Derek Harper

Derek Ricardo Harper (born October 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player.

Harper averaged 4.7 assists per game for his collegiate career, and led the Big Ten in assists in the 1981–1982 season.

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.

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.

Harper is widely regarded as one of the best players to never have been selected to an All-Star 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.

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.

For almost the entire time in his first stint with the team, he was part of the starting backcourt tandem with All-Star shooting guard Rolando Blackman.

Harper did it with the Mavericks from 1983-84 to 1990-91.

The Mavericks made the playoffs 6 out of the 10 years of Harper's tenure with the team, and they made it to the Western Conference Finals in the 1987–1988 season, but they were never able to replicate that success for any other season of Harper's time in Dallas.

He had multiple seasons of averaging well over 10 PPG, and became known for being both a great scorer and defender.

His best season came in 1990–1991 where he averaged 19.7 PPG.

But he still wasn't selected to be an all star and the Mavericks finished that year with an unpleasant 28–54 record.

Harper still played well for the rest of his time in Dallas, but the team was atrocious.

In the 1992–1993 season especially, the Mavericks finished 11–71 which is one of the worst records of all time.

Harper spent 2 more seasons with the Mavericks before leaving the team during the 1993–1994 season.

Harper, J.J. Redick, and DeAndre Jordan are currently the only players in NBA history to increase their season scoring average for eight consecutive seasons.

Harper was traded to the New York Knicks (where he was reunited with Blackman) 28 games into the 1993–94 season.

The Knicks were looking for a defensive point guard to replace the injured Doc Rivers, who was sidelined for the rest of 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.

His stats declined as he had to adjust to having less of an individual role, but his best season with the Knicks came in his last year with the team where he averaged 14.0 PPG.

On July 14, 1996 he was released by the Knicks and became a free agent.

Harper returned to Dallas after signing with the Mavericks on July 26.

In his return he averaged 10.0 PPG and 4.3 APG.

He played well at the age of 35 but the Mavericks were still a bad team, finishing the season with only 24 wins.

This would be the final season that he would play for the Mavericks.

Harper was traded by the Mavericks with Ed O'Bannon to the Orlando Magic for Dennis Scott and cash.

He played one season for the Magic, his scoring and overall play dropped off but he was still a solid bench player.

The Magic had a decent roster but the team was very old.

16 out of the 22 players on the roster were either 30 years old or older, Harper was one of those 16 players (he was 36 at the time).

The team had an average record of 41–41 and missed the playoffs.

They made the playoffs and it was the first time Harper had reached the playoffs since 1996 with the Knicks.

The Lakers made it to the second round but got swept by the San Antonio Spurs.

This would be the final year of Harper's career.

Harper's contract expired in the 1998 offseason and he left the team.

Harper signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers were a great team and had a young Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant leading the way.

In the 1999 offseason, the Lakers traded Harper to the Detroit Pistons, but he didn't report to the team.

Harper was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.