Deon Marshall Thompson (born September 16, 1988) is an American-Ivorian professional basketball player for the Busan KCC Egis of the Basketball Champions League Asia. He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Standing at 2.04 m (6 ft 8+12 in), he plays the power forward position.

Deon Thompson
Thompson with Bayern Munich in 2013
No. 12 – Busan KCC Egis
PositionPower forward
LeagueBasketball Champions League Asia
Personal information
Born (1988-09-16) September 16, 1988 (age 36)
Torrance, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican / Ivorian
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High schoolTorrance (Torrance, California)
CollegeNorth Carolina (2006–2010)
NBA draft2010: undrafted
Playing career2010–present
Career history
2010–2011Ikaros Kallitheas
2011–2012Union Olimpija
2012–2013Alba Berlin
2013–2014Bayern Munich
2014–2015Liaoning Flying Leopards
2015Hapoel Jerusalem
2015–2016Bayern Munich
2016Galatasaray
2017Crvena zvezda
2017–2019San Pablo Burgos
2019Žalgiris
2019–2021Unicaja
2021Leones de Ponce
2021–2022Casademont Zaragoza
2022–2023Tofaş
2023–2024Shinshu Brave Warriors
2024Indios de Mayagüez
2024–presentBusan KCC Egis
Career highlights and awards
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
Summer Universiade
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Belgrade
FIBA U19 World Cup
Silver medal – second place 2007 Serbia

High school and college career

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As a senior at Torrance High School in Torrance, California, Thompson scored 30 or more points five times and had 20 or more rebounds on six occasions, and led his team to the Division II-A finals in 2006 and quarterfinals in 2005. He averaged 21.5 points, 13.8 rebounds and 4.6 blocked shots as a senior.

Thompson wore number 21 for North Carolina; when his college career ended in 2010, he had played in a total of 152 games, at that time the most in NCAA Division I men's history. While the record was broken the following season by David Lighty of Ohio State, and is now held by Iowa's Jordan Bohannon, Thompson is now tied with Kentucky's Darius Miller for the most games among players who participated in the standard four seasons.[a]

Professional career

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After going undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft, Thompson joined the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2010 NBA Summer League.[1] On August 1, 2010, he signed with Greek club Ikaros Kallitheas for the 2010–11 season.[2]

On July 20, 2011, Thompson signed a two-year deal with Slovenian club Union Olimpija.[3][4] With Olimpija he won the 2012 Slovenian Cup. On August 7, 2012, he parted ways with Olimpija.[5]

On August 12, 2012, Thompson signed with German club Alba Berlin for the 2012–13 season.[6] With Alba he won the 2013 German Cup. At the end of the season he was named to the All-BBL First Team.[7]

On August 2, 2013, Thompson signed with Bayern Munich.[8] With Bayern he won the 2013–14 Bundesliga, and was also named to the All-BBL Second Team.[9] On August 14, 2014, he parted ways with Bayern.[10]

On August 26, 2014, Thompson signed with the Liaoning Flying Leopards of China for the 2014–15 CBA season.[11] On March 23, 2015, he signed with Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Premier League for the rest of the season.[12]

On July 20, 2015, Thompson returned to Bayern Munich, signing a one-year deal.[13]

On July 12, 2016, Thompson signed with Galatasaray for the 2016–17 season.[14] On January 2, 2017, he left Galatasaray and signed with Serbian club Crvena zvezda for the rest of the season.[15]

On August 19, 2017, Thompson signed with Spanish club San Pablo Burgos[16] and became the top rebounder of the 2017–18 ACB season with 6.7 rebounds per game. He was also named MVP of the week after performing and average index of 31 in the club wins at MoraBanc Andorra and versus Real Betis Energía Plus. On August 6, 2018, Thompson re-signed with San Pablo Burgos for an additional season.[17]

On January 6, 2019, Thompson left Burgos and signed with Lithuanian club Žalgiris Kaunas until the end of the season.[18] He helped Žalgiris reach the EuroLeague playoffs, and win the Lithuanian Basketball League championship.

On June 17, 2019, Thompson signed a two-year contract with Unicaja of the Liga ACB.[19]

On October 28, 2021, Thompson signed with Casademont Zaragoza of the Liga ACB.[20]

On October 14, 2022, Thompson signed with Tofaş of Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL).[21] On February 20, 2023, he parted ways with the club.[22]

On August 18, 2023, Thompson signed with Shinshu Brave Warriors of the B.League,[23] where he averaged 11.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in 29 minutes.[24]

On March 26, 2024, Thompson signed with the Indios de Mayagüez of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional.[24]

National team career

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In July 2019, Thompson was listed as a preliminary squad member of the Ivory Coast national team for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.[25] In 2024, he participated in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the Ivorian team.[26]

