Darius Thompson

Darius Jamar Thompson (born May 4, 1995) is an American-born naturalized Italian professional basketball player for Valencia Basket of Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. Standing at 193 cm (6 ft 4 in), he plays at the point guard position.

Darius Thompson

Darius Thompson in 2024
Valencia Basket
Position	Point guard
League	Liga ACB EuroLeague
Personal information
Born	(1995-05-04) May 4, 1995 (age 30) Murfreesboro, Tennessee, U.S.
Nationality	American / Italian
Listed height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Listed weight	89 kg (196 lb)
Career information
High school	Blackman (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)
College	Tennessee (2013–2014) Virginia (2015–2017) Western Kentucky (2017–2018)
NBA draft	2017: undrafted
Playing career	2017–present
Career history
2017–2019	ZZ Leiden
2019–2021	Brindisi
2021–2022	Lokomotiv Kuban
2022–2023	Baskonia
2023–2025	Anadolu Efes
2025–present	Valencia
Career highlights
All-EuroLeague Second Team (2023) EuroLeague assists leader (2023) All-Champions League Second Team (2021) FIBA Europe Cup Top Scorer (2019) Dutch Cup winner (2019) Dutch League MVP (2019) All-Dutch League Team (2019) Dutch League Top Scorer (2019) Dutch Cup MVP (2019) All-Liga ACB First Team (2023) All-Lega Serie A Team (2021) Second-team All-Conference USA (2018)

Darius Thompson in 2023

Early life

Thompson was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and is the son of Lonnie Thompson, who played basketball for Middle Tennessee State, and Felicia Thompson.^[1]

Playing for Blackman High School, Thompson was a 2013 McDonald's All-American Game nominee and was ranked the no. 4 best combo guard in the country by 247Sports.com. In his senior year with Blackman, he averaged 16.4 points and 6.4 assists.^[1]

College career

Professional career

ZZ Leiden

In August 2017, Thompson signed a one-year contract with ZZ Leiden of the Dutch Basketball League (DBL) and FIBA Europe Cup.^[2] On October 27, 2017, Thompson scored 32 points in a 73–78 win over Den Helder Suns.^[3] On November 7, Thompson led Leiden to a win over Sakarya BB in the FIBA Europe Cup by scoring 36 points.^[4] On March 31, Thompson won the NBB Cup with Leiden, after scoring 25 points in the final.^[5] On April 24, 2019, Thompson won the DBL Most Valuable Player award.^[6]

Brindisi

On July 23, 2019, Thompson signed a one-year contract with an option for a second season with Happy Casa Brindisi of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and Basketball Champions League (BCL).^[7]

Lokomotiv Kuban

On July 1, 2021, Thompson left Brindisi after two years and signed in the VTB United League for the Russian team Lokomotiv Kuban.^[8] He left the team after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[9] However he said that participation in this team was pleasant.

Baskonia

On August 12, 2022, Thompson signed a two-year (1+1) contract with Baskonia of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.^[10]

Thompson had a breakout season in 2022–23 with Baskonia. He led the EuroLeague in assists per game (averaging 6.7 per game) and was named to the All-EuroLeague Second Team.^[11] Thompson was also voted the Best Newcomer by the EuroLeague Players' Association (ELPA).^[12]

On July 7, 2023, Thompson parted ways with the Spanish club.

Anadolu Efes

On July 7, 2023, Thompson signed a three-year (2+1) contract with Turkish powerhouse Anadolu Efes, where he replaced star point guard Vasilije Micić who left the club for the Oklahoma City Thunder.^[13]

National team career

Thompson has been recruited by the Italy national team, as he is eligible for an Italian passport because of his Italian wife.^[14]

Career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	PIR	Performance index rating
Bold	Career high

EuroLeague

*	Led the league

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2022–23	Baskonia	34	33	26.9	.497	.384	.756	3.2	6.7*	1.7	.4	12.6	17.1
2023–24	Anadolu Efes	35	21	26.0	.443	.328	.838	2.0	2.8	1.0	.5	10.9	9.6
Career		69	54	26.4	.470	.355	.793	2.6	4.7	1.3	.5	11.7	13.3

EuroCup

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2021–22	Lokomotiv Kuban	12	12	29.8	.580	.333	.800	3.0	5.8	1.7	.5	13.2	17.2
Career		12	12	29.8	.580	.333	.800	3.0	5.8	1.7	.5	13.2	17.2

Basketball Champions League

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2019–20	Brindisi	13	13	27.5	.538	.344	.700	3.6	3.5	1.6	.5	11.6
2020–21		12	12	26.6	.500	.407	.706	3.0	4.9	.7	.5	12.1
Career		25	25	27.0	.520	.373	.704	3.3	4.2	1.2	.5	11.8

FIBA Europe Cup

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2018–19	ZZ Leiden	14	14	37.9	.513	.286	.803	4.8	3.7	2.1	.3	22.2
Career		14	14	37.9	.513	.286	.803	4.8	3.7	2.1	.3	22.2

Domestic leagues

Year	Team	League	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2018–19	ZZ Leiden	DBL	38	35.2	.540	.399	.820	4.1	5.4	2.6	.4	19.0
2019–20	Brindisi	LBA	21	26.3	.480	.460	.711	2.6	2.9	1.3	.4	11.6
2020–21	Brindisi	LBA	31	28.7	.495	.306	.735	2.9	5.4	1.7	.7	12.7
2021–22	Lokomotiv Kuban	VTBUL	11	28.2	.462	.273	.640	4.4	5.7	2.1	.6	9.8
2022–23	Baskonia	ACB	34	22.0	.500	.408	.826	2.5	6.1	1.1	.4	10.2
2023–24	Anadolu Efes	TBSL	25	27.7	.498	.412	.717	2.6	4.5	1.1	.5	12.7

College

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2013–14	Tennessee	37	10	16.8	.381	.195	.733	2.0	2.4	1.0	.2	2.5
2015–16	Virginia	37	10	17.5	.537	.390	.722	1.2	1.4	.7	.2	4.3
2016–17	Virginia	33	14	20.8	.448	.351	.605	1.6	2.2	.8	.4	6.2
2017–18	Western Kentucky	38	37	35.6	.463	.355	.736	4.2	4.8	1.5	.5	13.6
Career		145	71	22.8	.461	.338	.712	2.3	2.7	1.0	.3	6.7

Honors

ZZ Leiden

• NBB Cup: 2018–19
• DBL Most Valuable Player: 2018–19
• All-DBL Team: 2018–19
• DBL scoring leader: 2018–19
• DBL Statistical Player of the Year: 2018–19