BIO

Matt is an American professional basketball player, entrepreneur, and mentor to young men. He has played in the NBA, G League, Spain, and Turkey. He founded Athletiq in 2020 to help players practice under game conditions and improve their shot mechanics. He also founded the 31:8 Foundation to mentor young men on and off the court.

Matt Mooney was born February 7, 1996 in Mundelein, IL. He grew up in Wauconda, IL, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Matt’s mother, Angela,is a teacher. He gives his mother most of the credit for who he is today as a person. Matt’s father, Michael, was a salesman in the aluminum industry. Michael was also Matt’s childhood coach who Matt has said has the greatest influence on Matt’s basketball successes. He has two brothers (Daniel and Joseph) and two younger sisters (Mary and Rachel). Matt is the second oldest child. 

Matt attended Notre Dame High School in Niles, IL. He spent most of his high school years living with his grandma and grandpa in the Niles and Skokie area just north of Chicago. After a modest high school career, he only had one division one scholarship offer from the Air Force Academy. Matt committed to the Air Force Academy fully intending on serving in the United States Military. He went through basic training for the Air Force in order to attend the Academy and play basketball. He averaged nearly 7 points, 2 assists, and 2 rebounds in his freshman season for the Falcons. After his freshman season in 2014-15, Matt decided he wanted to see how far he could go with the game of basketball. He knew staying at the Academy would mean he could not play professionally after graduation, so he chose it was best to explore his options to transfer.

He continued his career playing for Coach Craig Smith at University of South Dakota. After sitting out one season because of transfer rules, Matt had a strong sophomore season averaging 18.6 points, 2.1 assists, and 4.5 rebounds, while also leading the Coyotes to a Summit League regular season championship. He was named to the First–team All-Summit League and Newcomer of the Year. Following Matt’s sophomore season he needed hip surgery in both hips which put him out nearly 6 months. Matt returned just in time for his junior season where he put up another strong season averaging 18.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists leading his team to a program best 26 wins. He was named to the First-team All-Summit League again. He scored 30 points or more on 8 separate occasions at USD. Mooney graduated from USD in 2018 with a degree in Business Entrepreneurship. 

 Following the season, Coach Smith took the head coaching job at Utah State University. Mooney decided to pursue his options as well for his final college season, as he always wanted to compete at the highest level. He opted to transfer as a graduate student, selecting Coach Chris Beard and Texas Tech over offers from Northwestern and Creighton. Texas Tech was coming off a season in which the team reached the Elite Eight but lost some important pieces. Mooney averaged 11.3 points, 3.3 assist, and 1.8 steals per game on 38 percent from behind the arc helping Texas Tech win their first ever Big 12 regular season championship. Mooney was named second team All-Big 12, Big 12 All-Defensive team and Big 12 All-Newcomer team.  He had a strong tournament run helping the team reach its first-ever Final Four and National Championship. Mooney scored 17 points, had 5 assists, and 4 steals in an upset of Gonzaga in the Elite Eight. In Texas Tech's first Final Four appearance on April 6, 2019, Mooney scored 22 points in Texas Tech's 61-51 defeat of Michigan State to advance to the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship game. Mooney was named to the 2019 All-Tournament Team.

After going undrafted in the 2019 NBA draft, Mooney joined the Atlanta Hawks' Summer League roster. On September 4, 2019, Mooney signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, but was waived on October 14. He was named to the roster of the Grizzlies’ NBA G League affiliate, the Memphis Hustle. On January 15, 2020, Mooney was signed to a two-way contract by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He made his NBA debut against New York Knicks on January 20 and recorded two points, a rebound and an assist in three minutes of play. Matt has most recently played in Turkey in the BSL. Matt has previously played for the Memphis Hustle (NBA G League), the Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA) and Canton Charge (NBA G League), the Toronto 905 (NBA G League), the Mexico City Capitanes (NBA G League), the New York Knicks (NBA), Unicaja Malaga (Spanish ACB), Besiktas (Tukey BSL), Darussafaka (Turkey BSL), and SamsunSpor (Turkey BSL).

Although basketball has played a large role in Matt’s life, his main goal is to use his God given gifts to make the world a better place. He hopes to inspire the next generation of kids to passionately pursue their dreams and maximize their God given gifts. He wants kids to pursue a life of significance rather than a life of success. “Life is most fulfilling when we make it about others. The key to living is giving.”