Elijah Thomas (born October 10, 1996) 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 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 ...

for the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname " Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Agg ...

and

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

Early life and high school career

Thomas grew up in

South Dallas South Dallas is an area in Dallas, Texas. It is south of Downtown Dallas, bordered by Trinity River on the west, Interstate 30 on the north, and the Great Trinity Forest to the south and east. In recent years the City of Dallas and organizations ...

and befriended

Jordan Mickey Jordan Grayson Mickey (born July 9, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for Virtus Bologna of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for LSU Tigers basketball, Louisiana State Univers ...

in elementary school. When

Deion Sanders Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time", he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons ...

opened Prime Prep Academy, both Mickey and Thomas decided to join. Prior to his junior season, Thomas transferred to Lancaster High School in

Lancaster, Texas Lancaster ( ) is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States. Its population was 41,275 according to the 2020 census. Founded in 1852 as a frontier post, Lancaster is one of Dallas County's earliest settlements. Today, it is a suburban communi ...

. In the final game of the regular season, he had 39 points and 20 rebounds as Lancaster defeated MacArthur High School 87–66. Thomas was named District 15-4A most valuable player as a junior. As a senior, he helped the team win the Class 5A state championship and averaged 26 points and 14 rebounds per game. Ranked the No. 29 recruit in his class according to ESPN, he committed to

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...

, the first school to offer him a scholarship, on October 21, 2014. Thomas chose the Aggies over offers from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

and

SMU Educational institutions * St. Martin's University, Lacey, Washington, United States * St. Matthew's University, the Cayman Islands * St. Michaels University School, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada * Saint Monica University, Cameroon * Samuel ...

College career

Thomas averaged 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds per game as a freshman, but saw his minutes decline due to the emergence of Tyler Davis. On January 6, 2016, he announced he was transferring to Clemson after taking visits to

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

. As a sophomore, Thomas averaged 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. On November 24, 2017, he posted career highs of 26 points and 16 rebounds in an 84–77 victory over

Texas Southern Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...

. He averaged 10.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game as a junior, shooting 56 percent from the floor. Thomas was named to the

ACC ACC most often refers to: *Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular speci ...

All-Defensive Team. He had nine double-doubles and helped the Tigers reach to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997. As a senior, Thomas averaged 13 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game. He was named to the ACC All-Defensive Team for the second straight season, as well as Honorable Mention All-ACC. He was the seventh Clemson player to compile 900 points, 600 rebounds and 150 blocks.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2019 NBA draft The 2019 NBA draft was held on June 20, 2019. It took place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, i ...

, Thomas joined the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

for

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 ...

. On July 18, 2019, he signed his first professional contract with

Wonju DB Promy The Wonju DB Promy is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League (KBL), located in the city of Wonju. From its founding in 1996, the team has always been based in its home province of Gangwon. It has the rare distinction of b ...

of the

Korean Basketball League The Korean Basketball League (KBL; ) is a professional men's basketball league in South Korea which was established in 1997. The league consists of ten teams and each team plays a total of 54 games (27 home and 27 away) in the regular season. H ...

. He did not appear in a game for the team. On January 12, 2020, Thomas signed with

Larisa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basket League (GBL), often also referred to as the Greek A1 Basketball League, or Greek Basketball Championship (originally called Panhellenic Basketball Championship), and also known as the Stoiximan Basket League for sponsorship reaso ...

. In five games, he averaged 6.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. Thomas started the 2020–21 season in Romania with

Steaua București Steaua or Steaua București may refer to: * CSA Steaua București, a Romanian multi-sports club * CSA Steaua București (football), the football team of the multi-sports club * Fotbal Club FCSB, a football team that used this name between 2003 ...

. In January 2021, after initially signing with

Kyiv-Basket ) , leagues = , conference = , division = , founded = 1992 (reestablished in 2017) , dissolved = 1998 , history = , arena = Palace of Sports , capacity = 7,000 , location ...

of the

Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague The Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague (USL) ( uk, Українська баскетбольна суперліга) is the first-tier level of professional basketball league in Ukraine. Established in 1992, the league is currently contested by 10 c ...

, he joined

Bnei Herzliya Bnei Herzliya Basket (, lit. ''Sons of Herzliya''), is a professional basketball club that is based in Herzliya, in the Sharon district in Israel. The club plays in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top division of Israeli basketball. ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl ( he, ליגת העל, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is the top-tier level league of professional competition in Israeli club basketball, making it Israel's primary basketball ...

for the rest of the season. In August and September 2021, Thomas had a four-game stint in Puerto Rico with

Grises de Humacao Grises de Humacao (lit. "Humacao Greys") is a basketball team based in Humacao, Puerto Rico, which competes in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) professional league. History The team was originally created in 2005, when the Toritos de Caye ...

. In October 2021, Thomas joined the

Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirt ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

after a successful tryout. He was waived on December 25, 2021. On February 18, 2022, he signed with

Taoyuan Leopards The Taoyuan Leopards ( zh, 桃園永豐雲豹) are a Taiwanese professional basketball team based in Taoyuan City, Taiwan. They compete in the T1 League since the 2021–22 season, and play their home game at the National Taiwan Sport University ...

of the

T1 League The T1 League is a Taiwanese men's professional basketball league founded in 2021. It is the third professional basketball league in Taiwan after the Chinese Basketball Alliance (CBA) and the P. League+ (PLG). In the 2022–23 season, the T ...

for the rest of the 2021–22 season. In July 2022, Thomas had a two-game stint with Titanes de Licey in the Dominican Republic and a one-game stint with Gladiadores de Anzoategui in Venezuela. Thomas started the 2022–23 season in Japan with

Earth Friends Tokyo Z The Earth Friends Tokyo Z is a professional basketball team that competes in the second division of the Japanese B.League. Roster Notable players * Shinji Akiba * Zach Andrews *Cinmeon Bowers *Ruben Boykin * Kyle Casey * Will Cr ...

. He returned to Taiwan in January 2023 and joined

Kaohsiung Aquas The Kaohsiung Aquas ( zh, 高雄全家海神) are a Taiwanese professional basketball team based in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. They have competed in the T1 League since the 2021–22 season, and play their home games at the Kaohsiung Arena. The Aqu ...

. He was released from his contract in March. After a one-game stint with Pioneros de Los Mochis in Mexico, he joined Turkish team Final Spor Genclik Bursa in April 2023. On June 22, 2023, Thomas signed with the

Wellington Saints The Wellington Saints are a New Zealand basketball team based in Wellington. The Saints compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at TSB Bank Arena. Team history The Wellington Saints were founded in 1981. In ...

for the rest of the

2023 New Zealand NBL season The 2023 NBL season was the 42nd season of the National Basketball League. For the third year in a row, the league fielded 10 teams. The regular season commenced on 6 April in Pukekohe, with the Franklin Bulls hosting the Hawke's Bay Hawks at Fr ...

References

External links