward Kenny Thomas, forward/center Brian Skinner, and former King Corliss Williamson. Webber took some time to fit in with the 76ers' offense, where he was the second scoring option, behind Allen Iverson. He eventually helped catapult the Sixers to a berth in the 2005 playoffs, where the Sixers lost to the Detroit Pistons. However, they did not reach the playoffs in 2006, despite Webber putting up a resurgent 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. Because of the microfracture surgery on his knee, Webber lost his lateral quickness and jumping ability. While he still possessed offensive skills, he was seen as a defensive liability and was usually benched for the 4th quarters. This caused Webber to reportedly call for a trade.
On Tuesday, April 18, 2006, Webber and Iverson were fined for not showing up at the Philadelphia 76ers' final home game of the season, which was Fan Appreciation Night, although both of them were injured and not expected to play. The following day they both apologized for being absent.
On June 28, 2007, Webber unveiled his collection of African-American artifacts during the Celebrating Heritage Exhibition at Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. During a news conference, Webber said he believed that children can learn from these artifacts, "Hopefully, when children see them they will see there is no excuse for us not to be successful. There's no excuse not to find something that you love to do. There's no excuse to not work hard at it."
Since retiring from the NBA, Webber has become an analyst on NBA TV's NBA Gametime Live. He does the Tuesday Fan Night alongside Ernie Johnson and Kevin McHale. He also serves as an occasional guest analyst (primary) on TNT's Inside the NBA from 2008–present. During Charles Barkley's leave of absence, Webber substituted for him along with other guests such as Gary Payton and Mike Fratello. Webber has also expressed interests in eventually becoming a GM and owner.
Webber was the owner of Center Court With C-Webb, a restaurant in Sacramento, California. The restaurant closed on November 17, 2009. Earlier that year, Webber married his longtime girlfriend Erika Dates during a private ceremony at his Atlanta home. In attendance were 200 guests including family and close friends.
In August 2010, Webber played in the NBA Asia Challenge 2010 at Araneta Coliseum in Manila, an exhibition game which pitted NBA legends and NBA Development League players against Philippine Basketball Association stars and legends.
Webber has also stated he is working on a book. Outside of basketball, Webber has been active in his investment company representing basketball and football players, real estate, and film projects. In 2011, it was reported that, that company had lined up Investors to build the Kings a new arena.
Webber hosted his second annual Bada Bling charity weekend from July 20–22, 2007 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
In 2014, he made another special appearance in the Kings' arena along with former teammate Mike Bibby and both were honored that day.
In late 2016, Webber began hosting Fearless or Insane on Podcast One.
