Derryck Andre Thornton Jr. (born May 30, 1997) is an American 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 Leicester Riders of the British Basketball league. He 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 ...

for the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the N ...

, the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans (also Southern California Trojans) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ...

, and the

Boston College Eagles The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

High school career

After attending

Sierra Canyon School Sierra Canyon School (SCS) is a private, coeducational university-preparatory day school located in Los Angeles, California. Sierra Canyon enrolls students in preschool through grade 12. Sierra Canyon School is accredited by the California A ...

Chatsworth, Los Angeles Chatsworth is a suburban neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The area around the town was home to Native Americans, who left caves containing rock art. Chatsworth was explored and colonized by the Spanish Empire ...

as a freshman, Thornton transferred to

Findlay Prep Findlay Prep is a former high school basketball program located in Henderson, Nevada. History The program was created in 2006 by local businessman Cliff Findlay, who owns several car dealerships in the Las Vegas area. Despite closing its hig ...

Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with 317,610 residents. The city is part of the Las Vegas V ...

. As a junior, he averaged 17 points and 6.2 assists per game, leading his team to a 29–3 record. He graduated one year early by taking courses online and at a local

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

Recruiting

On April 21, 2015, Thornton committed to play college basketball for

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

over offers from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

. Coach

Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( , ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980–81 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, 1980 to 2021� ...

convinced him to reclassify to the 2015 class to replace point guard

Tyus Jones Tyus Robert Jones (born May 10, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The older brother of NBA player Tre Jones, he previously played for his hometown team, the Mi ...

, who was leaving to play professionally. Thornton was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the highest ranked

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

s in his class.

College career

As a freshman at Duke, Thornton made 20 starts but saw his playing time fluctuate despite being the only pure point guard on the team. He averaged 7.1 points and 2.5 assists per game. Following the season Thornton transferred to

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, choosing the Trojans over

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. After sitting out a season as a redshirt, he averaged 3.8 points and 1.2 assists per game off the bench. As a redshirt junior, Thornton started 27 games and averaged 7.7 points and 4.3 assists per game. He opted to transfer after the season as a graduate transfer and committed to

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

after considering Gonzaga,

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

, Auburn and St. John's. Thornton averaged 12.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals per game in his final season at Boston College.

Professional career

On August 27, 2020, Thornton signed his first professional contract with

Borac Čačak Borac may refer to: * FK Borac Banja Luka, a football club from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina ** RK Borac Banja Luka, an affiliated team handball club ** OK Borac, an affiliated volleyball club * FK Borac Čačak, a football club from Čač ...

of the

Basketball League of Serbia The Basketball League of Serbia (), commonly abbreviated as KLS, is a Serbian basketball league system, top-tier men's professional basketball Sports league, league in Serbia. Founded in 2006. It is currently not run by the Basketball Federation o ...

. He averaged 4.9 points and 1.5 assists per game. On December 17, 2021, Thornton signed with the

Kapfenberg Bulls Kapfenberg Bulls, also known simply as Bulls, is a professional basketball club that is based in Kapfenberg, Styria, Austria. The team plays in the Austrian Basketball Superliga. The Bulls have won seven national championships, four Austrian Cu ...

of the

Austrian Basketball Superliga The Austrian Basketball Superliga (English: Basketball Super League) is the highest tier basketball league in Austria. Established in 2019, it replaced the Austrian Basketball Bundesliga (ABL) as the first level competition in the country. The win ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 20 , , 26.0 , , .390 , , .325 , , .690 , , 1.8 , , 2.5 , , .8 , , .2 , , 7.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;",

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="11",

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 1 , , 14.2 , , .363 , , .318 , , .852 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , .7 , , .2 , , 3.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 27 , , 27.7 , , .382 , , .286 , , .660 , , 2.8 , , 4.3 , , 1.2 , , .1 , , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 29 , , 31.4 , , .376 , , .263 , , .786 , , 2.8 , , 3.4 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 12.7 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 122 , , 77 , , 25.3 , , .380 , , .290 , , .744 , , 2.2 , , 2.9 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 7.9

References

External links

Boston College Eagles bioUSC Trojans bioDuke Blue Devils bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Derryck 1997 births Living people ABA League players African-American baseball players American expatriate basketball people in Serbia American men's basketball players Basketball people from California Boston College Eagles men's basketball players Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players KK Borac Čačak players Point guards People from Woodland Hills, Los Angeles USC Trojans men's basketball players 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen