Kendal Pinder

Kendal Nathaniel "Tiny" Pinder (born 25 April 1956) is a Bahamian former professional basketball player. He moved to the United States as a teenager and attended Miami Northwestern Senior High School in Florida. Pinder played college basketball for the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, Miami Dade Sharks and NC State Wolfpack. He started his professional career with stints in Israel and Finland; he also spent three seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Pinder moved to Australia in 1985 to play in the National Basketball League (NBL) with the Sydney Supersonics and was selected to the All-NBL Team when he led the league in scoring during his first season. He joined the Perth Wildcats in 1987 and won two NBL championships with the team in 1990 and 1991. Pinder's career was interrupted in 1992 when he was imprisoned for sexual assault offences. He was released in 1995 and had his final basketball stint with the Illawarra Hawks that same year.

Pinder has since spent periods in prison for various offences. He was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 1996 for sexual assault charges involving a teenager. Pinder was imprisoned in 2021 for 15 months after being convicted of stalking a woman. In 2024, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for two sexual assaults that occurred in 2009 and 2021.

Early life Pinder was born in The Bahamas where he was raised in Nassau and Freeport. He was a victim of violence as a child. Pinder fell through a plate glass window at the age of 12 and suffered head injuries that were potentially linked to longstanding cognitive issues. He was enrolled under the name "Nathaniel Forbes" using his father's surname. He averaged 13.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game during the 1975–76 season. Pinder was dismissed from the team in 1976 for "violating university regulations."

Pinder decided to transfer to Miami Dade College because he would have been required to sit out a year if he joined another four-year school.

On April 29, 1977, Pinder signed to join the NC State Wolfpack.

Professional career Pinder was selected in the fifth round of the 1979 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks.

For the 1979–80 season, Pinder played in Israel for Hapoel Jerusalem. He was the Israeli Premier League's top scorer, with a total of 586 points scored.

Between 1980 and 1983, Pinder performed with the Harlem Globetrotters.

For the 1984–85 season, Pinder played in Finland for Turun NMKY. His 32.8 points per game was second in the Korisliiga, while his 14.8 rebounds per game led the league.

Pinder followed his Turun head coach, Paul Coughter, to the Sydney Supersonics of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) in 1985. He was named to the All-NBL Team and led the league in scoring during his first season.

In 1987, Pinder joined the Perth Wildcats. He was named the Wildcats' Club MVP in 1989 and helped the Wildcats win back-to-back NBL championships in 1990 and 1991. His final season with the Wildcats came in 1992.

After spending three years in prison for sexual convictions, Pinder was signed by the Illawarra Hawks in 1995. The signing was made by his former Wildcats teammate and then-Hawks head coach, Alan Black, who defended the decision despite Pinder's criminal history.

Personal life Pinder has 12 children. His son, Keanu, is also a professional basketball player.

Pinder has cognitive impairment in the frontal lobe and possesses the cognitive level of a 14-year-old. Following the cancellation of his Australian citizenship, Pinder was on an ex-citizen visa that enabled him to remain in Australia but did not allow him to return should he leave.

In 1992, Pinder faced charges of attempted sexual assault. He was convicted by the Western Australian Supreme Court and was sentenced to 18 months' jail. In the following year he was also found guilty of raping a 23-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl; the three offences had occurred between 1988 and 1990.

In 2001, Pinder was acquitted in the New South Wales District Court on a charge of raping a 19-year-old woman the previous year. In 2013, he was arrested on a charge relating to an alleged rape in 1987 but was cleared in August 2016.

In 2021, Pinder was arrested and charged with stalking a woman in Sydney. He was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment. In April 2023, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault that occurred in November 2009 and March 2021. In March 2024, he was sentenced to eight years' prison for the two assaults; the backdated sentence took into account his time in custody and could see him released as early as October 2026. The judge noted Pinder's impaired cognitive function in deciding his sentence, which had a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.

Pinder was assaulted in prison in 2021 and 2023, requiring him to undergo CT and MRI scans for his injuries.