DeShawn Stevenson

DeShawn Stevenson

Stevenson at the Dallas Mavericks championship parade in 2011
No. 92   New Jersey Nets
Shooting guard / Small forward
Personal information
Born	April 3, 1981 (1981-04-03) Fresno, California
Nationality	American
High school	Washington Union (California)
Listed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight	218 lb (99 kg)
Career information
NBA Draft	2000 / Round: 1 / Pick: 23rd overall
Selected by the Utah Jazz
Pro career	2000–present
Career history
2000–2004	Utah Jazz
2004–2006	Orlando Magic
2006–2010	Washington Wizards
2010–2011	Dallas Mavericks
2011–present	New Jersey Nets
Career highlights and awards
NBA Champion (2011)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

DeShawn Stevenson (born April 3, 1981) is an American professional basketball of the NBA who currently plays for the New Jersey Nets. Before his NBA career, he originally committed to play at the University of Kansas, but decided to enter the NBA directly from Washington Union High School in his hometown of Fresno, California, and was picked by the Utah Jazz with the 23rd selection of the 2000 NBA Draft. He is well known for his defense and his athleticism.

Early life

DeShawn Stevenson was born in Fresno, California to Genice Popps and Darryl C. Stevenson. A year after DeShawn's birth, Darryl Stevenson was hospitalized for threatening family members, allegedly attacking his brother with a butcher knife. Stevenson's parents never married, although when he was 3, his father signed a court order agreeing he had a duty to support his son. Two months after being released from a Fresno County mental health facility, Darryl Stevenson held up a gas station with an accomplice who held a knife to a woman's throat. Darryl was found incompetent to stand trial and wound up in Atascadero State Hospital. Psychiatrists diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic. He eventually was placed on probation, but arrested again for kidnapping a woman in 1985 and jailed in April 1986. In 1993, when Stevenson was 12, his father Darryl murdered his own mother, Clara, by strangling her. Darryl Stevenson died in Corcoran State Prison of lung cancer at age 36 in 1999. Tattooed on his chest was one word: "DeShawn."

When Stevenson began his high school career, he lived with his godparents so he could establish residency in Easton and play at the same school that his father had played at. Stevenson played varsity as a freshman and traveled in a summer league. College recruiters came to the farm town to see him play. In his junior year, Stevenson led the Division III team to a state championship. After he committed to play at Kansas, head coach Roy Williams called him the "most gifted recruit ever". Stevenson averaged 30.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists a game his senior year. He led the West to a 146–120 win in the McDonald's All-American high school game in March with a game-high 25 points. He also won the slam-dunk crown. Stevenson flirted with skipping college and declaring his eligibility to go pro, a decision that upset his mother. The Jayhawks lost their future star when a surprisingly impressive jump in his SAT score caught the attention of the Educational Testing Service, which "red-flagged" it, making him temporarily ineligible to play. Stevenson could have appealed and explained how he had managed to improve his score from 450 as a sophomore to 1,150 as a senior. Instead, he took the SAT a second time and received less than a 650, well below the NCAA minimum of 820.

NBA career

Utah Jazz

DeShawn Stevenson was picked by the Utah Jazz with the 23rd selection of the 2000 NBA Draft.

Stevenson appeared in 222 regular season games during his time with Utah. He averaged 5.9 ppg., 1.9 rpg. and 1.2 apg. in 16.7 minpg. during that time. Stevenson played in five career playoff outings. At 19 years old, he became the youngest player to ever play and start for the Jazz during the 2000–01 season. In 2001, Stevenson finished second in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Later that year, Stevenson pleaded no contest to having sex with a 14 year old girl.

On February 19, 2004, Stevenson and a future second round draft pick were acquired by the Orlando Magic from the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard–forward Gordan Giricek.

Orlando Magic

Stevenson played with the Orlando Magic for 2½ seasons. He had his best year during the 2005–06 season when he averaged 11.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, and 2.0 apg. Stevenson opted out of the third and final year of his contract with Orlando and on August 3, 2006 he signed a two-year minimum contract with the Washington Wizards.

On the early morning of August 20, 2007, a 31-year-old man, Curtis Ruff, was shot and injured at Stevenson's home, following an argument with women that were invited from Destiny's Club in Orlando. Circumstances of the incident remain unclear.

Washington Wizards

Stevenson in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers, being defended by Brandon Roy.

