DeMarcus Nelson

DeMarcus De'Juan Nelson (born November 2, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. Standing at 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) he played at the point guard position. He also holds Serbian citizenship as of 2014.

DeMarcus Nelson

Nelson with Crvena zvezda in 2013
Personal information
Born	(1985-11-02) November 2, 1985 (age 39) Oakland, California, U.S.
Nationality	American / Serbian
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school	Vallejo (Vallejo, California) Sheldon (Sacramento, California)
College	Duke (2004–2008)
NBA draft	2008: undrafted
Playing career	2008–2020
Position	Point guard
Number	20
Career history
2008–2009	Golden State Warriors
2008	Bakersfield Jam
2009	Zagreb
2009	Austin Toros
2009–2010	Air Avellino
2010–2011	Cholet Basket
2011	Donetsk
2011–2012	Cholet Basket
2012–2014	Crvena zvezda
2014–2015	Panathinaikos
2015	Monaco
2015–2016	Unicaja
2016–2019	ASVEL Basket
2019–2020	Bayern Munich
2020	Limoges CSP
Career highlights and awards
All-EuroCup First Team (2014) French League champion (2019) French League Finals MVP (2019) French Federation Cup winner (2019) Greek Cup winner (2015) All-ABA League Team (2014) 2× Serbian Cup winner (2013, 2014) Serbian Cup MVP (2013) French League All-Star (2016) Third-team All-American – NABC (2008) ACC Defensive Player of the Year (2008) First-team All-ACC (2008) ACC All-Defensive team (2008) ACC All-Freshman Team (2005) Second-team Parade All-American (2004) McDonald's All-American (2004) California Mr. Basketball (2004)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

College career

Nelson played at the shooting guard position on the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team. He was also the lone captain of the team for the 2007–2008 season, which was his senior year.

College statistics

College	Year[1]	GP	MIN	SPG	BPG	RPG	APG	PPG	FG%	FT%	3P%
Duke	2004–05	33	19.2	0.8	0.3	4.5	0.8	6.2	.400	.532	.319
Duke	2005–06	24	21.5	0.8	0.1	3.4	1.2	7.1	.452	.649	.410
Duke	2006–07	33	31.9	1.3	0.5	5.4	2.0	14.1	.478	.593	.364
Duke	2007–08	34	30.9	1.6	0.3	5.8	2.9	14.5	.490	.601	.388

Professional career

Nelson was not drafted in the 2008 NBA draft, but he was signed by the Golden State Warriors on September 9, 2008. He became the first undrafted rookie to start on opening night in the history of the NBA.^[2] On November 14, 2008, he and teammate Richard Hendrix were assigned to the Bakersfield Jam of the NBA D-League. He was recalled by the Warriors on December 16, 2008, but he was waived on January 6, 2009, to make room for Jermareo Davidson.^[3]

Nelson joined the Croatian Adriatic League club KK Zagreb in January 2009, but only played a single game.^[4] In March 2009, Nelson returned to the NBA D-League as a member of the Austin Toros.

On April 9, 2009, Nelson signed with the Chicago Bulls.^[5] On July 30, 2009, he was waived by the Bulls.^[6]

On August 29, 2009, he was signed by Scandone Avellino of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A for the 2009–10 season.^[7]

He played for the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Summer League in 2010.^[8]

On August 23, 2010, he was signed by Cholet Basket of France.^[9] Cholet Basket is qualified for the Euroleague for the 2010–11 season.

In July 2011 he signed with BC Donetsk in Ukraine.^[10] On November 15, 2011, he returned to Cholet Basket by signing a contract for the rest of the season.^[11]

In September 2012, he signed a one-year contract with the Serbian team Crvena zvezda.^[12] In June 2013 he re-signed with them for one more season, with an option for a second year.^[13] He became the first foreign player to stay at the club for two seasons.

In November 2013, he was named EuroLeague MVP for Round 4.^[14] In April 2014, along with his teammate Boban Marjanović, he was selected to the Ideal Team of the 2013–14 ABA League season.^[15][16] He was also named to the All-EuroCup First Team in 2014.^[17]

On July 22, 2014, Panathinaikos announced the signing of Nelson, on a 1+1 year-deal.^[18][19]

On September 25, 2015, he signed a one-month deal with the French team Monaco, with the role to replace injured Larry Drew II.^[20] On December 23, 2015, he signed for the rest of the season with the Spanish team Unicaja, with the role to replace injured Stefan Marković.^[21]

On October 15, 2016, Nelson signed with ASVEL Basket for the rest of the 2016–17 season.^[22] On July 8, 2017, he re-signed with ASVEL for two more seasons.^[23]

On January 29, 2020, he has signed with Limoges CSP of the LNB Pro A.^[24] Nelson re-signed with the team to a two-year extension on July 8, 2020.^[25]

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

NBA

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2008–09	Golden State	13	5	13.2	.444	.000	.357	1.8	1.0	.7	.2	4.1
Career		13	5	13.2	.444	.000	.357	1.8	1.0	.7	.2	4.1

