- Mychal Thompson
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Mychal Thompson No. 43 Power forward / Center Personal information Date of birth January 30, 1955 Place of birth Nassau, Bahamas Nationality Bahamian
AmericanHigh school Jackson (Miami, Florida) Listed height 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) Listed weight 226 lb (103 kg) Career information College Minnesota (1974–1978) NBA Draft 1978 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1st overall Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers Pro career 1978–1992 Career history 1978–1986 Portland Trail Blazers 1986–1987 San Antonio Spurs 1987–1991 Los Angeles Lakers 1991–1992 Juvecaserta Basket (Italy) Career highlights and awards - 2× NBA Champion (1987–1988)
- NBA All-Rookie First Team (1978)
- Consensus NCAA All-American First Team (1978)
- Consensus NCAA All-American Second Team (1977)
Career NBA statistics Points 12,810 (13.7 ppg) Rebounds 6,951 (7.4 rpg) Blocks 1,073 (1.1 bpg) Stats at NBA.com Stats at Basketball-Reference.com Mychal George Thompson (born January 30, 1955) is a retired Bahamian-American professional basketball player of the NBA.[1] Thompson played both the power forward and center positions and played for the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers.
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Early life
Thompson was born in the Bahamas, but moved to the United States as a youth, playing high school basketball at Miami Jackson High School (1974) in Miami, Florida. He then attended the University of Minnesota where he had a standout collegiate career.
NBA career
The Portland Trail Blazers made Thompson the number one pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, the first foreign-born player to be selected at that position.[citation needed]
Thompson was a fixture in the Portland lineup for eight years (though one season was missed due to injury), where he started at both power forward and center positions. He was named to the 1979 All-Rookie team, and had his statistically best season in 1981–82, where he averaged over 20 points and 11 rebounds per game. In the 1986 off-season, Thompson was traded to the Spurs in exchange for center/forward Steve Johnson.
Thompson played only half a season with the Spurs, before he was traded again, this time to Los Angeles for center/forward Frank Brickowski, center Pétur Guðmundsson and a 1990 first-round draft choice. He was brought to the Lakers in February 1987 to back up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and defend Boston Celtics forward Kevin McHale, against whom he played great defense. Interestingly enough, this gave the Lakers a team that had four players who were overall #1 selections in the NBA draft, the others being Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and James Worthy. Of those four, Thompson is the only one not enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Thompson helped the Lakers win consecutive titles in 1987 and 1988, and he retired in 1991.
Post-NBA career
Mychal is currently employed as the Lakers radio color commentator. He first worked with Joel Meyers, then Spero Dedes, and is currently paired with John Ireland. He was a co-host on the "Loose Cannons" radio show on KLAC AM570 in Los Angeles but was let go, due to the move of Lakers broadcasts from AM570 to KSPN AM710 for the 2009-10 season. With the move to KSPN AM710, he joined Andrew Siciliano as co-hosts on the "LA Sports Live" radio show on KSPN AM710 until the show was canceled on December 26, 2010.
Personal life
His oldest son, Mychel, played for the Pepperdine University men's basketball team; his middle son, Klay, played for the Washington State University men's basketball team and was selected with the 11th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors; and his youngest son, Trayce, signed a scholarship offer to play baseball for UCLA but after being drafted in the second round of the 2009 MLB Draft, he decided to sign with the Chicago White Sox.
References
- ^ Quick, Jason (March 20, 2010). "Trail Blazers Top 40: No. 11 Mychal Thompson". OregonLive.com. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/03/trail_blazers_top_40_no_11_myc.html. Retrieved March 21, 2010.
External links
- Mychal Thompson stats at Basketball Reference
- LA Sports Live with Mychael Thompson and Andrew Siciliano at ESPN.com
Categories:- 1955 births
- Living people
- Bahamian basketball players
- Bahamian emigrants to the United States
- Los Angeles Lakers players
- Los Angeles Lakers broadcasters
- Minnesota Timberwolves broadcasters
- Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players
- Portland Trail Blazers draft picks
- Portland Trail Blazers players
- San Antonio Spurs players
- Centers (basketball)
- Power forwards (basketball)
- People from Nassau, Bahamas
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