Nathan Joseph Darling (born August 30, 1998) is a Canadian 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 San Diego Clippers of the

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

. 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

UAB Blazers The UAB Blazers are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs that represent the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The school is one of the fourteen member institutions of the American Athletic Conference and participates in Divisi ...

and the

Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens The Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens are the athletic teams of the University of Delaware (UD) of Newark, Delaware, in the United States. The Blue Hens compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of Division I of the National Collegiat ...

. He is the first and only Blue Hens player in

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

history.

High school career

Darling attended

DeMatha Catholic High School DeMatha Catholic High School is a four-year Catholic high school for boys located in Hyattsville, Maryland, United States. Named after John of Matha, DeMatha is under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a member of the Washin ...

and was teammates with top recruit

Markelle Fultz Markelle N'Gai Fultz (born May 29, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Washington Huskies before being selected by the P ...

and football star

Chase Young Chase Young (born April 14, 1999) is an American professional football defensive end for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he was a unanimous All-America ...

College career

Darling began his collegiate career at UAB and averaged 2.5 points per game. As a sophomore, he averaged 10.1 points per game while shooting 40.9 percent on three-pointers. Following the season, he decided to transfer to the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

. On December 14, 2019, Darling scored a game-high 29 points against 20th-ranked Villanova in a 78–70 loss, after which his head coach

Martin Ingelsby Martin Ingelsby (born November 24, 1978) is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach for the University of Delaware. Ingelsby played basketball at Archbishop Carroll High School and Notre Dame. He was a standout point gu ...

said he was playing like one of the best guards in college basketball. As a junior, Darling averaged 21 points per game. He earned first-team All-

Colonial Athletic Association The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA), formerly the ECAC South Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA' ...

(CAA) honors. After the season, he declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecticut, wi ...

while retaining college eligibility. However, on August 3 he announced he was remaining in the draft and turning professional.

Professional career

Charlotte Hornets (2020–2021)

After going undrafted in the

, Darling signed a

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless o ...

with 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 Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...

. Under the terms of the deal, he will split time between the Hornets and their

affiliate, the

Greensboro Swarm The Greensboro Swarm are an American basketball team of the NBA G League based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and are affiliated with the Charlotte Hornets. The Swarm play their home games at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. The team became the ...

. This united him with Canadian assistant coach

Jay Triano Howard James "Jay" Triano

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

, hitting a three-pointer in the fourth quarter, and became the first Nova Scotia born player in NBA history.

Agua Caliente / Ontario / San Diego Clippers (2021–present)

On October 16, 2021, Darling was signed by the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...

, but was waived shortly thereafter. On October 23, he was selected by the Agua Caliente Clippers fifth overall in the

2021 NBA G League draft 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. On February 17, 2023, Darling signed a two-way contract with the

. He was waived four days later without having played a game for the NBA team. On February 23, he was reacquired by the

Ontario Clippers The San Diego Clippers are a professional basketball team based in San Diego County, California, that competes in the NBA G League. The team plays its home games at Frontwave Arena. The Clippers began play in the 2017–18 NBA G League season, 20 ...

. On October 9, 2023, Darling signed with the

, but was waived on October 20, prior to the start of the 2023–24 season. Ten days later, he rejoined the

. On September 20, 2024, Darling signed with the

, but was waived on October 12. On October 28, he rejoined the San Diego Clippers.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Charlotte , 7 , , 0 , , 3.7 , , .286 , , .286 , , 1.000 , , .1 , , .1 , , .0 , , .1 , , 1.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 7 , , 0 , , 3.7 , , .286 , , .286 , , 1.000 , , .1 , , .1 , , .0 , , .1 , , 1.3

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2016–17 , style="text-align:left;", UAB , 30 , , 1 , , 9.4 , , .491 , , .462 , , .500 , , .5 , , .5 , , .1 , , .0 , , 2.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", UAB , 33 , , 31 , , 28.0 , , .477 , , .409 , , .830 , , 3.0 , , 2.8 , , .4 , , .3 , , 10.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

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

Redshirt , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 38.3 , , .446 , , .399 , , .854 , , 3.9 , , 2.8 , , .8 , , .2 , , 21.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 95 , , 64 , , 25.6 , , .459 , , .408 , , .841 , , 2.5 , , 2.1 , , .4 , , .2 , , 11.4

References

External links

Delaware Blue Hens bioUAB Blazers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Nate 1998 births Living people 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Agua Caliente Clippers players Basketball people from Nova Scotia Canadian expatriate basketball people in the United States Canadian men's basketball players Charlotte Hornets players Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens men's basketball players DeMatha Catholic High School alumni Greensboro Swarm players Ontario Clippers players San Diego Clippers (NBA G League) players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Halifax, Nova Scotia UAB Blazers men's basketball players Undrafted NBA players