DeMarcus De'Juan Nelson (; born November 2, 1985) is an American-Serbian former professional
basketball player. Standing at 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) he played at the
point guard
The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...
position. He also holds
Serbian citizenship
Citizenship of Serbia is regulated by the ''Citizenship Law of the Republic of Serbia'', adopted in 2004 and based primarily on the principle of Jus sanguinis. Article 23 of the citizenship law stipulates that any foreign national with Serbian ...
as of 2014.
College career
Nelson played at the
shooting guard
The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...
position on the
Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team. He was also the lone captain of the team for the 2007–2008 season, which was his senior year.
College statistics
Professional career
Nelson was not drafted in the
2008 NBA draft, but he was signed by the
Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
on September 9, 2008. He became the first
undrafted rookie to start on opening night in the history of 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 ...
.
On November 14, 2008, he and teammate
Richard Hendrix
Venard Richard Hendrix ( Macedonian: Венард Ричард Хендрикс; born November 15, 1986) is an American-born naturalized Macedonian professional basketball player who last played for Niigata Albirex BB of the B.League. He has al ...
were assigned to the
Bakersfield Jam of the
NBA D-League. He was recalled by the Warriors on December 16, 2008, but he was waived on January 6, 2009 to make room for
Jermareo Davidson
Jermareo Davidson (born November 15, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Alabama.
High school
Jermareo Davidson attended Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga.
College
...
.
Nelson joined the Croatian
Adriatic League
The ABA League, renamed to the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the 1st-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Mace ...
club
KK Zagreb in January 2009, but only played a single game. In March 2009, Nelson returned to the NBA D-League as a member of the
Austin Toros
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
.
On April 9, 2009 Nelson signed with the
Chicago Bulls. On July 30, 2009 he was waived by the Bulls.
On August 29, 2009, he was signed by
Scandone Avellino
S.S. Felice Scandone was an Italian professional basketball club based in Avellino, Campania. Founded in 1948, the team has been a regular in the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), the first tier of basketball in Italy, for 19 years (2000/01 to 2018/19). ...
of the Italian
Lega Basket Serie A for the 2009–10 season.
He played for the
Milwaukee Bucks in the
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 ...
in
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
.
On August 23, 2010, he was signed by
Cholet Basket of France. Cholet Basket is qualified for the
Euroleague for the 2010–11 season.
In July 2011 he signed with
BC Donetsk
Basketball Club Donetsk ( uk, баскетбольний клуб Донецьк), commonly known as simply Donetsk, was a Ukrainian professional basketball club, based in Donetsk. The team played in the Ukrainian SuperLeague. The mascot of the te ...
in Ukraine. On November 15, 2011, he returned to Cholet Basket by signing a contract for the rest of the season.
In September 2012, he signed a one-year contract with the
Serbian team
Crvena zvezda Belgrade. In June 2013 he re-signed with them for one more season, with an option for a second year. He became the first foreign player to stay at the club for two seasons.
In November 2013, he was named
EuroLeague MVP for Round 4. In April 2014, along with his teammate
Boban Marjanović
Boban Marjanović ( sr-Cyrl, Бобан Марјановић; born August 15, 1988) is a Serbs, Serbian professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also plays for the Serbia national bas ...
, he was selected to
the Ideal Team of the
2013–14 ABA League
The 2013–14 ABA League was the 13th season of the ABA League, with 14 teams from Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Hungary participating in it.
Regular season started on October 4, 2013, and lasted unt ...
season. He was also named to the
All-EuroCup First Team
The EuroCup Basketball All-EuroCup Team is an annual award of the secondary level European-wide professional club basketball league, the EuroCup. The EuroCup is the European-wide professional basketball league that is one tier level below the ...
in 2014.
On July 22, 2014,
Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...
announced the signing of Nelson, on a 1+1 year-deal.
On September 25, 2015, he signed a one-month deal with the French team
Monaco, with the role to replace injured
Larry Drew II. On December 23, 2015, he signed for the rest of the season with the Spanish team
Unicaja, with the role to replace injured
Stefan Marković.
