Darius Washington Jr.

Darius Washington Jr.

Free agent
Position	Point guard / shooting guard
Personal information
Born	(1985-12-06) December 6, 1985 (age 39) Winter Park, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	American / Macedonian
Listed height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Listed weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school	Edgewater (Orlando, Florida)
College	Memphis (2004–2006)
NBA draft	2006: undrafted
Playing career	2006–present
Career history
2006	PAOK Thessaloníki
2006–2007	ČEZ Nymburk
2007	Austin Toros
2007	San Antonio Spurs
2007–2008	Aris Thessaloniki
2008–2009	Ural Great Perm
2009–2010	Galatasaray
2010–2011	Lottomatica Roma
2011	Piratas de Quebradillas
2011–2012	Türk Telekom
2012	Piratas de Quebradillas
2012–2013	Hapoel Eilat
2013	Le Mans Sarthe
2013–2014	Olin Edirne
2014–2015	ČEZ Nymburk
2016	Sakarya Isik Koleji
2016	Henan Roaring Elephants
2018	Iraklis Thessaloniki
2019	Rabotnički
2020	Ostioneros de Guaymas
2020–2021	Phoenix Brussels
2022	Peja
Career highlights and awards
Liga Unike champion (2022) Turkish League Top Scorer (2014) EuroCup Top Scorer (2010) 2x Czech League champion (2007, 2015) Czech League Finals MVP (2015) Czech Cup winner (2007) Chinese NBL All-First Team (2016) McDonald's All-American (2004) First-team Parade All-American (2004) Fourth-team Parade All-American (2003) Florida Mr. Basketball (2004) [1]
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball Reference

Darius Myron Washington Jr. (born December 6, 1985) is an American-Macedonian professional basketball player who last played for Peja of the Kosovo Superleague.

He is a combo guard and played college basketball with the University of Memphis. He has also played with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and the NBA D-League's Austin Toros in 2007. He also is the subject of a Phish song called The Line.

Amateur career

An AAU national champion at age 10,^{[ citation needed ]} Washington attended Edgewater High School in Orlando, Florida. ^[2] In his senior year, he played in an ESPN High School Showcase game against future NBA player Sebastian Telfair.^{[ citation needed ]}

He went to University of Memphis, where he earned Conference USA Rookie of the Year and freshman All-American honors on averages of 15.4 points per game and a team-best 3.8 assists. With no time remaining in the championship game of the 2005 Conference-USA tournament, Washington was given three free throws to overcome a 75–73 lead by the sixth-ranked Louisville Cardinals. Although Washington was a 72-percent shooter, he missed two of the three foul shots, giving Louisville the win and an appearance in the NCAA tournament while Washington and the Tigers' season would continue in the NIT, where they would reach the semifinal round. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

In his sophomore season at Memphis, Washington helped lead the #1-seeded Tigers to an Elite Eight appearance in the 2006 NCAA tournament, losing to eventual runner-up UCLA. He was named to the All-Conference USA first team and earned an honorable mention as an All-American by the Associated Press.

Professional career

On April 25, 2006, Washington declared himself as an early entry candidate for the 2006 NBA draft. Confident he would be drafted, he signed with a sports agent on June 26, two days before the draft, losing his eligibility to play in college. With analysts being skeptical on his reliability to play point guard, he was not drafted. Although analyst Dick Vitale and others believed Washington had a shot to make an NBA roster as a free agent, ^[6] he failed to do so after trying out with several teams during training camp.

Europe

He was later drafted by the Austin Toros of the D-League, but he instead chose to sign with PAOK Thessaloniki of the Greek League. In 2007, he led the ČEZ Nymburk team to the Czech Republic League title after leaving PAOK. He played in the ULEB Cup competition during the year with both clubs.

In January 2008, Washington signed a 2-year contract with the Euroleague club Aris Thessaloniki, a team that competes in the Greek League. He was released by Aris after one season. At the end of October 2008, he signed a contract with the Russian Super League club Ural Great Perm.

In July 2009, he signed a contract with Galatasaray Cafe Crown. ^[7]

In April 2010, he signed with Lottomatica Roma until the end of the season.

In 2011, he joined the Piratas de Quebradillas. ^[8]

In the summer of 2011, he signed a contract with Türk Telekom.

