Alexander Ducas (born 11 December 2000) is an Australian 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 (appro ...

player for the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA), on a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

with the

Oklahoma City Blue The Oklahoma City Blue are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City and are affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blue compete in the NBA G League as members of the Western Conference. The Blue play their home games ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

. He began his career in the Australian state leagues before moving to the United States in 2019 to play

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Saint Mary's Gaels The Saint Mary's Gaels are the athletic teams that compete at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California. The nickname applies to the college's intercollegiate NCAA Division I teams and to the school's club sports teams. Most vars ...

. He played five seasons for the Gaels and earned second-team All- WCC in 2022 and 2024.

Early life and career

Ducas was born and raised in

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, where he attended

Nagle Catholic College Nagle Catholic College commonly known as Nagle or NCC, is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day school, located in the coastal town of Geraldton in the Mid West region of Western Australia, Australia. The college was found ...

. In 2016, Ducas debuted for the

Geraldton Buccaneers The Geraldton Buccaneers, also known as the Buccs, are an Australian basketball team based in Geraldton, Western Australia. The Buccaneers compete in the Men's NBL1 West and play their home games at Activewest Stadium. The team is affiliated with ...

in the

State Basketball League NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

(SBL), averaging 2.27 points in 22 games. In 2017, he played 13 games for the Buccaneers, averaging 5.67 points and 1.47 rebounds per game. He also played five games for the

BA Centre of Excellence The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Bruce, Can ...

in the

South East Australian Basketball League The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was a semi-professional basketball league in Australia comprising both a men's and women's competition. The SEABL began in 1981 and operated for 38 seasons until it was disbanded in 2018. The ...

(SEABL), averaging 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. In 2018, he averaged nine points in three SBL games for the Buccaneers before returning to the Centre of Excellence and averaging 12.2 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 14 SEABL games. In 2019, Ducas played nine games for the Centre of Excellence of the

NBL1 The NBL1 is a semi-professional basketball league in Australia run by the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of five conferences: NBL1 South, NBL1 North, NBL1 Central, NBL1 West and NBL1 East, with each consisting of bot ...

in the league's inaugural season, averaging 21.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He was named the NBL1 Youth Player of the Year. He finished the year with the Buccaneers and helped them win the SBL championship for the 2019 SBL season. In 13 games for the Buccaneers, he averaged 15.54 points, 3.92 rebounds and 3.08 assists per game. While in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

at the Centre of Excellence, Ducas attended

Lake Ginninderra College University of Canberra Senior Secondary College Lake Ginninderra, formerly known as Lake Ginninderra College until 2011, is a public secondary college for students in Years 11 and 12. It is located in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, ...

College career

On 5 November 2019, Ducas made his debut for Saint Mary's, recording 3 points and 2 rebounds against

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. As a freshman, Ducas appeared in 33 games, starting in 11 games – which was more games as a true freshman than any Gael since

Matthew Dellavedova Matthew William Dellavedova (born 8 September 1990) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for Saint Mar ...

. In his sophomore season, Ducas suffered an ankle injury, causing him to appear in only 14 games. Prior to his injury, Ducas averaged 11.3 points on 35.7% from three. He posted 10.3 points per game as a junior. As a senior, Ducas averaged 12.5 points per game shooting 41.4% from beyond the arc. In his final season with Saint Mary's, Ducas started every single game for the third consecutive season, shooting a career-best 43.8% from three, making 81 – which was the ninth most in team history and second most in the WCC. Against Davidson, Ducas registered a season-high 23 points on 7 made threes. With Saint Mary's, Ducas won the 2024 WCC tournament and was named a second team All-WCC honoree for the second time. Ducas averaged 9.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. As a fifth year guard, Ducas finished his collegiate career playing in a program-record 150 games and finished second all-time in program history with 278 threes.

Professional career

Oklahoma City Thunder (2024–present)

After going undrafted in the

2024 NBA draft The 2024 NBA draft was the 78th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft. Unlike recent years, the 2024 draft took place over two nights. This was the first NBA draft to be held on multiple nights since the draft ...

, Ducas joined the

for the

2024 NBA Summer League The 2024 NBA Summer League (branded as ''NBA 2K25'' Summer League 2024 for sponsorship reasons) was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas ...

and on 16 July 2024, he signed a two-way deal with them. He scored his first NBA points in January 2025 after a back injury sidelined him for nearly two months.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, 21 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , .400 , , .476 , , 1.000 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , .2 , , .0 , , 1.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 21 , , 0 , , 6.0 , , .400 , , .476 , , 1.000 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , .2 , , .0 , , 1.7

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;", Saint Mary's , 33 , , 11 , , 15.1 , , .478 , , .414 , , .750 , , 2.2 , , 0.4 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 3.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;", Saint Mary's , 14 , , 9 , , 22.0 , , .413 , , .328 , , .842 , , 4.4 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 0.1 , , 7.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;", Saint Mary's , 34 , , 34 , , 29.8 , , .409 , , .387 , , .820 , , 3.7 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 10.3 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;", Saint Mary's , 35 , , 35 , , 31.3 , , .433 , , .414 , , .868 , , 4.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 12.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Saint Mary's , 34 , , 34 , , 28.1 , , .453 , , .438 , , .774 , , 5.6 , , 1.9 , , 0.7 , , 0.2 , , 9.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 150 , , 123 , , 25.8 , , .433 , , .406 , , .828 , , 4.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , .2 , , 9.0

Personal life

As of 2024, Ducas' father, Aaron, is an assistant coach for the Geraldton Buccaneers in the

NBL1 West NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

References

External links

*
NBA profile

Saint Mary's Gael bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ducas, Alex 2000 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian men's basketball players BA Centre of Excellence men's basketball players NBA players from Australia Oklahoma City Blue players Oklahoma City Thunder players Saint Mary's Gaels men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Geraldton Undrafted NBA players