Kirk Samuel Penney (born 23 November 1980) is a New Zealand former professional basketball player. He is the all-time leading scorer for New Zealand's national team and he ranks 12th all-time in points scored at the FIBA World Cup. In 2024, he was inducted in the FIBA Hall of Fame.
Penney played four years of college basketball for the Wisconsin Badgers between 1999 and 2003, where he was twice named first-team all-conference and as an all-American. He became the second New Zealander in the NBA when he appeared briefly for the Miami Heat in 2003 and the Los Angeles Clippers in 2005. He went on to play professionally in Spain, the NBA Development League, Israel, Lithuania, Germany and Turkey. He also played six seasons for the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). He was named the NBL MVP in 2009, named to the All-NBL First Team four times, led the NBL in scoring three times and won an NBL championship with the Breakers in 2011.
Penney represented New Zealand at the Sydney and Athens Olympics and averaged 16.9 points at the World Championships in Indianapolis in 2002 and 24.7 points at the World Championships in Turkey in 2010.
Penney was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in the North Shore region. He attended Westlake Boys High School and played junior basketball for the North Harbour Basketball Association, joining their New Zealand NBL team, the North Harbour Kings, in 1998 as a 17-year-old. He earned NZNBL Rookie of the Year honours that year and helped the Kings reach the grand final. He also played for the Kings in 1999 and 2000.
As a freshman playing for the Wisconsin Badgers during the 1999–2000 season, Penney had a minimal role under coach Dick Bennett, but still helped his team reach the NCAA Final Four while averaging 3.7 points and 1.4 rebounds in 34 games. As a sophomore in 2000–01, he averaged 11.2 points per game and was the second-leading scorer on the team.
As a junior in 2001–02 playing for coach Bo Ryan, Penney was the team's leading scorer. He averaged 15.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 45.4 percent from the field and teamed with point guard Devin Harris to guide the Badgers to a share of the Big Ten title. Penney subsequently earned first-team All-Big Ten honours in 2001–02.
As a senior in 2002–03, Penney was again the team's leading scorer. He averaged 16.2 points and was second on the team with 6.0 rebounds per game, as Wisconsin won the Big Ten regular-season title outright. For his senior-year efforts, Penney earned first-team All-Big Ten honours again and was named an honorable mention All-American. His 217 career three-point field goals made ranks third in programme history.
Penney was not drafted in the star-studded 2003 NBA draft but joined the Minnesota Timberwolves in July that year for the Orlando Pro Summer League where he led the league in three-point shooting. On 1 September 2003, he signed with the Timberwolves, but did not make the team's final roster as he was waived on 23 October prior to the start of the 2003–04 NBA season. On 3 November, he signed with the Miami Heat and made his NBA debut that same day, scoring three points in 14 minutes of action against the Dallas Mavericks. Penney became the second New Zealander (after Sean Marks) to play in the NBA. The following day, he made his second appearance for the Heat, but record no stats in just four minutes of action against the San Antonio Spurs. On 7 November, he was waived by the Heat after the team signed Tyrone Hill instead.
Following his release from the Heat, Penney moved to Spain and signed with Gran Canaria for the rest of the 2003–04 season. In 24 Liga ACB games for Canaria, he averaged 10.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
In July 2004, Penney joined the Minnesota Timberwolves for the Minnesota Summer League in Minneapolis, and the Chicago Bulls for the Rocky Mountain Revenue in Salt Lake City. On 4 November 2004, he was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NBA Development League Draft by the Asheville Altitude. He had an impressive start to the 2004–05 season and earned himself an NBA call-up. On 26 December 2004, he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. He appeared in four games for the Clippers and scored just two points. He was waived by the Clippers on 3 January 2005 and returned to the Asheville Altitude to play out the season and help the team win the 2005 NBA D-League championship.
On 5 August 2005, Penney signed a two-year deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He was used sparingly as a shooter off the bench and helped Maccabi qualify for the Euroleague Final Four, eventually losing to CSKA Moscow in the final. Maccabi did, however, win the 2006 Premier League championship. In 19 Euroleague games for Maccabi in 2005–06, Penney averaged 3.3 points per game.
In October 2006, Penney signed with Žalgiris Kaunas as an injury replacement for Marcelinho Machado. After Žalgiris won the Lithuanian Basketball League Cup, Penney parted ways with Žalgiris. On 16 February 2007, he signed with ALBA Berlin of Germany for the rest of the 2006–07 season.
New Zealand Breakers (2007–2010)
In June 2007, Penney signed with the New Zealand Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League. In 31 games in 2007–08, he averaged 24.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He was named to the All-NBL First Team.
In the 2008–09 NBL season, Penney was named the NBL Most Valuable Player, becoming the first New Zealander to be honoured with the award. He led the league in scoring and earned All-NBL First Team for the second straight year. In 31 games, he averaged 24.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
On 21 January 2010, Penney scored 49 points and made nine 3-pointers in a 103–89 win over the Adelaide 36ers. He was named to the All-NBL First Team for the third straight year in the 2009–10 NBL season. In 19 games, he averaged 23.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
Following the conclusion of the 2009–10 NBL season, Penney returned to the United States, and on 24 March 2010, he was acquired by the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA Development League. In just his second game for the Skyforce, he scored a game-high 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field, adding four rebounds, three assists and a steal in 43 minutes of game time in a 113–104 win over the Springfield Armor. In the Skyforce's final game of the regular season, he scored 40 points in a win over the Bakersfield Jam. The Skyforce made it to the first round of the playoffs where they lost to the Tulsa 66ers 2–1 in the best-of-three series. In seven total games for the Skyforce, he averaged 22.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
On 28 September 2010, Penney signed with the San Antonio Spurs. However, he was later waived by the Spurs on 11 October after appearing in one preseason game and scoring 9 points.