Early life

His name is derived from the 18th dynasty "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten, an ancient Egyptian king.

Career

College

Thomas played his college basketball at Syracuse University from 1996-2000, where he averaged 11 points per game and almost 7 rebounds per game and graduated with a degree in business management. His senior year he was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year. At the end of his Syracuse career, Thomas was drafted 12th overall in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks. He also played basketball at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, OK, where he was a teammate of De'mond Parker, R.W. McQuarters and Ryan Humphrey.

Professional career

Without ever playing a game for the Mavericks, he was traded to the Washington Wizards in 2001. He averaged 4.3 points and 3.9 rebounds throughout the 2001-02 season.

During the Wizards' training camp for the 2007-08 NBA season, a routine physical examination discovered that he had a leaking aortic valve. On October 11, 2007, Thomas successfully underwent open heart surgery. He returned to play for the Wizards on October 29, 2008, a full year after his surgery. In his first game back, he had 10 points and eight rebounds.

On June 23, 2009, he was traded along with Oleksiy Pecherov, Darius Songaila, and a first-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller.

On July 27, 2009, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder along with a 2010 second-round draft pick and a conditional 2010 second-round draft pick in exchange for guards Chucky Atkins and Damien Wilkins.

On September 2, 2010, it was announced that the Atlanta Hawks had signed Thomas.

Other work

In 2011, Thomas starred in the dramatic production of Thornton Wilder's play Our Town.

In 2005, Thomas released a book of poetry titled More Than an Athlete: Poems by Etan Thomas which included works critical of former Wizards head coach Doug Collins.

In 2012, Thomas co-authored the autobiography Fatherhood: Rising to the Ultimate Challenge, which he discusses his fatherless childhood and the importance of fatherhood.

Political activism and social causes

In September 2005, Thomas was one of several celebrities to speak at an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. He also spoke out at the September 15, 2007 anti-war protest in Washington D.C. He blogs for The Huffington Post.

Thomas actively supported Barack Obama's 2008 campaign for U.S. president. On August 16, 2008, he appeared with Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean at stops in northern Virginia as part of the Democratic National Committee's "Register for Change" bus tour to encourage local voter registration drives. Thomas gave speeches at two stops in Fairfax County and the City of Alexandria.

In January 2010, Thomas donated $30,000 to the Haiti relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

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
2001-02	Washington	47	0	13.1	.536	.000	.554	3.9	.1	.4	.7	4.3
2002-03	Washington	38	0	13.5	.492	.000	.638	4.3	.1	.2	.6	4.8
2003-04	Washington	79	15	24.1	.489	.000	.647	6.7	.9	.5	1.6	8.9
2004-05	Washington	47	10	20.8	.502	.000	.528	5.2	.4	.4	1.1	7.1
2005-06	Washington	71	9	15.8	.533	.000	.600	3.9	.2	.3	1.0	4.7
2006-07	Washington	65	32	19.2	.574	.000	.558	5.8	.4	.3	1.4	6.1
2008-09	Washington	26	7	11.8	.485	.000	.696	2.5	.2	.1	.7	3.1
2009-10	Oklahoma City	23	1	14.0	.456	.000	.591	2.8	.0	.2	.7	3.3
2010-11	Atlanta	13	0	6.3	.476	.000	.800	1.8	.2	.1	.3	2.5
Career		409	74	17.3	.513	.000	.603	4.8	.4	.3	1.0	5.7

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2005	Washington	8	0	15.8	.655	.000	.455	4.5	.3	.0	.9	6.0
2006	Washington	3	0	6.0	.400	.000	.500	2.0	.0	.7	.7	2.0
2007	Washington	4	4	21.0	.412	.000	.667	5.5	.3	.5	.8	5.0
2010	Oklahoma City	2	0	8.5	.833	.000	1.000	2.0	.0	.0	.0	6.0
2011	Atlanta	1	0	7.0	.000	.000	.000	1.0	.0	.0	.0	.0
Career		18	4	14.0	.559	.000	.541	3.8	.2	.2	.7	4.8

[ Source: Wikipedia ]