Marquis Daniels is a seven season veteran of the National Basketball Association who currently plays for the Boston Celtics. He was born on January 7, 1981.
He attended Edgewater High School and later transferred to Mt. Zion Christian Academy, where the NBA’s Tracy McGrady attended. He is also the founder of the Q6 Foundation, which helps raise money to fight sickle cell anemia and assist children living with the disease.
He is well known for his many tattoos, especially those on his arms and his long dreadlocks.
College Basketball
Upon graduation from high school, Daniels enrolled at Auburn University, where he studied sociology and managed to finish his degree in just three and a half years. In his sophomore, junior and senior years he was named the team’s Most Valuable Player.
In his senior year, he averaged 18.4 points per game, along with 6.2 rebounds per game and 2.3 steals per game. In 2003, he led his team to the NCAA Tournament. In three games of the tournament, he averaged 23.3 points. Though his team lost to Syracuse, he still managed to score 27 points and make five rebounds during that game.
Entering the NBA
The Dallas Mavericks coach, Don Nelson was originally going to use his second round draft pick to nab Daniels. However, this did not pan out as Daniels might have hoped.
He did not get drafted at all, and ended up playing in the NBA Summer League for a short time. Due to his incredible performance in the Summer League, he signed a one year minimum contract with the Mavericks.
During his rookie season with the Mavericks, he was mostly a third string player. However, when teammate Steve Nash was out with the stomach flu, Nelson decided to start Daniels, and he delivered beautifully, scoring 14 points and making nine rebounds and nine assists.
On July 6, 2006, the Mavericks traded Daniels to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Austin Croshere. Then, on September 1, 2009, he was signed with the Boston Celtics. In the 2006-07 season, he averaged 10.2 points per game, and played 62 games, starting in 29.
He had a 48% field goal average. In the next season, he did not start out very well. In the first 39 games, he averaged only six points per game. However, in the rest of the season he played in only six games, scoring a total of 85 points.