Deon La velle Thomas (born February 24, 1971) is an American-Israeli former
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. As a high school player, he led his team to the
Chicago Public League
The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admini ...
title, and was named
Illinois Mr. Basketball
The Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois.
Most of the award winners have gone on to play at the highest levels of college basketball, and many have ...
. As a college player at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
, he finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in
Fighting Illini
The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports.
The University operates a number of athletic faci ...
history. Selected by the
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...
with the 28th selection of the
1994 NBA Draft
The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...
, he opted to play professional basketball in Europe and Israel.
High school career
Thomas was a star basketball player at
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, coordinates =
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's
Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, graduating in 1989. As a junior in 1988, he led the Wolverines to the
Chicago Public League
The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admini ...
title. As a senior, he was named
Illinois Mr. Basketball
The Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois.
Most of the award winners have gone on to play at the highest levels of college basketball, and many have ...
and played in the
McDonald's All-American Game
The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...
, which also featured future
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
star
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), known commonly as "Shaq" ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. O'Neal is regarded as one of the greates ...
.
College career
Thomas 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 ...
at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
. Thomas finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in
Fighting Illini
The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports.
The University operates a number of athletic faci ...
history, with 2,129 career points scored and an 18.0 points per game scoring average. Thomas is the only men's basketball player in Illinois history to score at least 2,000 career points. Thomas was elected to the "
Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.
Professional career
Thomas was selected by the
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...
with the 28th selection of the
1994 NBA Draft
The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...
. Thomas attended mini camp but never played in the
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
, having opted to play professional basketball in Europe and Israel. Thomas played two years in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
for
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...
, winning the Israeli championship, the Israeli cup, and the Euroleague championship twice. Thomas didn't play in the 2005 Final Four due to a broken leg. This injury forced him to leave Maccabi Tel Aviv. He then joined the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
team
Gymnastikos S. Larissas, the
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
n team
CSKA Sofia
CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...
, and then returned to Israel where he played for
Givat Shmuel
Giv'at Shmuel ( he, גִּבְעַת שְׁמוּאֵל, , Samuel's Hill) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Center District of Israel. It is located in the eastern part of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, Gush Dan Metropolitan Area and bor ...
. He then played for
Maccabi Haifa
Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...
, also in Israel.
He is one of the most successful American pros of all time in the European leagues. Thomas has passed on several opportunities to play in the NBA. On 13 November 2006, in an interview for Bulgarian newspaper ''Tema Sport'' and Bulgarian television "Channel 3", Deon Thomas denied any wrongdoing and swore that he didn't receive anything from University of Illinois, as
Bruce Pearl
Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, and the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team. He previously served as the head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. Pearl led Souther ...
had claimed. He said the decision to play for Illinois was made by his grandmother.
Coaching/Announcing Career
In 2009, Thomas became the men's basketball head coach at
Lewis and Clark Community College
Lewis and Clark Community College is a public community college in Godfrey, Illinois. It serves approximately 15,000 credit and non-credit students annually. The college has nine locations throughout the St. Louis Metro East, including a campu ...
in
Godfrey, Illinois
Godfrey is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,982 at the 2010 census. Godfrey is located within the Riverbend portion of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area.
Geography
Godfrey is located at (38.948097 ...
. In April 2014, Thomas was named as an assistant basketball coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago. In 2016, he was hired by
Fighting Illini Sports Network
The Fighting Illini Sports Network are radio stations in Illinois that broadcast Illinois Fighting Illini athletic events. The current, 34 radio station network is managed bFighting Illini Sports Properties whose offices are located in Champaign, I ...
to call men's basketball games with Doug Altenberger.
Personal life
Thomas is now an Israeli citizen, and is married to an Israeli.
Honors
High school
* 1988 - IHSA 1st Team All-State
* 1988 -
IHSA State Tournament All-Tournament Team
* 1989 - IHSA 1st Team All-State
* 1989 -
Parade Magazine
''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a readership of 5 ...
1st Team All-American
* 1989 -
McDonald's All-American
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger ...
* 1989 -
Illinois Mr. Basketball
The Illinois Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Illinois.
Most of the award winners have gone on to play at the highest levels of college basketball, and many have ...
* 2015 - Inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player.
College
* 1991 - 3rd Team All-
Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
* 1992 - Illini Team Co-Captain
* 1992 - Illini MVP
* 1992 - 2nd Team All-Big Ten
* 1993 - Illini Team Co-Captain
* 1993 - Illini MVP
* 1993 - 2nd Team All-Big Ten
* 1994 - Illini Team Co-Captain
* 1994 - Illini MVP
* 1994 - 2nd Team All-Big Ten
* 1994 - Honorable Mention
All American
* 2004 - Elected to the "
Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team".
* 2008 - Honored as one of the thirty-three
honored jerseys which hang in the
State Farm Center
The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...
to show regard for being the most decorated basketball players in the University of Illinois' history.
* 2019 - Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame
College statistics
University of Illinois
* All-time leader in University of Illinois history
References
http://www.lc.cc.il.us/media/63181/release-deon%20thomas%2009.pdf
External links
Bruce Pearl's memo to the NCAADeon Thomas' player page at EuroBasket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Deon
Living people
1971 births
Liga ACB players
African-American basketball players
American emigrants to Israel
American expatriate basketball people in Bulgaria
American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus
American expatriate basketball people in Greece
American expatriate basketball people in Israel
American expatriate basketball people in Spain
American expatriate basketball people in Turkey
American men's basketball players
Baloncesto Málaga players
Basketball players from Chicago
Bàsquet Manresa players
CB Girona players
CB Gran Canaria players
Real Betis Baloncesto players
Centers (basketball)
Dallas Mavericks draft picks
Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C. players
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball announcers
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
Israeli American
Israeli men's basketball players
Israeli Basketball Premier League players
Israeli people of African-American descent
Maccabi Givat Shmuel players
Maccabi Haifa B.C. players
Maccabi Rishon LeZion basketball players
Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players
McDonald's High School All-Americans
Naturalized citizens of Israel
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
Power forwards (basketball)
21st-century African-American sportspeople
20th-century African-American sportspeople