David Thirdkill (born April 12, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the NBA, and was the 1993 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP.
He was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the first round (15th overall) of the 1982 NBA draft.[2] A 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) small forward from the College of Southern Idaho and Bradley University, Thirdkill played in five NBA seasons from 1982 to 1987.[3]
Born in St. Louis, Missouri and nicknamed "The Sheriff",[2][4] he played for the Suns, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks, San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics.[5] On January 24, 1986, he scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed a career-high 8 rebounds in a 135–114 win over the Golden State Warriors.[6] He earned a championship ring with the 1985–86 Celtics.
In his NBA career, Thirdkill played in 179 games and scored a total of 510 points.[7][8] Thirdkill made one 3 point shot as a rookie with Phoenix, then never made another three pointer. He finished his career one for 11 from three point land.[9]
| 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 |
| † | Won an NBA championship |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982–83 | Phoenix | 49 | 2 | 10.6 | .435 | .143 | .577 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 4.0 |
| 1983–84 | Detroit | 46 | 0 | 6.3 | .431 | .000 | .484 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.7 |
| 1984–85 | Detroit | 10 | 1 | 11.5 | .522 | .000 | .455 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 2.9 |
| 1984–85 | Milwaukee | 6 | 0 | 2.7 | .750 | .000 | .500 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| 1984–85 | San Antonio | 2 | 2 | 26.0 | .455 | .000 | .833 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 7.5 |
| 1985–86† | Boston | 49 | 0 | 7.9 | .491 | .000 | .625 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 3.3 |
| 1986–87 | Boston | 17 | 0 | 5.2 | .417 | .000 | .313 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.5 |
| Career | 179 | 5 | 8.2 | .457 | .091 | .565 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 2.8 | |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984–85 | San Antonio | 5 | 0 | 4.4 | .250 | .000 | .500 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 |
| 1985–86† | Boston | 13 | 0 | 3.6 | .333 | .000 | .455 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| Career | 18 | 0 | 3.8 | .318 | .000 | .467 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.2 | |
In 1987, Thirdkill played in a tournament (Open Conference) for the Tanduay Rhum Masters team in the Philippine Basketball Association and won the championship aside from being named "Best Import" of the conference.[10] He returned for another conference in 1988, this time for the newly formed Purefoods team, which he led to another finals appearance.[10] Thereafter, he played in Italy for Virtus Roma, in France for Chorale Roanne Basket and Saint-Quentin Basket-Ball.
He then played most notably in Israel for a spell of five years, mainly for Hapoel Tel Aviv, finally retiring in 1996. He was the 1993 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP.
