Nationality American Pro career 2000–2011 Weight 116 kg Name Etan Thomas Career start 2001 | Listed weight 260 lb (118 kg) Role Basketball player Height 2.08 m | |
 | ||
Born April 1, 1978 (age 46) Harlem, New York ( 1978-04-01 ) NBA draft 2000 / Round: 1 / Pick: 12th overall Education Booker T. Washington High School, Syracuse University | ||
Listed height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) | ||
Nba all star weekend fatherhood panel with etan thomas and guests
Dedrick Etan Thomas (; born April 1, 1978) is an American retired professional basketball player who played 9 seasons in the NBA. He is also a published poet, freelance writer, and motivational speaker.
Contents
- Nba all star weekend fatherhood panel with etan thomas and guests
- Nba player etan thomas discusses fatherhood athletic stereotypes
- Early life
- College
- Professional career
- Other work
- Political activism and social causes
- References
Nba player etan thomas discusses fatherhood athletic stereotypes
Early life
His name is derived from the 18th dynasty "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten, an ancient Egyptian king.
College
Thomas played his college basketball at Syracuse University from 1996–2000, where he averaged 11 points per game and almost 7 rebounds per game and graduated with a degree in business management. His senior year he was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year. At the end of his Syracuse career, Thomas was drafted 12th overall in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He also played basketball at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, OK, where he was a teammate of De'mond Parker, R.W. McQuarters and Ryan Humphrey.
Professional career
Without ever playing a game for the Mavericks, he was traded to the Washington Wizards in 2001. He averaged 4.3 points and 3.9 rebounds throughout the 2001–02 season.
During the Wizards' training camp for the 2007–08 NBA season, a routine physical examination discovered that he had a leaking aortic valve. On October 11, 2007, Thomas successfully underwent open heart surgery. He returned to play for the Wizards on October 29, 2008, a full year after his surgery. In his first game back, he had 10 points and eight rebounds.
On June 23, 2009, he was traded along with Oleksiy Pecherov, Darius Songaila, and a first-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.
On July 27, 2009, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder along with a 2010 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2010 second-round draft pick in exchange for guards Chucky Atkins and Damien Wilkins.
On September 2, 2010, it was announced that the Atlanta Hawks had signed Thomas.
Other work
In 2011, Thomas starred in the dramatic production of Thornton Wilder's play Our Town.
In 2005, Thomas released a book of poetry titled More Than an Athlete: Poems by Etan Thomas which included works critical of former Wizards head coach Doug Collins.
In 2012, Thomas co-authored the autobiography Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge, which he discusses his fatherless childhood and the importance of fatherhood.
Political activism and social causes
In September 2005, Thomas was one of several celebrities to speak at an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. He also spoke out at the September 15, 2007 anti-war protest in Washington D.C. He blogs for The Huffington Post.
Thomas actively supported Barack Obama's 2008 campaign for U.S. president. On August 16, 2008, he appeared with Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean at stops in northern Virginia as part of the Democratic National Committee's "Register for Change" bus tour to encourage local voter registration drives. Thomas gave speeches at two stops in Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria.
In January 2010, Thomas donated $30,000 to the Haiti relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.