In January 2013, he joined Israeli side Hapoel Eilat, but only played 6 games with the team, averaging 11ppg and 1.3apg. Though highly praised in Eilat, his contract was bought out and in February, he moved to French side Le Mans. ^[9] In July 2013, he joined Olin Edirne Basket in Turkey. ^[10]

On June 23, 2014, he signed with his former team ČEZ Nymburk for the 2014–15 season. ^[11]

On January 16, 2018, he returned to Greece and joined Iraklis Thessaloniki of the Greek A2 Basket League. ^[12]

On April 5, 2019, he signed with Macedonian basketball club Rabotnički. ^[13]

On May 4, 2020, he signed with Phoenix Brussels. ^[14]

The Basketball Tournament (TBT)

In the summer of 2018, Washington competed in The Basketball Tournament on ESPN for Team DRC. In three games, he averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game. His team was eliminated in Super 16 Round by Ram Nation.

In the summer of 2019, he also competed in The Basketball Tournament on ESPN. In two games for Bluff City, he averages 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1 steals per game. His team was eliminated in Round 2 of Memphis Regional Tournament by Louisiana United.

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
2007–08	San Antonio	18	0	8.1	.438	.333	.538	1.1	.8	.3	.0	2.9
Career		18	0	8.1	.438	.333	.538	1.1	.8	.3	.0	2.9

EuroLeague

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG	PIR
2007–08	Aris	9	2	22.6	.412	.400	.789	2.8	3.1	1.3	.3	10.2	11.8
2010–11	Roma	16	13	26.5	.507	.300	.849	3.0	1.9	1.1	.0	13.0	12.3
Career		25	15	25.1	.477	.333	.824	2.9	2.4	1.2	.1	12.0	12.0

NBA

Washington signed with the San Antonio Spurs on October 1, 2007, and was assigned to the Austin Toros of the NBA D-League in late November. ^[15] He was called up in early December to take Tony Parker's spot on the roster while he healed from an injury; however, Washington was waived by the Spurs on December 28. ^[16] He appeared in 18 games for the Spurs where he averaged 2.9 points and 1.1 rebounds in 8.1 minutes.

He played with the Chicago Bulls during the 2008–09 NBA pre-season, but was waived by the team before the start of the regular season.

Macedonian national team

Washington was granted Macedonian citizenship ^{[ when? ]}, ^[17] and he joined the Macedonian national basketball team. ^[18]

In popular culture

The song "The Line" by Phish was written about the missed free throws at the conclusion of the 2005 C-USA Championship game. The song premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 31, 2013. However, during the performance, Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio mistakenly referred to Washington as having played for Michigan State, and the missed free throws as having taken place during the Final Four. ^[19]

References

1. "2003–2004 Winners". Florida Dairy Farmers. Retrieved July 20, 2019– via floridamilk.com.
2. "For Darius Washington Jr, game winner against Memphis alumni was poetic justice". The Basketball Tournament . Archived from the original on June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019– via thetournament.com.
3. Well-traveled Washington motors on
4. "NIT Tournament Bracket, Scores, Stats, Schedule – RealGM".
5. "Memphis Rosters – RealGM".
6. ESPN.com – Dick Vitale – Vitale's 2006 All-Undrafted Underclassmen team
7. Darius Washington Galatasaray Cafe Crown'da
8. "Nuevo Pirata". Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
9. Darius Washington to Le Mans
10. Darius Washington (ex Le Mans) is a newcomer at Olin Edirne
11. CEZ Nymburk announces Darius Washington
12. Iraklis ink Darius Washington
13. "Работнички не запира – потпис и со Македонецот Вашингтон" [Rabotnicki does not stop – a signature with the Macedonian Washington]. ekipa.mk (in Macedonian). April 5, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
14. "Darius Washington signs with Brussels Basketball". Sportando. May 4, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
15. Spurs assign Darius Washington to D-League
16. Spurs waive Darius Washington
17. Darius Washington basketball profile Nationality: FYR Macedonia-USA.
18. Eurobasket2009.org Archived 2009-09-01 at the Wayback Machine
19. Trey Anastasio, 10/31/13

a.	^ Macedonian spelling: Дариус Вашингтон, Darius Vašington. He was born as Darius Washington Jr..

External links

• Darius Washington at draftexpress.com
• Darius Washington at eurobasket2009.org
• Darius Washington at eurobasket.com
• Darius Washington at euroleague.net
• Darius Washington at nba.com
• Darius Washington at nba.com (D-League)
• Darius Washington at tblstat.net