For the Mississippi State Bulldogs, he averaged 8.9 points, 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 steals and 0.8 blocks. He shot 15 of 52 three-pointers as a senior and 64.9% on free throws.
Those two games ended up being Zimmerman's only playing time in the NBA. His 2nd game ever (also his final NBA game ever) was played on April 19, 2006, in a 83–90 loss to the New York Knicks where he recorded 4 points, 5 assists and 1 rebound.
He played in the NBA D-League for the Columbus Riverdragons (2004–05) and Austin Toros (2005–06). Derrick was named the NBDL's Defensive Player of the Year for two consecutive seasons (Austin 2005–06, Columbus 2004–05).[2] In December 2006, he signed a one-month contract with Brose Baskets of the German Basketball Bundesliga.[3] After his contract expired, he signed with Italian team Air Avellino until the end of the season.
In February 2013, Zimmerman moved to Germany and signed with Neckar Riesen Ludwigsburg for the rest of the season.[4] In January 2014, after a couple months without a club, he signed with Energa Czarni Słupsk of Poland for the rest of the season.[5]
Coaching
After his playing career, Zimmerman returned to his alma mater, Mississippi State, in 2018, serving two seasons as a graduate assistant and one as director of scouting and analytics.[6]
In 2021, Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin hired Zimmerman as an assistant coach.[7][8] On December 19, 2024, amid a 3–9 start to the season, Louisiana fired Marlin and named Zimmerman the interim head coach for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.[9]
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
Conference regular season champion
Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
Division regular season champion
Division regular season and conference tournament champion
Conference tournament champion
