Derek Harper

Derek Harper

Personal information
Born	(1961-10-13) October 13, 1961 Elberton, Georgia
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	North Shore (West Palm Beach, Florida)
College	Illinois (1980–1983)
NBA draft	1983 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11th overall
Selected by the Dallas Mavericks
Playing career	1983–1999
Position	Point guard
Number	5, 11, 12
Career history
1983–1994	Dallas Mavericks
1994–1996	New York Knicks
1996–1997	Dallas Mavericks
1997–1998	Orlando Magic
1999	Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1987, 1990) Second-team All-American – AP (1983)
Career NBA statistics
Points	16,006 (13.3 ppg)
Assists	6,577 (5.5 apg)
Steals	1,957 (1.6 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Derek Ricardo Harper (born October 13, 1961) is a retired American professional basketball player. A Second-Team All-American at the University of Illinois, he was the 11th overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft and spent 16 seasons as a point guard in the National Basketball Association with the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers.

College

After graduating from Roosevelt Junior High School and then North Shore High School in West Palm Beach, Harper played three seasons for the Fighting Illini and coach Lou Henson having his best season in 1982–1983, when he led the Fighting Illini in scoring with 15.4 points per game. Harper was named First-Team All-Big Ten and Second-Team All-American in 1983, and was Honorable Mention All-Big Ten in both 1981 and 1982. Harper averaged 4.7 assists per game for his collegiate career, and led the Big Ten in assists in the 1981–1982 season. Harper was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.

Professional

At 6 ft 4 in, Harper was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the 11th overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft. He spent his first ten seasons with them, averaging 15 points and 6.1 assists, the entire time in a backcourt tandem with All-Star shooting guard Rolando Blackman.

Harper was traded to the New York Knicks 28 games into the 1993-94 season, as the Knicks were looking for a defensive point guard to replace injured Doc Rivers, sidelined for the rest the season. The shift sent him from a team that finished 13-69 to being an integral part of one that came within one game of winning the 1994 NBA Championship.

After one more season with the Knicks Harper returned to Dallas in 1996-97, then played one season each with the Magic and Lakers. The Lakers traded him to the Detroit Pistons, but he retired without reporting to the team.

Harper played in 1199 regular season games in his career, tying him for 35th in NBA history (as of the 2013-14 NBA season). He retired having the eleventh most steals and the seventeenth most assists in NBA history, and is widely regarded as one of the best players to never have been selected to an All-Star game.

Post-career

Harper presently lives in Dallas with his family. He is now a game analyst for the Dallas Mavericks on their locally broadcast games; and since fall 2005, he has been the weekend sports anchor at KTXA, the former CBS operated station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban had earlier announced that Harper's jersey was to be retired during the 2013-2014 season, but later Cuban said that it would not be retired this season.

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
1983–84	Dallas	82	1	20.9	.443	.115	.673	2.1	2.9	1.2	.3	5.7
1984–85	Dallas	82	1	27.0	.520	.344	.721	2.4	4.4	1.8	.5	9.6
1985–86	Dallas	79	39	27.2	.534	.235	.747	2.9	5.3	1.9	.3	12.2
1986–87	Dallas	77	76	33.2	.501	.358	.684	2.6	7.9	2.2	.3	16.0
1987–88	Dallas	82	82	37.0	.459	.313	.759	3.0	7.7	2.0	.4	17.0
1988–89	Dallas	81	81	36.6	.477	.356	.806	2.8	7.0	2.1	.5	17.3
1989–90	Dallas	82	82	36.7	.488	.371	.794	3.0	7.4	2.3	.3	18.0
1990–91	Dallas	77	77	37.4	.467	.362	.731	3.0	7.1	1.9	.2	19.7
1991–92	Dallas	65	64	34.6	.443	.312	.759	2.6	5.7	1.6	.3	17.7
1992–93	Dallas	62	60	34.0	.419	.393	.756	2.0	5.4	1.3	.3	18.2
1993–94	Dallas	28	28	31.9	.380	.352	.560	2.0	3.5	1.6	.1	11.6
1993–94	New York	54	27	24.3	.430	.367	.743	1.6	4.4	1.5	.1	8.6
1994–95	New York	80	80	34.0	.446	.363	.724	2.4	5.7	1.0	.1	11.5
1995–96	New York	82	82	35.3	.464	.372	.757	2.5	4.3	1.6	.1	14.0
1996–97	Dallas	75	29	29.5	.444	.341	.742	1.8	4.3	1.2	.2	10.0
1997–98	Orlando	66	45	26.7	.417	.360	.696	1.6	3.5	1.1	.2	8.6
1998–99	L. A. Lakers	45	29	24.9	.412	.368	.813	1.5	4.2	1.0	.1	6.9
Career		1,199	883	31.5	.463	.354	.745	2.4	5.5	1.6	.3	13.3

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1984	Dallas	10	–	22.6	.389	.375	.714	2.0	2.8	1.1	.2	5.0
1985	Dallas	4	0	33.0	.476	.333	.714	3.0	5.0	1.5	.3	6.5
1986	Dallas	10	10	34.8	.533	.571	.750	1.9	7.6	2.3	.0	13.4
1987	Dallas	4	4	30.8	.500	.222	.800	3.0	6.8	1.8	.0	16.5
1988	Dallas	17	17	35.4	.441	.250	.729	2.5	7.1	1.9	.3	13.5
1990	Dallas	3	3	39.7	.438	.313	.688	2.7	7.7	1.3	.0	19.3
1994	New York	23	22	32.6	.429	.341	.643	2.3	4.5	1.8	.0	11.4
1995	New York	11	11	35.3	.514	.574	.750	3.5	5.6	1.0	.1	14.3
1996	New York	8	8	36.6	.354	.314	.733	2.1	4.8	1.3	.1	10.0
1999	L. A. Lakers	7	0	16.1	.419	.100	.500	1.4	2.1	.3	.0	4.3
Career		97	75	31.9	.449	.365	.712	2.4	5.3	1.5	.1	11.3

See also

• List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played
• List of National Basketball Association career assists leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career minutes played leaders

External links

• Career Statistics at basketball-reference.com
• Profile at cbs11tv.com