Dayon Demond Mallet (born February 22, 1978) is a retired 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. 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 ...

McNeese State University McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. M ...

. Mallet spent 17 seasons as a professional player, in multiple European leagues afterwards, and won multiple championships and was named the

Most Valuable Player 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 ...

of several competitions. Mallet won a German League

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

, and the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesl ...

title. He also won the ULEB Cup championship (which is now called the EuroCup), and he won the prestigious Spanish King's Cup title, with the team

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

. Joventut later honored Mallet in his last game with the team. Mallet also won the Belgian League MVP in 2011, and the Belgium League championship that same year.

High school

Mallet attended Leesville High, in

Leesville, Louisiana Leesville is a city in, and the parish seat of, Vernon Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 6,612 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the Fort Polk South Micropolitan Statistical Area and is additionally served by ...

, where he played high school basketball.

College career

After high school, Mallet enrolled at

, where he played

with the

McNeese State Cowboys The McNeese Cowboys and Cowgirls are composed of 14 teams representing McNeese State University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, and track and field. Men's sports include baseball and foo ...

. He was an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

All-American Honorable Mention in 2001. He was also named the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

, of the 2000–01 season. Mallet was inducted in the

Hall of Fame in 2012.

Professional career

After college, Mallett played in the 2001

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 ...

, with the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

' summer league squad. He also played in the 2002 NBA Summer League, with the summer league squad of the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of ...

. Mallet played several years in Germany, in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

, the country's premier basketball league, but later moved to Spain, and then Turkey; and in 2010, Belgium, where he signed a two-year contract, to reportedly become the highest-paid player in Belgium at the time. In December 2011, he moved from the Belgium club, during the 2011–12 season, where he was rated as one of the best point guards in the EuroLeague that season, to

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 ...

, in Israel, with whom he signed a one-year contract. In April 2012, after not getting enough playing time in the rotation of Maccabi Tel Aviv, he returned to

Spirou Charleroi Spirou Charleroi, commonly known simply as Spirou, is a Belgian professional basketball club that is located in Charleroi. The club competes in the BNXT League, the highest tier of basketball in Belgium. The club's home arena is the Spiroudome wh ...

, through the end of the 2011–12 season. The following year, Mallet signed a two-year deal with the

Artland Dragons QTSV Quakenbrück, representing its professional team as Artland Dragons, is a basketball club based in Quakenbrück, Germany. Their home arena was the Artland Arena, which has room for 3,000 spectators. From 2003 till 2015 the club played in the B ...

, which was rumored to be the largest contract ever given to a point guard in the German Basketball League. He returned to Spirou again, after that season, and then became a player of

FIATC Joventut Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

, where he worked as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. Mallet was honored by Joventut, at the club's arena, on May 22, 2016, with a banner and retirement of his jersey, for all of his accomplishments with the club. On January 10, 2017, Mallet signed with the French club

SLUC Nancy Stade Lorrain Université Club Nancy Basket, commonly referred to as SLUC Nancy Basket, is a French professional basketball club based in Nancy. The club currently competes in the LNB Pro A, the top league in France, and holds two league titles. S ...

, for the rest of the

2016–17 Pro A season The 2016–17 Pro A season was the 95th season of the Pro A, the top basketball league in France organised by the Ligue Nationale de Basket (LNB). The season started on 24 September 2016 and ended on 24 June 2017. A total of 330 games were playe ...

. After last playing in 2017, he officially announced his retirement from playing professional basketball, in February 2018, and on February 23, 2018, Mallet was honored in ceremony by

Brose Bamberg Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

, the club he helped win their first championship to enter the Euroleague.

Awards and accomplishments

College

* Southland Player of the Year: (2001) * All-American Honorable Mention: (

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

)

Professional

*5× German League All-Star: (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) * German League

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, ...

: (2005) * German League All-Star Game MVP: (2007) *

Winner: (2007) *

MVP: (2007) * Spanish King's Cup Winner: (2008) * EuroCup Champion: (2008) * Belgian League MVP: (2011) *

Belgian League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

Champion: (2011) *

Israeli State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involv ...

Winner: (2012)

Personal

References

External links

Demond Mallett
at euroleague.net

at fibaeurope.com
Demond Mallett
at acb.com
Demond Mallett
at eurobasket.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Mallet, Demond 1978 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey Artland Dragons players Basketball Löwen Braunschweig players Basketball players from Louisiana Brose Bamberg players Joventut Badalona players Köln 99ers players Liga ACB players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players McNeese Cowboys basketball players People from Leesville, Louisiana Point guards Shooting guards SLUC Nancy Basket players Spirou Charleroi players Türk Telekom B.K. players American men's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople