Billy Thompson (basketball)

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William (Billy) Stansbury Thompson (born December 1, 1963 in Camden, New Jersey) is a former professional basketball player in the NBA. He spent a 5-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, and registered one minute of court time with the Golden State Warriors in 1991.

Thompson, a 6' 7" small forward from the University of Louisville, where in his senior season he was part of the Cardinals squad that won the 1986 NCAA Championship. He was selected 19th overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks but was part of a draft-day trade sending him to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he was a reserve member of the Lakers teams that won back-to-back NBA Championships in 1986-87 and 1987-88. He was then left unprotected in the 1988 NBA expansion draft and was selected by the Miami Heat, where he was a starter for the Heat's inuagural game and averaged 10.8 points per game in Miami's expansion season. As a part-time starter in 1989-90, Thompson averaged 11 points per game. Following his NBA career Thompson went to play in Israel for Hapoel Jerusalem. Along with Israeli star Adi Gordon Thompson led Hapoel to two State Cup titles.

[edit] Trivia

Having won an NCAA Championship his final year with Louisville in 1986 and an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1987, Thompson is only one of four players in basketball history to win an NCAA championship and an NBA Championship back-to-back, the others being Bill Russell (University of San Francisco 1956, Boston Celtics 1957), Henry Bibby(UCLA 1972, New York Knicks 1973) and Magic Johnson (Michigan State 1979, Los Angeles Lakers 1980)

Since retiring from professional basketball Thompson has settled with his family in Miami, Florida where he is a priest. Several Miami Heat players including Shaquille O'Neal frequent his church, and regard him as the team's unofficial clergyman^{[citation needed]}.