Career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

EuroLeague

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2011–12 Union Olimpija 10 5 23.6 .443 .000 .476 4.1 .8 .3 .2 8.8 6.0
2012–13 Alba Berlin 23 22 26.6 .524 .250 .792 5.4 .8 .7 .7 12.0 13.6
2013–14 Bayern 21 11 18.8 .454 .200 .568 4.7 .5 .3 .4 7.3 7.0
2015–16 Bayern 10 8 23.1 .482 .000 .769 4.1 1.0 1.2 1.1 9.2 8.7
2016–17 Galatasaray 13 0 11.6 .500 .000 .636 2.1 .7 .5 .4 4.2 4.4
2016–17 Crvena zvezda 13 0 10.5 .561 .000 .500 1.5 .5 .3 .3 4.3 4.4
2018–19 Žalgiris 17 0 13.8 .596 .000 .571 3.1 .5 .5 .4 4.7 5.8
Career 107 46 18.7 .499 .111 .649 3.8 .7 .5 .5 7.5 7.6

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ Lighty played in five seasons, and the current 2021–22 season is Bohannon's sixth. Both received hardship waivers, popularly known as "medical redshirts", that gave them a fifth season of eligibility. Bohannon also benefited from the NCAA's decision to not count the 2020–21 season, heavily affected by COVID-19, against any basketball player's period of eligibility.

References

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  1. ^ NBA Summer League Rosters - Vegas
  2. ^ Deon Thompson inks with Ikaros
  3. ^ Union Olimpija lands Thompson
  4. ^ Thompson okrepitev pod košema (in Slovene)
  5. ^ Deon Thompson, Union Olimpija part ways
  6. ^ "Alba Berlin officially signs Deon Thompson". Sportando.net. August 12, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  7. ^ "John Bryant erneut zum "Most Valuable Player" gekürt, Sebastian Machowski ist der "Coach of the Year"". Beko-BBL.de (in German). Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "BAYERN MUNICH brings in low-post threat Thompson". Euroleague.net. Archived from the original on August 5, 2013. Retrieved August 2, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ^ Münchens Point Guard Malcolm Delaney zum „Most Valuable Player“ gekürt, Wölfe-Trainer Silvano... (in German)
  10. ^ "Bayern Munich signs Stimac and Jagla, part ways with Thompson". Sportando.com. Retrieved August 14, 2014.
  11. ^ "Deon Thompson Signs With Liaoning Flying Leopards". Sportando.com. August 26, 2014. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  12. ^ "Deon Thompson signs with Hapoel Jerusalem". Sportando.com. March 23, 2015. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  13. ^ "FC Bayern brings back big man Thompson". Euroleague.net. July 20, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
  14. ^ "Deon Thompson has signed with Galatasaray". Eurohoops.net. July 12, 2016. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  15. ^ "Crvena Zvezda inks Deon Thompson". Euroleague.net. January 2, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  16. ^ "Deon Thompson, la polivalencia en la pintura". Club Baloncesto San Pablo Burgos (in European Spanish). August 19, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  17. ^ "Deon Thompson seguirá reinando en la pintura burgalesa - Club Baloncesto San Pablo Burgos". Club Baloncesto San Pablo Burgos (in European Spanish). August 6, 2018. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  18. ^ "Zalgiris Kaunas signed Deon Thompson". Eurohoops.net. January 6, 2019. Retrieved June 15, 2019.
  19. ^ "Deon Thompson signs a two-year deal with Unicaja". EuroHoops. June 17, 2019. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  20. ^ Skerletic, Dario (October 28, 2021). "Deon Thompson joins Casademont Zaragoza". Sportando. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  21. ^ "Deon Thompson Tofaş'ta" (in Turkish). Tofaş. October 14, 2022. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  22. ^ "TOFAŞ'ta Deon Thompson İle Yollar Ayrıldı". EuroHoops (in Turkish). February 20, 2023. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  23. ^ "デオン・トンプソン選⼿契約(新規)のお知らせ" (in Japanese). Shinshu Brave Warriors. August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  24. ^ a b La Guerra del BSN [@LaGuerraBSN] (March 26, 2024). "#BSNPR OFICIAL: El centro Deon Thompson es el segundo refuerzo de los Indios de Mayagüez para la temporada 2024. Thompson tiene 35 años, mide 6'8 y viene de promediar 11.4 PPJ y 8.3 RPJ en 29 MPJ con el club Shinshu BW en Japón. 📝 Baloncesto 365 Radio Leo 1170AM" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved March 29, 2024 – via Twitter.
  25. ^ "Diabate can't wait to get started as Cote d'Ivoire announce preliminary squad". fiba.basketball. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  26. ^ "Lithuania - Côte d'Ivoire / 2024-07-03 / Games". basketnews.com. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
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