Oliver Lafayette (born May 6, 1984) is an American-born former Croatian 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. Standing at , he played at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

and

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

positions. A two-time EuroCup winner, Lafayette has also won the national championships in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

High school and college career

Lafayette attended Capitol High School in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

and led the basketball team to a 29–3 record his senior year. Lafayette attended first

Blinn College Blinn College is a public junior college in Brenham, Texas, with additional campuses in Bryan, Schulenburg, Sealy, and Waller. Brenham is Blinn's original and main campus, with housing and athletics. History Blinn was founded in 1884 as Mi ...

and

Brown Mackie College Brown Mackie College was a private for-profit college system in the United States. The colleges offered bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certificates in programs including early childhood education, information technology, health sci ...

before transferring to the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

. At Houston during his junior year, Lafayette started 30 of 31 games and earned 2nd team all Conference USA while finishing third in scoring in C-USA with a 15.7 points per game average. During his senior year in 2006–07, Lafayette averaged 14.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He also majored in sociology.

Professional career

Lafayette played with the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Noblesville Boom are an American professional basketball team based in Noblesville, Indiana that competes in the NBA G League. The Boom are the affiliate team of the NBA's Indiana Pacers and, since 2025, they have played their home games at ...

during the 2009–10 season 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, ...

. With the Mad Ants, the guard started 42 of 48 games and averaged 17.1 points, 6.5 assists and 1.8 steals in 35.3 minutes per game. On April 14, 2010, Lafayette signed with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

of the

National Basketball Association 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 ...

and appeared in one game with the team in which he scored 7 points. Upon playing with the Celtics, Lafayette became the 23rd former Houston Cougar to play in the NBA. On October 13, 2010, Lafayette signed with

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, lin ...

in Serbia, but the contract was terminated in November. In December 2010, Lafayette practiced with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, his former team. He was going to sign with the Mad Ants once he was officially released from Partizan Belgrade. After averaging 16.4 points per game with the Mad Ants, he signed a four-month contract with the Turkish team

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

. But due to health problems, his contract was dropped. In February 2011, Lafayette signed with

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 Israel. On October 5, 2011, he signed a one-year contract with

Asseco Prokom Gdynia Arka Gdynia, also known as AMW Arka Gdynia for sponsorship reasons, is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from Akademią Marynarki Wojennej. Historically t ...

in Poland. In January 2012, Lafayette signed with Anadolu Efes Istanbul for the remainder of the 2011–12 season. Later that year, he joined Žalgiris Kaunas. He signed with

Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup Basketball, EuroCup, and his Valencia Basket ...

in the offseason in 2013. On June 22, 2014, he signed a two-year deal with

Olympiacos Piraeus Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, b ...

. On June 29, 2015, he parted ways with Olympiacos. On July 9, 2015, he signed with the Italian club

Emporio Armani Milano Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano, commonly known as Olimpia Milano or as EA7 Emporio Armani Milan after its title sponsor, is an LBA Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy. Its colors are white and red, and the team is sometimes ...

. On July 18, 2016, Lafayette signed with Spanish team

Unicaja Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after the ...

. In April 2017, Lafayette won his second EuroCup with Unicaja after beating

Valencia BC Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup, and his women's team was created in 2014 and promoted to Liga Femenin ...

in the

Finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. On July 31, 2017, Lafayette signed with Italian club

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

. On November 13, 2018, Lafayette signed with Bosnian club Igokea.

International career

The

Croatian Basketball Federation The Croatian Basketball Federation () is a non-profit organization and the national sports governing body of basketball in Croatia. It was founded on 19 December 1948 as a member of the larger Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia. On 19 January 1 ...

asked for permission to give Oliver Lafayette a Croatian citizenship for sports interest, which the

Croatian Olympic Committee The Croatian Olympic Committee (, HOO) is the non-profit organization representing Croatian athletes in the International Olympic Committee. The COC organizes Croatia's representatives at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. It also organizes the ...

approved. Lafayette was awarded with a Croatian passport and represented

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

at the

2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the tournament previously known as the FIBA World Championship. The tournament was held from 30 August to 14 September 2014. Hosted by Spain, it was the la ...

Overseas Elite

In the summer of 2017, Lafayette joined two-time

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-invitation, single-elimination tournament, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States, with the stakes being a cash prize (the most recent tournament in The Basketball Tournam ...

defending champion

Overseas Elite Overseas Elite was an American basketball team that participated in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual winner-take-all single-elimination tournament. The team won the tournament four consecutive times: 2015 (prize money $1 million), 201 ...

. On August 3, 2017, Blair's team, Overseas Elite won its third straight The Basketball Tournament championship with an 86–83 victory over Team Challenge ALS on ESPN.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

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Euroleague

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2010–11 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 ...

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, 6 , , 3 , , 25.8 , , .221 , , .154 , , .654 , , 3.7 , , 3.3 , , 1.3 , , .0 , , 8.5 , , 6.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;",

Asseco Prokom Arka Gdynia, also known as AMW Arka Gdynia for sponsorship reasons, is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Gdynia. The team plays in the Polish PLK. The club's sponsorship name comes from Akademią Marynarki Wojennej. Historically t ...

, 10 , , 0 , , 24.5 , , .411 , , .381 , , .708 , , 2.5 , , 3.3 , , 1.4 , , .0 , , 10.7 , , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;",

Anadolu Efes Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü, commonly referred to as Anadolu Efes or simply Efes, is a Turkish professional basketball team based in Istanbul. Founded in 1976, the club was formerly known as Efes Pilsen until 2011. Efes is the 2021–22 EuroLeagu ...

, 6 , , 2 , , 23.0 , , .419 , , .313 , , .917 , , 3.2 , , 2.8 , , 1.5 , , .0 , , 8.7 , , 11.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 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 ...

, style="text-align:left;", Zalgiris , 23 , , 11 , , 21.2 , , .361 , , .323 , , .900 , , 2.1 , , 2.8 , , .9 , , .0 , , 7.9 , , 7.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2014–15 , style="text-align:left;",

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

, 29 , , 1 , , 18.3 , , .386 , , .404 , , .606 , , 2.1 , , 2.6 , , .5 , , .0 , , 6.8 , , 6.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2015–16 , style="text-align:left;",

Milano Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nearly 1.4 million, while i ...

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Domestic leagues

References

External links