Mychal Thompson

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Mychal George Thompson (born January 30, 1955, in Nassau, Bahamas) is a former National Basketball Association player who was the #1 pick in the 1978 NBA Draft. Thompson (6' 10", 226 lbs) played both the power forward and center positions and played for the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers. Today, Thompson serves as the radio analyst for the Lakers, in addition to co-hosting the Loose Cannons talk show alongside Steve Hartman and Vic "The Brick" Jacobs on KLAC radio in Los Angeles.

Thompson was born in The Bahamas, but moved to the United States as a youth, playing high school ball in Miami, Florida. He then attended the University of Minnesota where he had an impressive collegiate career; impressive enough that the Trail Blazers made him the number one pick in the 1978 NBA Draft, the first foreign-born player to be selected at that position.

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 1981-1982, 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 Petur Gudmundsson and a 1990 first-round draft choice. He was brought to the Lakers in February 1987 to back up Kareem Abdul-Jabaar and defend the Boston Celtics forward Kevin McHale whom he played great defense against. Interestingly enough, this gave the Lakers a team that had 4 players who were overall # 1 selections in the NBA draft, (the others being Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy. Of those 4, Thompson is the only one not enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame.) Thompson helped the Lakers win consecutive titles in 1987 and 1988. He retired in 1991.

Thompson has long been known as a loquacious personality and as an excellent interviewee, who was once described as basketball's answer to Bob Uecker. He once remarked that he intended someday to return to his homeland to serve as Prime Minister. While Thompson appears to no longer have such political ambitions nor any desire to leave the USA, he currently serves as Sports Ambassador to the Bahamas along with fellow former basketball player Rick Fox (a Canadian with Bahamian ancestry). Thompson has worked as a broadcaster for the Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Vancouver Grizzlies, and Seattle SuperSonics.

[edit] External links

• Basketball Reference page on Mychal Thompson