Thomas van der Mars (born 15 November 1990) is a Dutch 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

Heroes Den Bosch Heroes Den Bosch is a Dutch professional basketball club based in 's-Hertogenbosch. The club plays in the BNXT League since 2021 and in the top basketball division in the Netherlands since 1972. Founded as EBBC in 1951, the club had several sponso ...

of the

BNXT League The BNXT League is a professional basketball league in Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is the first tier in both the Dutch and Belgian system, replacing the Dutch Basketball League, DBL and Pro Basketball League, PBL. The inaugural season ...

. Standing at 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), he usually plays as

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

Early career

A native of Gouda, van der Mars played for

Canarias Basketball Academy Canarias Basketball Academy is a basketball institute based in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Its senior team currently plays in the Spanish Basketball Federation with their U18 and U16 teams. The junior team usually participates in the Eurole ...

in Spain.

College

Thomas van der Mars played four years at Portland, averaging 13.5 pts and 7.2 rebs as a junior and 10.4 pts and 8.0 rebs as a senior.

Professional career

In August 2015, Van der Mars signed with Kavala B.C. 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 ...

. In January 2016, he parted ways with Kavala and signed with AVIS Rapla of the Estonian

KML Keyhole Markup Language (KML) is an XML notation for expressing geographic annotation and visualization within two-dimensional maps and three-dimensional Earth browsers. KML was developed for use with Google Earth, which was originally named Key ...

. Van der Mars had a successful season, as he claimed KML Most Valuable Player and

All-KML Team KML All-Star Five () is an award for the top-tier professional basketball league in Estonia, the Korvpalli Meistriliiga (KML). It is the yearly selection of the league's top five basketball players, by position. All-KML Team by season See also ...

honors on his way to the league finals. Over the 2017–18 season, he averaged 15.5 points (fifth in the league) and 12.3 rebounds per game (first in the league). With Rapla, he qualified for the team's first ever KML finals. However, Van der Mars and Rapla lost to Kalev Cramo, being swept 0–4. In the 2017 offseason, he signed with Estonian defending champions Kalev Cramo. On 4 July 2018, Van der Mars signed with

Crelan Okapi Aalstar Okapi Aalst is a Belgian professional basketball club from Aalst, Belgium. The club competes in the top tier BNXT League and plays its home games in the Okapi Forum, which has a seating capacity of 2,800 people. Okapi is a long-time participant ...

of the Belgian

Pro Basketball League The Pro Basketball League (PBL), was the highest tier level professional basketball league in Belgium for sports clubs, clubs. In 2021, the league was succeeded by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League. The league is organized by the Basketball League B ...

(PBL). On 30 July 2019, van der Mars returned to the Netherlands by signing a three-year contract with

New Heroes Den Bosch Heroes Den Bosch is a Dutch professional basketball club based in 's-Hertogenbosch. The club plays in the BNXT League since 2021 and in the top basketball division in the Netherlands since 1972. Founded as EBBC in 1951, the club had several sponso ...

of the

Dutch Basketball League The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...

(DBL). On 29 May 2022, he won his first national title with Den Bosch and was named the BNXT Dutch Finals MVP after averaging 11.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in the series against

ZZ Leiden ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a professional basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Sportcomplex 1574. Z ...

. Van der Mars had a game-high 16 rebounds in the decisive Game 5 win away in Leiden and was praised for his defence on Leiden' star player

Asbjørn Midtgaard Asbjørn Engelhardt Midtgaard (born 20 September 1997) is a Danish professional basketball player. He last played for the Antwerp Giants of the BNXT League. He played college basketball for the Wichita State Shockers and the Grand Canyon Antelope ...

. On 13 June 2022, he re-signed with Den Bosch for two more seasons; extending his contract to 2024.

International career

Van der Mars made his debut for the

Netherlands national basketball team The Netherlands men's national basketball team () represents the Netherlands in international basketball matches. The national team is governed by Basketball Nederland. The Dutch have reached the European Basketball Championship on 16 occasi ...

on 5 August 2016, in an 84–79 loss against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

External links

Portland Pilots bio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mars, Thomas van der 1990 births Living people 21st-century Dutch sportsmen BC Kalev/Cramo players Centers (basketball) Dutch Basketball League players Dutch expatriate basketball people in Belgium Dutch expatriate basketball people in Estonia Dutch expatriate basketball people in Greece Dutch expatriate basketball people in Spain Dutch expatriate basketball people in the United States Dutch men's basketball players Heroes Den Bosch players Kavala B.C. players Korvpalli Meistriliiga players Okapi Aalstar players Van der Mars, Thomas Rapla KK players Sportspeople from Gouda, South Holland