{{Short description|American basketball player (born 1956)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox basketball biography | name = Arvid Kramer | image = | width = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|10|03}} | birth_place = Fulda, Minnesota, U.S. | height_ft = 6 | height_in = 9 | weight_lb = 220 | high_school = Fulda (Fulda, Minnesota) | college = {{nowrap|Augustana (South Dakota) (1975–1979)}} | draft_year = 1979 | draft_round = 3 | draft_pick = 45 | draft_team = Utah Jazz | career_start = 1979 | career_end = 1996 | career_number = 41 | career_position = Center | years1 = 1979–1980 | team1 = Anchorage Northern Knights | years2 = {{nbay|1979|end}} | team2 = Denver Nuggets | years3 = 1980–1981 | team3 = Antonini Siena | years4 = 1982–1983 | team4 = Bayer Giants Leverkusen | years5 = 1995–1996 | team5 = Telekom Baskets Bonn | highlights = *NCC Player of the Year (1978) *3× First-team All-NCC (1977–1979) }} '''Arvid Kramer''' (born October 3, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, mostly known for being the first overall pick by the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1988 expansion draft at the age of 31, and furthermore being the only player to be selected in two expansion drafts and never playing for the teams that drafted him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/exp.htm |title=Hoopsanalyst |access-date=2004-07-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040708124356/http://www.hoopsanalyst.com/exp.htm |archive-date=2004-07-08 }}</ref> He is {{convert|6|ft|9|in}} tall and {{convert|220|lb}} and played at the center position during most of his basketball career.
==Professional career==
=== Anchorage Northern Knights (1979–1980) === Kramer was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the 3rd round (1st pick, 45th overall) of the 1979 NBA draft in his senior year. After the draft, the Jazz made a 2-for-1 trade involving Bernard King, which left no room for Kramer on their roster, so they waived him. He played for the Anchorage Northern Knights of the Continental Basketball Association during the 1979–80 season.<ref>{{cite web |title=Arvid Kramer minor league basketball statistics |url=https://www.statscrew.com/minorbasketball/stats/p-kramearv001 |website=StatsCrew |access-date=June 13, 2021}}</ref>
=== Denver Nuggets (1980) === Kramer was signed to a 10-day contract by the Denver Nuggets on February 28, 1980, and was later signed for the remainder of the season.<ref name=bbr/> He only played eight games with the Nuggets during the 1979–80 season.
=== Telekom Baskets Bonn (1995–1996) === The expansion Miami Heat of the NBA made Kramer the first overall pick in the 1988 expansion draft at the age of 31. The Dallas Mavericks wanted to make sure that their players Uwe Blab, Steve Alford or Bill Wennington, who were left unprotected, would not be selected, so they offered the Miami Heat the rights to Arvid Kramer and their first choice (No. 20) in the college draft (which later would turn out to become Kevin Edwards).<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/24/sports/miami-chooses-who-first.html|title = Miami Chooses 'Who?' First|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 24 June 1988|last1 = Goldaper|first1 = Sam}}</ref> He never played for the Heat.
Kramer later played for Telekom Baskets Bonn during the 1995–96 season. He retired as a player in 1996 and worked as a general manager for the Baskets in Bonn, Germany from 1996 to 2004.<ref name="signonsandiego">{{Cite web|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050624/news_m1sc24kramer.html|title = The San Diego Union-Tribune – San Diego, California & National News}}</ref>
==Personal life== Kramer's son Dennis Kramer was also a basketball player. He was killed in a road traffic incident on 27 August 2023.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2023-08-29|date=2023-08-28|title=Ehemaliger Basketball-Profi Kramer stirbt bei Autounfall|url=https://www.zeit.de/news/2023-08/28/ehemaliger-basketball-profi-kramer-stirbt-bei-autounfall?utm_r|website=Zeit online}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
==Career statistics== {{NBA player statistics legend}}
===NBA=== Source<ref name=bbr>{{cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/k/kramear01.html|title=Arvid Kramer NBA stats|website=Basketball Reference|publisher=Sports Reference LLC|accessdate=28 July 2025}}</ref>
====Regular season==== {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%; text-align:right;" !Year !Team !GP !MPG !FG% !3P% !FT% !RPG !APG !SPG !BPG !PPG |- | style="text-align:left;"| {{nbay|1978}} | style="text-align:left;"| Detroit | 8 || 5.6 || .318 || – || 1.000 || 1.5 || .4 || .0 || .6 || 2.0 {{S-end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kramer, Arvid}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:American expatriate basketball people in France Category:American expatriate basketball people in Germany Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy Category:American men's basketball players Category:Anchorage Northern Knights players Category:Augustana (South Dakota) Vikings men's basketball players Category:Basketball players from Minnesota Category:Bayer Giants Leverkusen players Category:Centers (basketball) Category:Dallas Mavericks expansion draft picks Category:Denver Nuggets players Category:Mens Sana Basket players Category:Miami Heat expansion draft picks Category:People from Fulda, Minnesota Category:Telekom Baskets Bonn players Category:Utah Jazz draft picks Category:20th-century American sportsmen