Domestic leagues

Season	Team	League	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2008–09	Bakersfield Jam	D-League	9	32.7	.569	.300	.576	4.8	4.0	2.2	.2	16.0
	Austin Toros		11	41.4	.564	.450	.803	5.9	4.2	1.2	.5	23.0
	KK Zagreb	Adriatic League	1	13.0	.333	--	--	.0	.0	.0	1.0	2.0
2009–10	Air Avellino	Lega A	28	25.8	.510	.220	.770	3.6	1.2	1.6	.4	9.0
2010–11	Cholet Basket	Pro A	34	25.0	.509	.271	.744	3.5	2.4	.9	.4	10.8
2011–12	BC Donetsk	SuperLeague	12	22.3	.532	.250	.796	4.4	2.5	1.6	.2	10.6
	Cholet Basket	Pro A	30	30.0	.516	.265	.804	3.8	3.6	1.3	.2	13.7
2012–13	KK Crvena zvezda	Adriatic League	28	26.4	.533	.273	.637	3.8	3.5	1.0	.3	8.6
		KLS	19	28.8	.524	.410	.635	4.2	3.8	1.8	.4	11.4
2013–14		Adriatic League	27	25.5	.604	.236	.712	3.2	3.3	1.5	.1	9.8
		KLS	18	25.4	.500	.373	.732	3.6	4.0	1.6	.0	10.7
2014–15	Panathinaikos B.C.	Greek A1	23	18.4	.505	.259	.527	3.4	2.0	.7	.0	6.5

EuroLeague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2010–11	Cholet	10	7	25.6	.423	.313	.636	3.3	1.5	.5	.3	9.2	5.8
2013–14	Crvena zvezda	10	10	26.8	.479	.286	.737	4.0	3.2	1.1	.2	11.2	13.0
2014–15	Panathinaikos	18	0	17.8	.402	.130	.625	2.4	2.2	.6	.2	5.8	5.6
Career		38	17	22.2	.434	.239	.658	3.1	2.3	.7	.2	8.1	7.6

Personal life

DeMarcus attended high school at Vallejo High School in Vallejo, California and Sheldon High School in Sacramento, California. His Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years were at Vallejo and his Senior year was at Sheldon.

He attained Serbian citizenship on July 24, 2014, late for a possible extension with Crvena zvezda.^[26]

See also

• List of KK Crvena zvezda players with 100 games played

References

1. "DeMarcus Nelson". September 11, 2012.
2. "Warriors sign three free agents". nba.com/warriors. Retrieved September 9, 2008.
3. "Warriors cut G Nelson, sign F Jermareo Davidson". USA Today. January 5, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
4. Zagreb Lands DeMarcus Nelson.
5. "Bulls sign rookie guard DeMarcus Nelson". NBA.com. April 9, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
6. "Bulls waive Johnson III, Nelson". ESPN. July 30, 2009. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
7. Avellino announced DeMarcus Nelson
8. http://www.journaltimes.com/sports/article_454ce16e-825b-11df-ace1-001cc4c002e0.html Opinions varied on NBA draft selections
9. "CHOLET BASKET completes roster with Nelson". Euroleague.net. August 23, 2010. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
10. BC Donetsk inks Kovalenko, Nelson
11. Carchia, Emiliano. "Cholet announces DeMarcus Nelson". Sportando. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
12. "Red Star adds DeMarcus Nelson". Sportando. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
13. "DeMarcus Nelson agreed on a contract extension with Red Star". Sportando.net. Retrieved September 24, 2013.
14. "Regular season Round 4 bwin MVP: DeMarcus Nelson, Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade". Euroleague.net. November 9, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
15. "The ideal five of the 2013/14 season selected". abaliga.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014. Retrieved April 21, 2014.
16. "ABA: 'Večiti' i Šarić u timu lige". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved April 21, 2014.
17. "2013-14 All-Eurocup First, Second teams named". Eurocupbasketball.com. April 25, 2014. Archived from the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2014.
18. "Deal with De Marcus Nelson". paobc.gr. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
19. "Panathinaikos lands DeMarcus Nelson". Euroleague.net. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
20. "DeMarcus Nelson officially signs with AS Monaco". sportando.com. September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
21. "DeMarcus Nelson, nuevo fichaje del Unicaja". acb.com (in Spanish). December 23, 2015. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
22. "DeMarcus Nelson announced by ASVEL". Eurohoops.net. October 15, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2016.
23. "DeMarcus NELSON prolonge l'aventure !". Asvelbasket.com (in French). July 8, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
24. "Limoges CSP signs DeMarcus Nelson". Sportando. January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
25. "DeMarcus Nelson signs 2-year extension with Limoges". Sportando. July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
26. "DeMarkus Nelson Srbin, ali kasno". b92.net (in Serbian). Službeni Glasnik. Retrieved July 30, 2014.

External links

• ABA League profile
• eurobasket.com profile
• EuroLeague profile
• Duke Blue Devils bio
• NBA D-League profile