Deon La velle Thomas (; born February 24, 1971) is an American-Israeli former

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. As a high school player, he led his team to the

Chicago Public League The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admi ...

title, and was named Illinois Mr. Basketball. As a college player at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, he finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in

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history. Selected by the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

with the 28th selection of the

1994 NBA draft The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...

, he opted to play professional basketball in Europe and Israel.

High school career

Thomas was a star basketball player at

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's Neal F. Simeon Vocational High School, graduating in 1989. As a junior in 1988, he led the Wolverines to the

title. As a senior, he was named Illinois Mr. Basketball and played in the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is an American all-star basketball game played each year for boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the conclusion of the hi ...

, which also featured future

NBA 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 ...

star

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

College career

Thomas played

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 ...

at the

. Thomas finished his career as the all-time leading scorer in

history, with 2,129 career points scored and an 18.0 points per game scoring average. Thomas is the only men's basketball player in Illinois history to score at least 2,000 career points. Thomas was elected to the " Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.

Professional career

Thomas was selected by the

with the 28th selection of the

. Thomas attended mini camp but never played in the

, having opted to play professional basketball in Europe and Israel. Thomas played two years in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () 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 as football, basketball, j ...

, winning the Israeli championship, the Israeli cup, and the Euroleague championship twice. Thomas didn't play in the 2005 Final Four due to a broken leg. This injury forced him to leave Maccabi Tel Aviv. He then joined the

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team Gymnastikos S. Larissas, the

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n team

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

, and then returned to Israel where he played for Givat Shmuel. He then played for Maccabi Haifa, also in Israel. He is one of the most successful American pros of all time in the European leagues. Thomas has passed on several opportunities to play in the NBA. On 13 November 2006, in an interview for Bulgarian newspaper ''Tema Sport'' and Bulgarian television "Channel 3", Deon Thomas denied any wrongdoing and swore that he didn't receive anything from University of Illinois, as

Bruce Pearl Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team, where he is the school's all time leader in wins. He previously served in the same position ...

had claimed. He said the decision to play for Illinois was made by his grandmother.

Coaching/Announcing Career

In 2009, Thomas became the men's basketball head coach at

Lewis and Clark Community College Lewis and Clark Community College is a public community college in Godfrey, Illinois. It serves approximately 3,973 credit and non-credit students annually. The college has nine locations throughout the St. Louis Metro East, including a campu ...

Godfrey, Illinois Godfrey is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,825 at the 2020 census. Godfrey is located within the River Bend portion of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. History The village is named for Captai ...

. In April 2014, Thomas was named as an assistant basketball coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago. In 2016, he was hired by Fighting Illini Sports Network to call men's basketball games with Doug Altenberger.

Personal life

Thomas is now an Israeli citizen, and is married to an Israeli.

Honors

High school

* 1988 – IHSA 1st Team All-State * 1988 – IHSA State Tournament All-Tournament Team * 1989 – IHSA 1st Team All-State * 1989 –

Parade Magazine ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers nationwide in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a read ...

1st Team All-American * 1989 –

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* 1989 – Illinois Mr. Basketball * 2015 – Inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame as a player.

College

* 1991 – 3rd Team All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

* 1992 – Illini Team Co-Captain * 1992 – Illini MVP * 1992 – 2nd Team All-Big Ten * 1993 – Illini Team Co-Captain * 1993 – Illini MVP * 1993 – 2nd Team All-Big Ten * 1994 – Illini Team Co-Captain * 1994 – Illini MVP * 1994 – 2nd Team All-Big Ten * 1994 – Honorable Mention All American * 2004 – Elected to the " Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team". * 2008 – Honored as one of the thirty-three honored jerseys which hang in the

State Farm Center The State Farm Center is a large dome-shaped 15,544-seat indoor arena located in Champaign, Illinois, owned and operated by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The arena hosts games for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball, ...

to show regard for being the most decorated basketball players in the University of Illinois' history. * 2019 – Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame

College statistics

University of Illinois

* All-time leader in University of Illinois history

References

http://www.lc.cc.il.us/media/63181/release-deon%20thomas%2009.pdf

External links

Bruce Pearl's memo to the NCAA

Deon Thomas' player page at EuroBasket
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Deon Living people 1971 births Liga ACB players American emigrants to Israel American expatriate basketball people in Bulgaria American expatriate basketball people in Cyprus American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Baloncesto Málaga players Basketball players from Chicago Bàsquet Manresa players CB Girona players CB Gran Canaria players Real Betis Baloncesto players Centers (basketball) Dallas Mavericks draft picks Gymnastikos S. Larissas B.C. players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball announcers Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Israeli men's basketball players Israeli Basketball Premier League players Israeli people of African-American descent Maccabi Givat Shmuel players Maccabi Haifa B.C. players Maccabi Rishon LeZion basketball players Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C. players McDonald's High School All-Americans Naturalized citizens of Israel Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Power forwards 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen