David ThompsonDenver Nuggets · #33
David Thompson is a retired guard and Basketball Hall of Famer, most associated with the Denver Nuggets. Skywalker; a dunk-era supernova. Career averages: 22.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
David Thompson — the report card
Read his whole game at a glance, then dive into any skill. Grades from the DNA model + real production.
Where David Thompson stands
Live ladders from the Balladex models, and what he's chasing. Rankings recompute nightly from real production, accolades, and search demand.
David Thompson — every number, three levels deep
Headline → metric → the raw history behind it. Real career data; tracking-only metrics labeled.
How the model sees David Thompson
Projection = per-minute rate × projected minutes. Rates are recency- and health-weighted, aged along a per-stat curve, and adjusted for live usage/role. No black box — every number shows its work.
David Thompson career stats, season by season
| Season | GP | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975-76 (ABA) | 83 | 37.4 | 26.0 | 6.3 | 3.7 | .515 | .158 |
| 1976-77 | 82 | 36.6 | 25.9 | 4.1 | 4.1 | .507 | |
| 1977-78 | 80 | 37.8 | 27.2 | 4.9 | 4.5 | .521 | |
| 1978-79 | 76 | 35.1 | 24.0 | 3.6 | 3.0 | .512 | |
| 1979-80 | 39 | 31.8 | 21.5 | 4.5 | 3.2 | .468 | .368 |
| 1980-81 | 77 | 34.0 | 25.5 | 3.7 | 3.0 | .506 | .256 |
| 1981-82 | 61 | 20.4 | 14.9 | 2.4 | 1.9 | .486 | .286 |
| 1982-83 | 75 | 28.7 | 15.9 | 3.6 | 3.0 | .481 | .200 |
| 1983-84 | 19 | 18.4 | 12.6 | 2.3 | 0.7 | .539 | .000 |
| Career | 592 | 32.8 | 22.7 | 4.1 | 3.3 |
The Lab
Every number, live and interactive. Real career data; models labeled.
Are the Denver Nuggets built to win?
Team projection rolled up from the roster + last-season baselines — and what it means for his role.
The Ballad of David Thompson
Birth to now — the making of a legend, narrated and scored.
Turning pro
Drafted 1975 as a Guard.
true
Before Michael Jordan, there was the man Jordan wanted to be — and he did his flying a mile above sea level, higher than the game had ever gone.
Chapter
They called him Skywalker. At NC State he won a national title and jumped so high the NCAA effectively rewrote its rules around him; in Denver he became the ABA's brightest star, a leaper the sport had no vocabulary for yet.
Chapter
On the final day of the 1978 season he poured in 73 points chasing a scoring title — one of the great scoring nights in league history. Briefly the highest-paid player in team sports, he was the template for everything that came after. A young Michael Jordan idolized him.
Chapter
Then the fall — down a staircase at Studio 54, and into a cocaine addiction that took the rest of the career the altitude had lifted so high. The Hall of Fame came in 1996: the flight remembered, the fall never hidden.
Off the court
- Height
- 6' 4"
- Weight
- 195 lbs
- College
- Florida State
- NBA debut
- 1975
- Draft
- 1975
- Jersey
- #33
Skywalker; a dunk-era supernova.
A Hall of Fame guard and Denver Nuggets name.
David Thompson — frequently asked
The questions people ask most about David Thompson, answered.
