Deon Thompson

Deon Thompson
Thompson with Bayern Munich in 2013
No. 21 – Shinshu Brave Warriors
Position Power forward
League B.League
Personal information
Born September 16, 1988
Torrance, California, U.S.
Nationality American / Ivorian
Listed height 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight 245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school Torrance (Torrance, California)
College North Carolina (2006–2010)
NBA draft 2010: undrafted
Playing career 2010–present
Career history
2010–2011 Ikaros Kallitheas
2011–2012 Union Olimpija
2012–2013 Alba Berlin
2013–2014 Bayern Munich
2014–2015 Liaoning Flying Leopards
2015 Hapoel Jerusalem
2015–2016 Bayern Munich
2016 Galatasaray
2017 Crvena zvezda
2017–2019 San Pablo Burgos
2019 Žalgiris
2019–2021 Unicaja
2021 Leones de Ponce
2021–2022 Casademont Zaragoza
2022–2023 Tofaş
2023–present Shinshu Brave Warriors
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

Deon Marshall Thompson (born September 16, 1988) is an American-Ivorian professional basketball player for Shinshu Brave Warriors of the B.League. 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.

High school and college career

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.

Professional career

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On August 19, 2017, Thompson signed with Spanish club San Pablo Burgos 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.

On January 6, 2019, Thompson left Burgos and signed with Lithuanian club Žalgiris Kaunas until the end of the season. 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.

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

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

On August 18, 2023, Thompson signed with Shinshu Brave Warriors of the B.League.

National team career

In July 2019, Thompson was listed as a preliminary squad member of the Ivory Coast national team for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Career statistics

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

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