Deshaun Thomas

Early life

Even as a young man, these basketball prospects of Thomas were apparent to those who knew him. As a 5th-grade student at Northcrest Elementary School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thomas's height had already surpassed many of his teachers. As a middle-schooler at Northwood Middle School, Thomas led the school's basketball team to back-to-back Fort Wayne middle school championships.

High school career

Thomas attended Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne, where he was ranked as one of the top basketball players in the nation for the class of 2010. As a sophomore and then again as a junior, he led the Bishop Luers Knights to back-to-back Class 2A Indiana state championships. His 34 points and 15 rebounds in 2009 each stand as the second best ever in the class 2A state championship game.

Prior to Thomas, the Knights had never won a Summit Athletic Conference Holiday Basketball Tournament, and their overall history in the tournament still stands as the worst record of all-time. However, in 2007-2009, Thomas led the Knights to back-to-back-to-back three-peat tournament titles as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Thomas was a prolific scorer throughout his high school career. Thomas finished his career ranked 3rd best all-time among all Indiana high school boys' basketball players and 4th best all-time when considering both boys and girls.

As a freshman, Thomas orally committed to play for coach Thad Matta at the Ohio State University. For the season, Thomas averaged 28.95 points per game, finishing second in the state behind the 28.96 average of former Indiana Hoosier Eric Gordon.

As a senior, Thomas and his Luers teammates traveled to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the 2010 Ohio Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic, a seven-game showcase featuring high school teams of players recruited by Ohio State and other Division I universities. Luers draw in the program was the feature game of the year’s classic, against the nation's #1-rated high school team, Columbus Northland High School, coincidentally from the Buckeyes' home town. Northland featured two Buckeye recruits - Jared Sullinger, the previous year's Ohio Mr. Basketball and the #1 high school recruit in the nation; and J.D. Weatherspoon. A fourth OSU recruit, Jordan Sibert, also played in the classic. This four-man coupe are key reasons the Buckeyes had what some say was the #1 recruiting class for 2010. Although Northland won the game 88-67, Thomas led all scorers with 36 points. Sullinger contributed 24 points to Northland's total, and Weatherspoon added 8 points with output stunted due to foul trouble.

On February 11, 2010, Thomas played his last home basketball game for Bishop Luers. At that Senior Night game, it was announced to the fans that Thomas had been selected to the roster of the 2010 McDonald's All-American Boys Game. The game was played March 31, 2010 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center, home court of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Joining Thomas on the game's roster were Sullinger and Ray McCallum, Jr., a star guard from Detroit Country Day. Bishop Luers had played the McCallum-led Country Day earlier in Thomas' senior season.

On February 18, 2010, Thomas was named as a participant in Nike's 2010 Jordan Brand Classic, played April 17, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

On February 24, 2010, it was announced that Thomas was one of six finalists being considered for the 2010 Naismith Award, a prestigious honor given annually by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the high school boys' basketball player of the year. The 2010 recipient was future teammate Jared Sullinger.

On March 13, 2010, Thomas and the Bishop Luers Knights lost 70–68 in a stunning upset to the Southwood Knights in the regional tournament opening round. Thomas ended his high school career with 3,018 points, just the third player in Indiana boys' basketball to reach the 3,000 point level. The total fell just one point short of tying second place holder Marion Pierce.

On March 25, 2010, it was announced that Thomas was one of 26 players named to the Associated Press's Indiana All-Century team, a special team selected in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Indiana high school basketball tournament.

On March 29, 2010, it was announced that Thomas was selected as a first-team member of the 2010 Parade All-America Team.

The culmination of Thomas's career came April 3, 2010 when he was named recipient of the 2010 Indiana Mr. Basketball award.

On April 9, 2010, the Associated Press announced that Thomas had been named to their 1st-team Indiana high school All-State team. Thomas was the leading vote-getter among all honorees. The award marked the fourth time in his high school career that Thomas had been named a member of the team and the third straight time he was a 1st-team selection. Days later, Thomas was named as the first three-time winner of the Tiffany Gooden award, given annually to the best basketball player in the Summit Athletic Conference.

On May 21, 2010, in a ceremony at Bishop Luers, Thomas' #1 jersey was retired by the school. This was the first time in school history a jersey of any of its athletes had been retired.

On June 11–12, 2010, Thomas led the Indiana All-stars in a pair of games against cross-border rivals from Kentucky. Thomas played a significant role in the Indiana sweep of the two game series. He scored 18 points and added 13 rebounds as Indiana won the first game in Kentucky, and he scored a game-high 28 points and picked up 12 rebounds in the following night's victory in Indianapolis.

High school statistics

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College career

Thomas graduated from high school as a highly regarded five-star player who verbally committed to play for the Ohio State Buckeyes when he was still a high school freshman. As a senior on November 11, 2009, Thomas formalized his decision by signing a letter of intent with the Buckeyes.

College highlights

College statistics

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Professional career

Thomas was selected with the 58th overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs. He joined the Spurs for the 2013 NBA Summer League where he averaged 12.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in five games. On August 16, 2013, he signed with JSF Nanterre of France for the 2013–14 season. In 30 league games for Nanterre, he averaged 12.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.

In July 2014, Thomas re-joined the Spurs for the 2014 NBA Summer League where he averaged 10.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in six games. On August 31, 2014, he signed a one-year deal with FC Barcelona of the Liga ACB. In 43 league games, he averaged 8.4 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

On September 28, 2015, Thomas signed with the Spurs. However, he was later waived by the Spurs on October 21 after appearing in two preseason games. Nine days later, he was acquired by the Austin Spurs of the NBA Development League as an affiliate player of San Antonio.

On July 14, 2016, Thomas signed a 1+1 deal with Turkish club Anadolu Efes. On June 28, 2017, Efes officially opted out of their deal with Thomas, and the player became a free agent.

On July 17, 2017, Thomas signed a 1+1 deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Career statistics

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.