Larry O'Bannon (born August 15, 1983) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for Hispano Americano of the

Liga Nacional de Básquet The Liga Nacional de Básquet (abbreviated LNB, and literally in English, "National Basketball League"), also commonly referred to as "La Liga de Básquet" ("The Basketball League"), is the top-tier level of the Argentine basketball league system ...

(LNB). 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 the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

Early life

O'Bannon attended Jefferson County Traditional Middle School. He attended Male High School where he competed in basketball and track and field. He played on the same basketball team as Oakland Raiders running back Michael Bush, who was also his teammate in middle school. O'Bannon has a sister who teaches at Meyzeek Middle School.

College career

O'Bannon played

for the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

in 2005 when they made it to the 2005 Final Four. In that tournament O'Bannon was named the Regional

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

Pro career

O'Bannon went undrafted in the 2005 NBA draft. During the summer of 2005, he played for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

and the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Summer League. In August 2005, he signed his first professional contract with Serbian club

Crvena zvezda Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional Association football, foot ...

. With them he played one season, and won the

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup (Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup f ...

. In September 2007, O'Bannon signed with Amatori Udine of the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

. On February 7, 2007, he left Udine and moved to

Basket Napoli Napoli Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as GeVi Napoli, is an Italian professional basketball team of the city of Naples. It's the ''de facto'' successor of the Basket Napoli which was dissolved in 2009. The team has achieved the promotion ...

for the rest of the season. In July 2007, he joined the Denver Nuggets for the 2007 NBA Summer League. The 2007–08 season he started with AGO Rethymno of the Greek A1 League, but was released after appearing in seven games. On December 17, 2007, he signed with Bulgarian club

Lukoil Academic BC Academic Metropol Region ( bg, БК "Академик" Метропол-Рийджън) is a reestablished Bulgarian professional basketball club based in the capital Sofia. In April 2022, Academic has been reborn and rebranded by the new ow ...

, and stayed with them for the rest of the season. In January 2009, O'Bannon signed with Israeli club Maccabi Rishon LeZion for the rest of the season. On August 28, 2009, he re-signed with Rishon LeZion for one more year. In May 2010, he signed with

Marinos de Anzoátegui Marinos B.B.C., also referred to as Marinos de Anzoátegui, is a professional basketball club based in the port city of Puerto la Cruz, located in the Venezuelan Anzoátegui State. The team currently plays in Venezuela's Liga Profesional de Balonc ...

of Venezuela for the rest of the 2010 LPB season. On September 16, 2010, he returned to Israel and signed with

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 ...

, but was released in February 2011. On February 28, 2011, he signed with Boca Juniors. In August 2011, he re-signed with Boca for the 2011–12 season. On April 20, 2012, he signed with

Club Atlético Lanús Club Atlético Lanús () is an Argentine sports club from the Lanús district of Greater Buenos Aires. Founded in 1915, the club's main sports are football and basketball. In both sports, Lanús plays in Argentina's top divisions: Primera Divis ...

, where he played only one game. In July 2012, O'Bannon signed with

SAV Vacallo Basket SAV Vacallo Basket is a professional basketball club based in Vacallo, Switzerland. The club has previously played in both the Swiss LNA and LNB divisions. Honours *Swiss Basketball League: (1) : 2009 *Swiss Basketball Cup: (4) : 1999, 2000, 2 ...

of Switzerland. In February 2013, he left Vacallo and signed with Israeli club Hapoel Eilat for the rest of the season. On August 7, 2013, he signed with Sharks Antibes of the French LNB Pro A. On January 30, 2014, he left Antibes and signed with Russian club Krasnye Krylia for the rest of the season. In September 2014, O'Bannon signed with his former club Maccabi Rishon LeZion. He was released by Maccabi after only three games and in November 2014, he moved to another Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv for the 2014–15 season. In his debut for Hapoel, he finished with 29 points and 13 rebounds. In August 2015, he signed with San Martín de Corrientes of Argentina for the 2015–16 season. In November 2016, he signed with Hispano Americano also of Argentina.

References

External links