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Center · 1992–95

James Donaldson

Born in Heacham, England to an Air Force family, the 7-foot-2 center set the blocked-shot records at Washington State and played 14 NBA seasons. He led the league in field goal percentage in 1984-85, made the 1988 All-Star team with Dallas, and holds a curious record: 957 games without a single three-point attempt. His 49 games with the Jazz in the early 1990s came as injuries wound the career down, though he played on in Greece and Spain until age 41.

In the Seattle area he ran the Donaldson Clinic, a physical therapy practice, until 2018, worked as a motivational speaker, survived an aortic dissection in January 2018, and twice ran for mayor of Seattle.

HOW HE CAME & WENTThe veteran centre came to Utah in 1992 by way of New York and played 49 games across two seasons before injuries forced him to retire.

Full name
James Lee Donaldson III
Utah Jazz tenure
1992–95
Position
Center
Born
1957, Heacham, England
Height
7′2″ (218 cm)
Weight
276 lb (125 kg)
College
Washington State
Drafted
1979, 4th round, Seattle
Signatures in the archive
  • 2023-24 Donruss #SS-JDM Signature Series
  • 1991 Fleer #44 Dallas Mavericks

No photograph of this signature is online yet.

With the Jazz

JAMES DONALDSON · 1992–95 · PER GAME
SEASONTEAMGMPGPPGRPGAPGSPGBPGFG%3P%FT%
1992–93UTA615.73.54.80.20.21.2.571.556
1994–95UTA4314.32.62.50.30.10.7.595.710
JAZZ TOTAL2 SEASONS4914.42.72.80.30.10.7.591.675

Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗  ·  Wikipedia ↗

Did you know

JAMES DONALDSON · 4 NOTES
  • He twice ran for mayor of Seattle, finishing fourth in the 2009 race.
  • In 1990 he founded a short-lived Dallas dating magazine called Eligibles, serving as its CEO.
  • He spent his first professional season in Italy with Antonini Siena, and Lenny Wilkens gave him his first NBA job in Seattle.
  • He blocked eight shots against Stanford in January 1978 and left Washington State as its career leader in blocked shots.