Tyrone Lamar Washington (born September 16, 1976) is an American 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. 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 ...

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

before being drafted by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

in the 1999 NBA draft. However, he played professionally overseas and in the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

Early life and college

Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, Washington graduated from Gentry High School in

Indianola, Mississippi Indianola is a U.S. city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. The population was 10,683 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Sunflower County. History In 1891, Minnie M. Cox was appointed postmaster of Indianola, b ...

in 1995.

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develop ...

named Washington the Mississippi Boys' Basketball Player of the Year in his senior year, and Washington also was a fourth-team All-American pick by ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...

'' magazine. In his freshman year with the Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball team, Washington was a backup center behind future NBA player Erick Dampier. Washington averaged 1.8 points and 2.1 rebounds as a freshman; he also blocked 13 shots and made 41% of field goal tries and 60% of free throw attempts. After the NBA drafted Dampier in 1996, Washington became the starting center. In 1996–1997, Washington co-led the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC) in blocked shots (2 blocks per game), and his 7.9 rebounds per game was the second-most in the conference. In 1998, Washington was a third-team all-SEC pick.

Professional career

Washington made his professional debut with the Italian team Banca Popolare Ragusa of Serie A2 in the 1999–2000 season. In the middle of the following season, he joined

Viola Reggio Calabria Viola Reggio Calabria was an Italian professional basketball club based in Reggio Calabria, Calabria. At its heyday the club was renowned for discovering talented players who would go on to play at the highest level, for example five former playe ...

then played 35 games with

Fabriano Basket Fabriano Basket was an Italian professional basketball club based in Fabriano, Marche. Established in 1966, it played in the professional first and second divisions from 1979 to 2008, the side disappeared in June 2008 when it sold its right to pla ...

in 2001–2002. With Fabriano, Washington averaged 9.9 points and 7.1 rebounds. He also played semi-pro with the San Angelo All-Stars of the Southwest Basketball League in 2000. In 2002, Washington joined the Los Angeles Clippers for

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. After playing five games with the Serbian team

KK Crvena zvezda Košarkaški klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Кошаркашки клуб Црвена звезда, ), commonly referred to as KK Crvena zvezda mts for sponsorship reasons or simply Crvena zvezda, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, ...

, in which he averaged 8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game, he signed with the Columbus Riverdragons for the season. With the Riverdragons, Washington played 37 games and started 27 games, scored an average of 8.2 points, grabbed 4.4 rebounds, and made 0.8 assists per game. Washington played with Galatasaray of the Turkish Basketball League in the 2003–2004 season. He was released in April 2004. The following month he signed with Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants of the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

. On July 23, 2004, he signed with the Italian team Scafati Basket. In 2005, the

Fujian Xunxing Fujian SBS Xunxing Sturgeons (Simplified Chinese: 福建SBS浔兴鲟) or Fujian Xunxing or Fujian SBS are a Chinese professional men's basketball team in the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, Fujian. The "SBS" reflects c ...

of the Chinese Basketball Association drafted Washington as the second overall pick of international players. With Fujian, Washington averaged 27.3 points and 12.6 rebounds per game in 2005–2006 season. By the end of March 2006, Washington signed with the Capitanes de Arecibo of Baloncesto Superior Nacional of

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. With the Capitanes, Washington played in four games during April 2006, including a 28-point performance on April 7. The Henan Jigang Dragons of the CBA drafted Washington as the top overall pick in 2006. The

Busan KT Sonicboom Suwon KT Sonicboom () is a professional basketball club based in Suwon, South Korea which plays in the Korean Basketball League. Their home games are played at the Suwon KT Sonicboom Arena. Founded in 1997, the team was initially based in Gwan ...

of the

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League (KBL; ) is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular season. H ...

drafted Washington as the top pick in the second round of the 2007 KBL draft. In February 2008, he signed with

Al-Ittihad Aleppo Al-Ittihad Sports Club of Aleppo ( ar, نادي الاتحاد الرياضي الحلبي) is a professional multi-sports club based in the Syrian city of Aleppo, mostly known for its football team which competes in the Syrian Premier League ...

of the Syrian Basketball League. On May 20, 2008, Washington debuted with the Puerto Rican team Cariduros de Fajardo. In 3 games, Washington averaged 7 points and 6.7 rebounds.Fajardo stats
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References

External links

Fujian Xunxing stats (archived, in Chinese)Profile
— TheDraftReview.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington, Tyrone 1976 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Serbia American expatriate basketball people in South Korea American expatriate basketball people in Syria American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Andrea Costa Imola players Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Basketball players from Illinois Suwon KT Sonicboom players Capitanes de Arecibo players Centers (basketball) Columbus Riverdragons players Fabriano Basket players Fujian Sturgeons players Galatasaray S.K. (men's basketball) players Houston Rockets draft picks KK Crvena zvezda players Korean Basketball League players Lega Basket Serie A players Magnolia Hotshots players Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Philippine Basketball Association imports Power forwards (basketball) Scafati Basket players Shanxi Loongs players Sportspeople from East St. Louis, Illinois Viola Reggio Calabria players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople