Cedar Rapids’ Wes Washpun enjoying pro basketball, pace of life in Portugal

WARSAW, Poland — For many American who compete overseas, changing countries each year is just part of the challenge of pro basketball in Europe.

And it is not very common for an American import to suit up two years in a row for the same club.

In that regard, Wes Washpun of Cedar Rapids is an anomaly.

A former standout at Washington High and Northern Iowa, the 6-foot-1 point guard is preparing for his second consecutive season for FC Porto, one of the top clubs in Portugal. And it will be his third year in a row in the top league in that country.

“It ended up working out. They offered me a better contract than I had the first year,” Washpun, 32, said in a recent phone interview from Portugal. “I love the (Portuguese) coach here. It just kind of made sense.

“It is a very slow pace of life — not too much hustle and bustle. Porto is a big enough city (about 250,000) that there are enough things to do. We have the beach here on the ocean. We really don’t have a winter. We have a rainy season, which is nice. I appreciate how it is family oriented.

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“It is a slow pace of life. It is pretty calm — Iowa is the same way.”

Washpun lives in Porto with Macy, his fiance, who is from Rockwell, Iowa. Their club-furnished apartment is on the 16th floor and offers a view of Estádio do Dragão, a stadium that seats about 50,000 fans and is home of the notable local soccer club.

Last season, Washpun helped lead the Porto basketball club to the championship round in the Portuguese Liga Betclic.

“The league is maybe a little top heavy with three or four teams that compete for the championship every year,” Washpun said. “The domestic guys are good, they are solid. They just advanced to the round of 16” in Eurobasket2025 held in Latvia.

Washpun, after a standout senior season at Washington High for former coach Brad Metzger, began his college career at Tennessee. After one season there, he transferred to Northern Iowa.

As a redshirt senior in 2015-16, he started all 36 games, was the Most Outstanding Player in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament and hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer to beat Evansville in the tournament title contest.

Washpun averaged 5.3 assists per contest that season and scored 1,051 points in college — with all but 16 at Northern Iowa. Washpun began his overseas sojourn in Germany as a first-year pro.

“After my first (NBA) Summer League is when I went to Germany,” he said. “Back then there was no two-way contract (in the NBA). We got a pretty good offer from a team in Germany. There was more money (in Europe) than the G League. My agent at the time influenced me about Europe. The way it was explained to me, they have scouts in the big leagues like Germany or Italy. It is not like you are totally lost playing in those countries.”

After a season in Germany, Washpun played two seasons in the G League. Since then, he has played in Mexico, England, Latvia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Kosovo and now Portugal.

“Coming out of college before NIL, there was not a lot of money in my pocket,” lefty shooter Washpun said.

It is generally known that solid American players can make much more money in Europe than the G League. The downside, of course, is being a long way from some family and friends and perhaps off the radar of NBA scouts. Top Americans in Poland, for instance, can make at least $150,000 per season with very few expenses, according to a veteran journalist in that country.

On top of that, Washpun has played away games in Turkey, Lithuania, Italy, Denmark, Cyprus, France, and Spain. His Porto club began its season last week with a match in Bulgaria in a Champions League qualifier.

It takes a special mindset to make those adjustments.

“He is an amazing person who always tries to do what the coach asks him to do. He had some ups and downs but right now he is playing at a pretty high level. And we hope he continues like that until the end of his career,” Mario Scotti, his current agent, wrote in email to The Gazette earlier this year.

BACK HOME IN IOWA

Washpun spent several weeks back home in Iowa this summer, working out at the YMCA in Cedar Rapids and at Mount Mercy University as well as training with former teammates at Northern Iowa.

His parents and two brothers still live in Iowa, while a sister is in Wisconsin.

Now back in Portugal, his club is practicing twice most days as Porto prepares for the domestic league opener in early October.

“Once we get into the season it is one practice a day with Tuesday or Wednesday for international games then Friday or Saturday for domestic play,” he said.

Other Americans in training camp now with Porto include Javian Davis (Alabama Birmingham), Jhonathan Dunn (Southern Nazarene), Jalen Riley (East Tennessee State) and Tanner Omlid from Western Oregon. There also are players in camp from France, Hungary and Portugal.

“I felt like it was a pretty good year in 2024-25. I would not say it was my best but it was far from my worst. It was good enough for them to offer me a contract,” said Washpun, the only American from last season’s team to garner that distinction.

Washpun is provided the free use of an apartment and car in Porto, a city along the Atlantic Ocean in northern Portugal — about 2.5 hours north of capital Lisbon. He spends down time going out to dinner and watching Netflix.

Like many imports, Washpun has endured his share of challenges.

“There are some things that always happen. We lost power in Kosovo for an entire day. That was tough,” he said. “Some late payments — nothing too crazy. There was an earthquake in Greece.”

For now, Portugal is home for Washpun — who is not sure how long his pro career will last.

“My body has been holding up, thank God. I have not had any major injuries, which helps. My fiance loves living here,” Washpun said.

Virginia native David Driver is the author of “Hoop Dreams in Europe: American Basketball Players Building Careers Overseas,” available on Amazon and at daytondavid.com. Driver has interviewed American men and women basketball players in more than 15 countries, lived three years in Hungary, and now lives in Poland. He is the former sports editor of papers in Baltimore and Arlington and Harrisonburg, Va.