Overview
Mychal George Thompson (born January 30, 1955) is a Bahamian sports commentator and former professional basketball player. The top overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, Thompson played the center position for the University of Minnesota and center and forward for the National Basketball Association's Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Lakers. Thompson won two NBA championships with the Lakers during their Showtime era in the 1980s. He is the father of basketball players Klay Thompson and Mychel Thompson, and baseball player Trayce Thompson.
Early life
Thompson was born to a Catholic family in Nassau, Bahamas, where he grew up playing pickup basketball on the local courts and fostered his love for the game.
He eventually moved to the United States as a teenager in order to compete at a higher level. Settling in Miami, Florida, Thompson attended Miami Jackson Senior High School. In his senior year in 1974, as part of a basketball starting lineup nicknamed the "Jackson 5" featuring himself, three other Bahamians and a Cuban, the Generals mowed through the regular season, beating opponents by an average of 30 points per game en route to a 33–0 record and winning the Class 4A state championship over Winter Park High School. The title was won with four key ineligible players (due to falsified birth records), including Thompson, on Miami Jackson's team. Thompson then attended the University of Minnesota where he had a standout collegiate career.
NBA career
The Portland Trail Blazers selected Thompson with the first overall pick in the 1978 NBA draft, making him the first foreign-born player to be selected first.
Thompson was in the Portland lineup for eight years, where he started at both power forward and center positions. He was named to the 1978 All-Rookie team, and had arguably his statistically best season in 1981–82, where he averaged 20.8 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. In the 1987 off-season, Thompson was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for center/forward Steve Johnson.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
