David Thomas (born December 4, 1976) is a Canadian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played eight seasons in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

and has represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in international competition.

High school and college career

Born in

Brampton, Ontario Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it th ...

, Thomas attended Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School where he averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists per game as a senior in 1995–96. He went on to play for

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

where he was a reserve on the Spartans' 2000 championship team. In four seasons, he averaged 3.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 114 career games, including 46 starts.David Thomas Bio
/ref>

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2001 NBA draft The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001 in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizards, ...

, Thomas signed with the

Canberra Cannons The Canberra Cannons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates. After t ...

for the 2001–02 NBL season. In May 2002, he re-signed with the Cannons on a two-year deal. However, he left in December 2002 after the Cannons were forced into voluntary administration three months into the

2002–03 NBL season The 2002–03 NBL season was the 25th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 11 teams contested the league. Regular season The 2002–03 regular season took place over 22 rounds between 2 October 2002 and 1 March 2003. ...

. On October 8, 2003, he signed a one-year deal with the

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena. The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 as ...

. On January 27, 2004, he signed a two-year contract extension with the Tigers. In March 2006, he re-signed with the Tigers, and a year later, he was named to the 2007 All-NBL first team. In July 2008, he signed with the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

. On December 11, 2008, he was released by the Taipans because the club could no longer afford him, fellow import

Larry Abney Lawrence Abney (born May 19, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player and current player development coach/ basketball operations assistant for the Los Angeles Clippers. Born in Nyack, New York, he was nicknamed ''Birdman'' thro ...

or head coach Alan Black. The Taipans did continue playing, however, only after the entire team agreed to a blanket 45 per cent pay cut for the rest of the season. On December 29, 2008, he re-signed with the Melbourne Tigers for the rest of the

2008–09 NBL season The 2008–09 NBL season was the 31st season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 10 teams contested the league. 2008–09 league participants * On 30 June 2008 the Brisbane Bullets confirmed they would be handing back th ...

. On July 9, 2009, he signed a one-year deal with the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Sky Sport Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at ...

. However, on August 3, 2009, he was forced to pull out of his one-year deal due to a recurrence of knee and back problems, which effectively ended his career.

Post-playing career

Since his retirement in 2009, Thomas has spent time as the host of the Spartan Fastbreak show on WLNS TV, was the owner and operator of Ever Green Car Wash & Detail in Lansing, and worked for Michigan State University Federal Credit Union as the Business Services Assistant Manager.David Thomas Named Director of Women's Basketball Operations and Technology
/ref> On July 7, 2014, Thomas was hired by Michigan State women's basketball head coach, Suzy Merchant, as the program's Director of Basketball Operations and Technology. The following year, he moved over to the men's program and attained the same role under coach

Tom Izzo Tom Izzo (, ); born January 30, 1955) is an American college basketball coach who has been the head coach at Michigan State University since 1995. On April 4, 2016, Izzo was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Izzo has led the Spart ...

.Former Michigan State player David Thomas named new director of basketball operations
/ref>

Personal

Thomas is the son of Roy and Linda Thomas.

References

External links

Australiabasket.com profile

NBL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Dave 1976 births Living people 2002 FIBA World Championship players Basketball people from Ontario Cairns Taipans players Canadian expatriate basketball people in Australia Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Canberra Cannons players Melbourne Tigers players Michigan State Spartans men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Brampton