James Donaldson

Who is James Donaldson?

James Lee Donaldson III is a retired professional English-American basketball player who grew up in California and played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association.

Donaldson, a 7'2" center, starred at Luther Burbank High School and Washington State University in the late 1970s before being drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1979. However, he spent his first professional season abroad, with the Italian Serie A's 3A Antonini Siena.

Donaldson played three seasons with Seattle before moving on to the San Diego Clippers. During the 1984–85 NBA season, he led the league in field goal percentage at 0.637 — still one of the ten highest percentages in NBA history.

Donaldson joined the Dallas Mavericks in 1985. He had his finest years while playing for the Mavericks, providing rebounding and shot-blocking to complement Dallas' star-studded line-up, which included Mark Aguirre, Rolando Blackman, Roy Tarpley, Derek Harper, and Brad Davis. Donaldson himself earned a spot on the 1988 All-Star Team during a season in which the Mavericks reached the Western Conference Finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.