Liam Robert Thomas (born 20 July 1994) is an Australian former 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. 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 Nicholls State.

Early life

Thomas played basketball for

Central Private School Central Private School (CPS) or Central Private (CP) is a private education institution located in Central, Louisiana. History The school was founded in the 1967 amidst the court ordered desegregation of public schools. CPS is one of several ...

Central, Louisiana Central is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, third largest city in East Baton Rouge Parish, and part of the Baton Rouge metropolitan statistical area. Central had a 2020 census population of 29,565. History Long an unincorporated subur ...

. As a senior, he averaged 14.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 9.1 blocks per game. Thomas recorded 10 points, eight rebounds and eight blocks to lead his team to its first ever Mississippi Association of Independent Schools title.

College career

Thomas was a four-year college basketball starter at Nicholls State. His coach J. P. Piper wanted to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Sports * Redshirt (college sports) Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically ...

him for his first year, but Thomas did not agree with the idea. Thomas posted 8.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game as a junior. As a junior, Thomas blocked 85 shots, a single-season school record, and became his program's all-time leader in blocks. In his senior season, he led the NCAA Division I with 4.19 blocks per game and 130 blocks, while averaging 7.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Thomas was named Southland Defensive Player of the Year and Third Team All-Southland. He left with the third-most blocks in Southland history.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2017 NBA draft The 2017 NBA draft was held on June 22, 2017, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting U.S. college basketball players and other eligible players, including international players. ...

, Thomas signed with AV Ohrid of the

Macedonian First League The Macedonian First Football League (), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competition in Macedonia. It is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of t ...

and

ABA League Second Division The ABA League Second Division, also ABA League 2, is the 2nd-tier men's basketball division of the ABA League system. It is run by the ABA League JTD. It is a regional competition between men's professional clubs from six countries: Bosnia and ...

. On 28 November 2017, he was released by the club. In the 2018–19 season, Thomas joined the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales, and play their home games at Qudos Ba ...

of the Australian National Basketball League as a development player. He signed with the Diamond Valley Eagles of the semi-professional

NBL1 The NBL1 is a semi-professional basketball league in Australia run by the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of five conferences: NBL1 South, NBL1 North, NBL1 Central, NBL1 West and NBL1 East, with each consisting of bot ...

on 22 February 2019. For his next season, Thomas played for the Sutherland Sharks of the semi-professional

Waratah League NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an intern ...

References

External links

Nicholls State Colonels bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Liam 1994 births Living people Australian men's basketball players Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Basketball players from Sydney Nicholls Colonels men's basketball players Power forwards Sportsmen from New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportsmen