Darnell Marcus Lamar Fizer (born August 10, 1978) is an American 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.

High school career

Fizer played high school basketball at Arcadia High School in

Arcadia, Louisiana Arcadia is a town in and the parish seat of Bienville Parish in northern Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,919 at the 2010 census. Arcadia has the highest elevation of any incorporated municipality in Louisiana. Arcadia's name co ...

. As a senior, Fizer was selected to play 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 ...

College career

Iowa State Cyclones head coach Tim Floyd became aware of Fizer's potential while coaching in Louisiana and interested Fizer in playing collegiate basketball at Iowa State University. Fizer became the first McDonald's All-American to play for the Cyclones. Tim Floyd left Iowa State to coach the

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of the

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after Fizer's freshman year and was replaced by Larry Eustachy. While playing for both Floyd and Eustachy, Fizer accumulated many

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and national accolades including All-Big 12 honorable mention (freshman), National first-team All-Freshman, first team All-Big 12 (sophomore and junior), Big 12 Player of the Year (junior), Big 12 tournament Most Outstanding Player (junior), and consensus first-team All-America (junior). He led the Big 12 in scoring his sophomore and junior seasons. Following a Big 12 regular season title, Big 12 tournament title, and NCAA Tournament Elite Eight finish his junior year, Fizer elected to declare for the

NBA draft The NBA draft is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) annual event, dating back to 1947 BAA draft, 1947, in which the teams in the league can Draft (sports), draft players who declare for the draft and that are Eligibility for the NBA dr ...

. Fizer is ranked fifth on ISU's career scoring list with 1,830 points recorded during his three seasons.

Professional career

Fizer was selected with the fourth pick of the

2000 NBA draft The 2000 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2000, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. It was the last draft held at the home arena of an NBA team until 2011; the following and subsequent drafts (through 2010) all took place at The Theater at Madis ...

by the

, coached by Tim Floyd, the coach that recruited him to Iowa State. His debut game was played on October 31, 2000, in an 81 - 100 loss to the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

where he recorded 16 points and 4 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. Many analysts suspected that the Bulls had drafted Fizer merely to trade him for another player, since the Bulls already had Elton Brand at the power forward position. However, no such trade ever took place, and Fizer spent the next four years with the Bulls. He never averaged more than 12.3 points per game. Fizer tore his ACL in late January 2003. In 2004, he was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats in the

expansion draft An expansion draft, in professional sports, occurs when a sports league decides to create one or more new expansion teams or sports franchising, franchises. This occurs mainly in Sports in North America, North American sports and closed leagues. O ...

. Not making their final roster, he signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

with the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

. After one season in Milwaukee, he failed to sign a free agent deal with another team. In November 2005, he signed with the

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of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

. On March 8, 2006, Fizer signed a 10-day contract with the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

, but did not play any games for them. On March 31, 2006, he was named the

MVP for the 2005–2006 season. The same day, he was signed to a 10-day contract with the

New Orleans Hornets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

. Fizer only played 3 games with New Orleans with averages of 6.7 points, 2.3 rebounds on 53% FG shooting. Fizer's final NBA game was played on April 19, 2006, in a 95 - 115 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Fizer recorded 9 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist. He appeared in 289 career

games, making 35 starts and averaging 9.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 1.2 apg, shooting .435 from the floor and .691 from the free throw line in 20.9 mpg. Fizer scored 20+ points 17 times, with 10+ rebounds on 22 occasions in his four-year NBA career. Fizer played for the gold medal-winning United States team at the 2001

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia while averaging 4.8 points and 3.0 rebounds, shooting .550 from the floor.

Post NBA

In the summer of 2006 he signed a one-year contract with Polaris World Murcia of the Spanish league ACB. Then he played with

Capitanes de Arecibo The Capitanes de Arecibo are a Puerto Rican professional basketball team based in Arecibo that competes in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) league. In 2010, the team also had the distinction to play in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) ...

, in the Puerto Rico professional basketball league (BSN). In 2007 Fizer signed a two-year deal with the Israeli team

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 ...

. In the 2007–2008 season the Israeli Super League club reached the

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

championship game, eventually losing to

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. Fizer was unable to play in the later stages of the Euroleague due to a knee injury that led to the termination of his contract with Maccabi just before the 2008–2009 season started. In February 2010, Fizer signed with the

Guaynabo Mets The Guaynabo Mets are a Puerto Rican professional basketball team based in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, competing in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN), the island's premier basketball league, as part of its East Division. Originally founded in 19 ...

of Puerto Rico, along with Antoine Walker. In 11 games he averaged 13.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. In December 2011, Fizer signed with the Taiwan Mobile Clouded Leopards of Taiwan. He was later released after playing just one game with them, despite scoring an impressive 23 points, 13 rebounds and 2 assists. In September 2012, Fizer joined

Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca Club Estudiantes de Bahía Blanca is an Argentine sports club based in Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires Province. The club is best known for its basketball team, that currently played in the main levels of Argentina, including Campeonato Argentino an ...

of Argentina. In 13 games he averaged 17.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

Personal

Fizer has 31 tattoos. Off the court, he has served as a youth minister. Fizer said in an interview, "My uncle, who was my mother's brother, was taking her to get an abortion, and I don't know if he lost the car or what, but he lost control and crashed into a church. The members of the church helped them and the minister told them 'whatever you're thinking about doing, don't do it, because you're carrying a minister' without her even showing signs of pregnancy."A TLN Exclusive Interview with Former #4 Pick Marcus Fizer
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NBA statistics

Regular season

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Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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, 76 , , 20 , , 25.8 , , .438 , , .171 , , .668 , , 5.6 , , 1.6 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 12.3 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 38 , , 0 , , 21.3 , , .465 , , .167 , , .657 , , 5.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 11.7 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 46 , , 2 , , 16.0 , , .383 , , .118 , , .750 , , 4.4 , , 0.9, , 0.3 , , 0.2 , , 7.8 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, 54 , , 0 , , 16.7 , , .455 , , .000 , , .680 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.2 , , 6.2 , - , align="left" , , align="left" , New Orleans/OKC , 3 , , 0 , , 13.0 , , .529 , , 1.000 , , .500 , , 2.3 , , 0.3 , , 1.2 , , 0.0 , , 6.7 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 289 , , 35 , , 20.9 , , .435 , , .191 , , .691 , , 4.6 , , 1.2 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 9.6

References

External links