Omar Thomas

Omar Thomas
Personal information
Born	February 27, 1982 (age 42); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight	232 lb (105 kg)
Career information
High school	Strawberry Mansion; (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
College	Panola JC (2001–2003); UTEP (2003–2005);
NBA draft	2005: undrafted
Playing career	2005–2017
Position	Shooting guard / small forward
Career history
2005–2006	Coca-Cola Tigers
2006	Austin Toros
2006	Club Deportivo Naco
2006–2008	Basket Rimini Crabs
2008	Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez
2008–2009	Solsonica Rieti
2009–2010	New Basket Brindisi
2010–2011	Air Avellino
2011–2012	Crvena zvezda
2012–2013	Krasnye Krylia
2013–2014	Dinamo Sassari
2014–2015	Basket Ferentino
2015	Halcones Rojos Veracruz
2016	VITA Tbilisi
2016	Zenit Saint Petersburg
2016	Vanoli Cremona
2016–2017	Hoops Club
2017	Náuticos de Mazatlán
Career highlights and awards
	Italian League MVP (2011); Italian 2nd Division MVP (2010); Serbian League Playoffs MVP (2012); Serbian League Best Scorer (2012); Russian Cup champion (2013); FIBA EuroChallenge champion (2013); Italian Cup champion (2014); First-team All-WAC (2005);

Omar Abdul Thomas (born February 27, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player.

Early years

Thomas was born in Philadelphia.

Having taken the first steps to Strawberry Mansion High School and at Panola Junior College (Texas), passes to the prestigious University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), taking leave in 2005 with figures of all respect.

Professional career

After the university, Thomas had a tryout with the Seattle SuperSonics but did not sign contract. Then he went to the Coca-Cola Tigers in the Philippines. After one year he went to the NBA Development League (NBDL) with the Austin Toros. His career continued in the Dominican Republic with the Deportivo Naco.

In 2006, he was spotted by Giampiero Ticchi who brought him to play in Italy where his first team was Rimini where he played for two seasons. During the summer of 2008, he signed an agreement with the French club Pau-Orthez,^[1] but was cut after three games. Then he went back in Italy and signed with Napoli, which debuted in Serie A. At Napoli he averaged 11.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. In July 2009, he signed with Brindisi of the Legadue Basket.^[2] At the end of the season, he was named the Legadue MVP.^[3]

On June 24, 2010, Thomas signed with Sidigas Avellino.^[4] In the 2010–11 season, Thomas drag the club in playoff with the fourth place overall at the end of the regular season, and won the title of MVP of the Italian League regular season, with an average of 18.0 points and 6.2 rebounds.^[5]

On 6 December 2011, the National Commission of Judges of the FIP has suspended the player for 16 months (until April 6, 2013) because he was charged with possession of false passports of Republic of Slovenia. However a few days later the player had the permission from FIBA to move to Crvena zvezda, as the disqualification of the Italian federation had no international effect.^[6] While playing with Crvena zvezda he had a good season, leading his team to the final of the playoffs in the Serbian League and the final of Kup Radivoja Koraća where they lost both times to Partizan.

On July 12, 2013, Thomas signed with Dinamo Sassari for the 2013–14 season.^[7] On August 23, 2014, he signed with FMC Ferentino of the Italian Serie A2 Basket for the 2014–15 season.^[8]

In November 2015, he signed with Halcones Rojos Veracruz of the Mexican LNBP.^[9] In late December 2015, he left Veracruz and signed with VITA Tbilisi of the VTB United League.^[10] On March 1, 2016, he left Tbilisi and signed with Zenit Saint Petersburg for the rest of the season.^[11]

On July 3, 2016, Thomas signed with Vanoli Cremona for the 2016–17 season.^[12] On November 23, 2016, he parted ways with Cremona after appearing in six games.^[13] In December 2016, he signed with Hoops Club.^[14] In 2017, he played in Mexico with the Náuticos de Mazatlán of the Circuito de Baloncesto de la Costa del Pacífico (CIBACOPA).^[15]