On October 15, 2016, Nelson signed with
ASVEL Basket
ASVEL Basket, commonly known as ASVEL or sometimes as ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne, and also known as LDLC ASVEL for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional basketball team that is located in the city of Villeurbanne, which is a suburb of Lyon ...
for the rest of the 2016–17 season. On July 8, 2017, he re-signed with ASVEL for two more seasons.
On January 29, 2020, he has signed with
Limoges CSP
Limoges Cercle Saint-Pierre, commonly referred to as Limoges CSP or CSP, is a French professional basketball club based in the city of Limoges.
History
The club was founded in 1929, but its peak was during the 1980s and 1990s, when they became t ...
of the
LNB Pro A
The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...
. Nelson re-signed with the team to a two-year extension on July 8, 2020.
Career statistics
NBA
Regular season
, -
, align="left" ,
, align="left" ,
Golden State
, 13 , , 5 , , 13.2 , , .444 , , .000 , , .357 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .2 , , 4.1
, - class="sortbottom"
, align="left" , Career
, align="left" ,
, 13 , , 5 , , 13.2 , , .444 , , .000 , , .357 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .2 , , 4.1
Domestic leagues
EuroLeague
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
, style="text-align:left;",
Cholet
, 10 , , 7 , , 25.6 , , .423 , , .313 , , .636 , , 3.3 , , 1.5 , , .5 , , .3 , , 9.2 , , 5.8
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
2013–14
, style="text-align:left;",
Crvena zvezda
, 10 , , 10 , , 26.8 , , .479 , , .286 , , .737 , , 4.0 , , 3.2 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 11.2 , , 13.0
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
2014–15
, style="text-align:left;",
Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...
, 18 , , 0 , , 17.8 , , .402 , , .130 , , .625 , , 2.4 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , .2 , , 5.8 , , 5.6
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:left;", Career
, style="text-align:left;",
, 38 , , 17 , , 22.2 , , .434 , , .239 , , .658 , , 3.1 , , 2.3 , , .7 , , .2 , , 8.1 , , 7.6
Personal life
DeMarcus attended high school at
Vallejo High School in
Vallejo, California and
Sheldon High School in
Sacramento, California. His Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years were at Vallejo and his Senior year was at Sheldon.
He attained
Serbian citizenship
Citizenship of Serbia is regulated by the ''Citizenship Law of the Republic of Serbia'', adopted in 2004 and based primarily on the principle of Jus sanguinis. Article 23 of the citizenship law stipulates that any foreign national with Serbian ...
on July 24, 2014, late for a possible extension with Crvena zvezda.
See also
*
List of KK Crvena zvezda players with 100 games played
KK Crvena zvezda is a men's professional basketball club based in Belgrade, Serbia. Crvena zvezda is a part of the Adriatic Basketball Association and competes in the ABA League, EuroCup and in the Basketball League of Serbia. The team play dom ...
References
External links
ABA League profileeurobasket.com profileEuroLeague profileDuke Blue Devils bioNBA D-League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Demarcus
1985 births
Living people
American men's basketball players
Serbian men's basketball players
American emigrants to Serbia
ABA League players
All-American college men's basketball players
American expatriate basketball people in Croatia
American expatriate basketball people in France
American expatriate basketball people in Germany
American expatriate basketball people in Italy
American expatriate basketball people in Serbia
American expatriate basketball people in Spain
American expatriate basketball people in Ukraine
AS Monaco Basket players
ASVEL Basket players
Austin Toros players
Bakersfield Jam players
Basketball players from Oakland, California
Baloncesto Málaga players
BC Donetsk players
Cholet Basket players
Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players
FC Bayern Munich basketball players
Golden State Warriors players
KK Crvena zvezda players
KK Zagreb players
Liga ACB players
Limoges CSP players
McDonald's High School All-Americans
Naturalized citizens of Serbia
Panathinaikos B.C. players
Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
Point guards
S.S. Felice Scandone players
Serbian expatriate basketball people in France
Serbian expatriate basketball people in Greece
Serbian expatriate basketball people in Monaco
Serbian expatriate basketball people in Spain
Serbian people of African-American descent
Shooting guards
Sportspeople from Elk Grove, California
Basketball players from Sacramento County, California
Undrafted National Basketball Association players