Delonte West

Delonte Maurice West (born July 26, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player.

He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dallas Mavericks.

He also played professionally for the Fujian Xunxing and Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association and the Texas Legends of the NBA G League.

Prior to playing professionally, West played college basketball at Saint Joseph's University.

West went to Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland, where he excelled at basketball, teaming with fellow future NBA player Eddie Basden.

He led the Roosevelt Raiders to their first state tournament appearance.

They made it to the Maryland 4A championship, where Delonte had 22 points and 8 rebounds, but the Raiders lost 70–58.

He was named Washington Post All Met Basketball Player of the Year due to his averages of 20.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 3.1 steals per game.

At Saint Joseph's University, West formed what was widely regarded as the best backcourt in the country along with John R. Wooden Award and Naismith Award winner Jameer Nelson.

As a junior, West averaged 18.9 points and 6.7 assists per game, shooting 41% from three-point range.

His efforts helped the 2003–04 Saint Joseph's Hawks to go 27–0 in the regular season and earn an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Saint Joseph's finished the season at 30–2.

West chose to leave St. Joseph's after his junior campaign where he was selected by the Boston Celtics as the 24th pick in the 2004 NBA draft.

In his first season, he struggled with injuries, playing a total of just 39 games, mostly coming off the bench.

He averaged 4.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.

After making the transition to point guard in his rookie season, West was named the starting point guard at the beginning of the 2005–06 season by head coach Doc Rivers.

In 2005–06, West averaged 11.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 4.6 APG.

On February 12, 2006, he was named to represent the Celtics on the sophomore team for the Rookie Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend.

Coincidentally, he replaced his college teammate Jameer Nelson, who withdrew because of injuries.

West was moved to the shooting guard spot in the 2006–07 season, but showed signs of difficulty early in the season.

He was later moved back to the point guard position.

West had some clutch shots, including a game-winning buzzer-beater against the Charlotte Bobcats on November 8, 2006, and a game-tying three pointer with 4 seconds remaining in regulation to bring the game into overtime against the New Jersey Nets on March 3, 2007.

The Celtics would eventually win the game against the Nets.

The next day against the Minnesota Timberwolves, West scored a career-high 31 points and made a career-high 12 free throw shots, in a double overtime Celtics victory.

West scored all 31 of his points in that game during the second half and the two overtimes.

At the end of the 2006–07 season, he was sharing starting minutes with Rajon Rondo.

After three seasons in Boston, on June 27, 2007, he was traded along with Wally Szczerbiak and the 5th overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft (Jeff Green (basketball)) to Seattle SuperSonics in exchange for Ray Allen and Glen Davis.

On February 21, 2008, West was part of a three-team trade that sent him, Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, and Wally Szczerbiak to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The trade also sent Larry Hughes, Shannon Brown, Drew Gooden, and Cedric Simmons to the Chicago Bulls and Donyell Marshall, Ira Newble, and Adrian Griffin to Seattle.

He was reunited with his Saint Joseph's teammate Dwayne Jones.

As a Cavalier, West played in 26 regular season games (starting all 26), and averaged 10.3 points, 4.5 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals.

He had a season high 20 points against the Boston Celtics only six days after his trade to the Cavaliers and a season-high 11 assists on March 30, 2008 against the Philadelphia 76ers.

For the entire season, West played in 61 games (starting 31) and averaged 8.3 points, 3.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds.

On April 27, 2008, West made perhaps the most timely 3-pointer of his NBA career with 5.4 seconds left in a playoff game against the Washington Wizards, in Washington.

His tie-breaking game-winner took the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 3–1 lead in this first round series.

On September 12, 2008, West signed a three-year, $12.7 million contract with the Cavaliers.

He was moved to the starting shooting guard position at the beginning of the season, due to the acquisition of Mo Williams.

He became a starter for the Cavaliers, who won a league-best and franchise-record 66 games during the regular season and went 39–2 at home.

In addition to his role as the starting shooting guard, he also served as the backup point guard, manning the position when Mo Williams was not in the game.

He emerged as a talented backcourt defensive player, guarding a variety of players ranging from the 6ft 3in Ben Gordon to the 6ft 10in Hedo Türkoğlu.