On August 5, 2006 Stevenson signed a two-year contract worth the NBA minimum salary. Stevenson then changed agents and agreed to the deal with the Wizards after opting out of his contract with Orlando. Stevenson quickly adjusted to coach Eddie Jordan's system, averaging 11.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, and 2.7 apg in his first season with Washington. During the off-season he began working more on his three-point shot and attempted 483 three-pointers in 2007 as opposed to only 183 in 2006. In July 2007, Stevenson signed a 4-year deal with the Wizards for $15 million.

After Stevenson, with a sore knee, scored a career-high 33 points, including a game winning three-pointer as time expired in a February 25, 2008 victory over the New Orleans Hornets, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan described Stevenson by saying, "He's a warrior, man, a true warrior. His confidence is growing, he's making threes, he's just a true pro. This is a man's league and he is man. In the dictionary next to that word there is a picture of DeShawn Stevenson."

At the start of the 2008–09 season, Stevenson struggled and could not bring his offensive game to the level it was in 2007. As a result Stevenson's minutes dipped slightly with the development of second year shooting guard Nick Young and former Maryland standout Juan Dixon.

Dallas Mavericks

On February 13, 2010, Stevenson was traded to the Dallas Mavericks along with Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross. He is the first player in NBA history to wear the number 92 on his jersey. Stevenson wears number 92 because he wore number 9 in Orlando and number 2 with Utah and Washington. He used his player option and made $4.15 million during the 2010–11 NBA season. On June 12, 2011, Stevenson won the NBA Championship when the Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 105-95 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. In that game, Stevenson made three of five three point shots, resulting in 9 crucial points. Even more important than any contributions he made on offense may have been his assignment to guard LeBron James throughout the series, in part causing James to average significantly lower than his regular season average on most major statistical categories.

New Jersey Nets

On December 23, 2011, Stevenson signed one-year $2.5 million contract with the New Jersey Nets.

NBA 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	Bold	Career high

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2000–01	Utah	40	2	7.3	.341	.083	.684	.7	.5	.2	.1	2.2
2001–02	Utah	67	23	16.9	.385	.080	.698	2.0	1.7	.4	.4	4.9
2002–03	Utah	61	8	12.5	.401	.333	.691	1.4	.7	.4	.1	4.6
2003–04	Utah	54	54	28.0	.445	.233	.669	3.3	1.7	.5	.3	11.4
2003–04	Orlando	26	24	35.9	.404	.293	.690	4.6	2.5	.9	.0	11.2
2004–05	Orlando	55	27	19.8	.408	.373	.554	1.9	1.3	.3	.2	7.8
2005–06	Orlando	82	82	32.3	.460	.133	.744	2.9	2.0	.7	.2	11.0
2006–07	Washington	82	82	29.5	.461	.404	.704	2.6	2.7	.8	.2	11.2
2007–08	Washington	82	82	31.3	.386	.383	.797	2.9	3.1	.8	.2	11.2
2008–09	Washington	32	25	27.7	.312	.271	.533	2.4	3.1	.7	.1	6.6
2009–10	Washington	40	13	15.4	.282	.177	.720	1.6	1.1	.3	.1	2.2
2009-10	Dallas	24	5	11.1	.283	.320	.700	1.1	.5	.2	.0	2.0
2010–11	Dallas	72	54	16.1	.388	.378	.767	1.5	1.1	.3	.1	5.3
Career		717	481	22.7	.412	.343	.702	2.2	1.8	.5	.2	7.7

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2000–01	Utah	1	0	8.0	.500	.000	.000	1.0	.0	.0	.0	2.0
2002–03	Utah	4	0	9.3	.400	.000	1.000	1.8	1.0	.2	.0	4.5
2006–07	Washington	4	4	30.5	.196	.158	.429	2.5	1.8	.5	.8	6.0
2007–08	Washington	6	6	32.7	.367	.389	.889	2.2	3.0	1.0	.0	12.3
2009–10	Dallas	2	0	3.0	.000	.000	.000	.0	.0	.0	.0	.0
2010–11	Dallas	21	18	15.8	.349	.397	.750	.9	.6	.5	.1	4.5
Career		38	28	18.4	.321	.344	.781	1.3	1.1	.5	.1	5.6

External links

• NBA.com Profile - DeShawn Stevenson
• Current Stats
• More Current Stats
• NBA Draft Profile