Mario Deantwan Little (born December 29, 1987) 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 who last played for

Trotamundos de Carabobo Trotamundos B.B.C. (), also known as Trotamundos de Carabobo, is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, located in the Venezuelan Carabobo State. The team currently plays in the Venezuelan SuperLiga. The team has won the Venezuelan cham ...

of the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto. 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

Chipola College Chipola College is a public college in Marianna, Florida, United States. It is part of the Florida College System. History The school was founded in 1947 as Chipola Junior College; its name was changed in 2003 after the college developed sever ...

and

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 ...

before beginning his professional career in Ukraine. After three years in 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, ...

, Little began an overseas career that spanned Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South America.

High school career

Little attended George Washington High School in

Chicago, Illinois 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 ...

, where as a senior in 2005–06, he averaged 22 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, three steals and three blocks per game.

College career

Little played his first two college seasons at

, where he was named Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman, before being named both Player of the Year in the

Panhandle Conference The Panhandle Conference is a conference within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 8. The conference consists of four state colleges and one community college located in Florida. Members Member institutions are Chip ...

and an

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

All-American as a sophomore. In 2008, Little joined the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

. However, his first season as a Jayhawk resulted in him playing just 23 games due to injury. Little decided to redshirt the 2009–10 season in order to give his surgically repaired lower left leg time to heal. As a senior in 2010–11, Little served suspension between December 16 and January 12 after he was arrested on charges of battery, criminal damage and criminal trespassing following a pre-dawn fight with his girlfriend and others. In 32 games as a senior, he averaged 5.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13.7 minutes per game.

Professional career

Little's professional career began in December 2011 with Ukrainian team Dnipro-Azot Dniprodzerzhynsk. In 20 games for Dnipro, he averaged 11.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. For the 2012–13 season, Little joined the

Tulsa 66ers Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa ...

of the

. He saw limited action during the 2012–13 season, an experience he described as humbling.Mario Little shows big improvement for Tulsa 66ers
/ref> He returned to Tulsa for the 2013–14 season and was one of the top scorers on the team. After a Summer League stint with the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

, Little returned to the Tulsa 66ers for the 2014–15 season, with the franchise now known as the

Oklahoma City Blue The Oklahoma City Blue are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City and are affiliated with the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blue compete in the NBA G League as members of the Western Conference. The Blue play their home games ...

. However, his third season was cut short after being released in January 2015. In March 2015, Little had a four-game stint in Spain with

Bàsquet Manresa Club Bàsquet Manresa S.A.D., also known as Baxi Manresa for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Manresa, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Champions League. It home arena is the Pavelló Nou Congost. In ...

, before an injury saw him be replaced in the line-up by D. J. Seeley. For the 2015–16 season, Little played in South Korea for

Anyang KGC The Anyang Jung Kwan Jang Red Boosters () is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League, based at Anyang Gymnasium in the city of Anyang. The club has won four KBL championship titles ( 2011–12, 2016–17, 2020–21, and 2 ...

. He remained in the area during the off-season, as he had a four-game stint with Filipino team

TNT KaTropa The TNT Tropang 5G is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990. The fran ...

during the

2016 PBA Governors' Cup The 2016 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors' Cup, also known as the 2016 Oppo-PBA Governors' Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the third and last conference of the 2015–16 PBA season. Due to the preparations of the Philippines ...

. He then returned to Korea for the 2016–17 season, beginning with

Changwon LG Sakers Changwon LG Sakers are a professional basketball team located in the city of Changwon in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. They play in the Korean Basketball League (KBL), and their home arena is Changwon Gymnasium which has a capacity for ...

, then having a seven-game stint with

Seoul SK Knights The Seoul SK Knights () is a professional basketball club in the Korean Basketball League. The club was originally founded by Jinro Group in 1997 as Cheongju Jinro McCass. Before the official launch of the basketball club, Jinro Group filed fo ...

in December, and then returning to LG Sakers for the rest of the season. In March 2017, Little moved to Israel and joined

Maccabi Ashdod Maccabi Ashdod B.C. () is a professional basketball team based in the port city of Ashdod, Israel. The team currently plays in the Israeli National League. History The team was founded in 1961 by "Maccabi Ashdod Sports Association", with the ...

. In September 2017, Little played for Venezuelan team

Guaros de Lara The Guaros de Lara is a Venezuelan professional basketball club, that is based in Barquisimeto, Lara, Venezuela. Guaros de Lara BBC has existed as a club in various different forms since 1983. It has existed in its current form since 2003. The c ...

in the

FIBA Intercontinental Cup The FIBA Intercontinental Cup, previously known to as the FIBA World Cup for Champion Clubs and the FIBA Club World Cup, is an annual international men's basketball competition organised by FIBA, the sport's global governing body. The competit ...

, a game Guaros de Lara lost 76–71 to Iberostar Tenerife. For the 2017–18 season, Little played in Italy for VL Pesaro, but he only managed eight games after missing a large chuck of the season with an injury. Between March and July 2018, Little played for Guaros de Lara in the Liga Americas and the LPB. On August 3, 2018, Little signed with Croatian team

KK Zadar Košarkaški klub Zadar (), commonly referred to as KK Zadar or simply Zadar, is a men's professional basketball Sports club, club based in Zadar, Croatia. The club is a founding member and shareholder of the ABA League JTD, Adriatic Basketball A ...

. On August 15, 2019, Little signed with Ifaistos Limnou of the

Greek Basket League The Greek Basketball League (GBL), and also known as the Stoiximan Greek Basketball League (GBL) for sponsorship reasons, is the Greek basketball league system, first tier level professional basketball league in Greece. It is run by the ...

. He left the team in January 2020 after averaging 9.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 14 games. On October 11, 2020, Little signed with

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

. For the 2021–22 season, Little joined

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

of the Bulgarian National Basketball League (NBL). In January 2023, Little joined

Al-Rayyan Al Rayyan (; also spelled ''Ar Rayyan'') is the third-largest municipalities of Qatar, municipality in Qatar. Its primary settlement is the Al Rayyan (city), city of the same name, which occupies the entire eastern section and is a part of the Do ...

of the

Qatari Basketball League The Qatari Basketball League () is the top-tier men's basketball league operating in Qatar. The winning team obtains the participation right to the FIBA West Asia Super League. The first official season took place in 1981/82. There is a second ...

. Two months later, he joined

of the Superliga Profesional de Baloncesto.

NBA D-League career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 2012–13 , align="left" ,

, 15 , , 1 , , 12.4 , , .375 , , .167 , , 1.000 , , 2.1 , , .9 , , .4 , , .3 , , 3.9 , - , align="left" , 2013–14 , align="left" ,

, 50 , , 47 , , 36.2 , , .417 , , .366 , , .849 , , 4.2 , , 2.6 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 18.8 , - , align="left" , 2014–15 , align="left" ,

, 22 , , 19 , , 31.8 , , .410 , , .375 , , .846 , , 3.8 , , 3.0 , , .9 , , .2 , , 13.4 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 87 , , 67 , , 31.0 , , .413 , , .356 , , .852 , , 3.7 , , 2.4 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 14.9

Playoffs