EIt was 2010 and Donta Hall had finished his last high school basketball game.. He was changing when there began to be a commotion at the top of the stands. Someone went to the locker room and told him to go see his father, who was there. They stopped him halfway up the stairs. They didn’t let it continue to rise. “That’s when I knew for sure that something bad had happened,” he says. Indeed. His father, Donald, had died after suffering a heart attack.
A very hard blow at 13 years old. But the current player of the Baskonia He knew how to transform it into energy to be who he is today: a center of 2.08 meters and 27 years old who has just played one of the best games of his life. In the victory against UCAM Murcia he finished with 27 points after making 8/8 in field goals, nine rebounds, 12 fouls received and 45 rating. He had no competition in the race for MVP of the third day. This Tuesday they will face Real Madrid at the start of the first doubleheader of this season in the Euroleague.
Donta Hall, in the official Baskonia photo session.
Until that tragedy, Hall was not passionate about basketball. His father had always kept him close to sports, but practicing many of them: American football, golf and, above all, baseball. It was then that he concentrated all his efforts on the basket and the orange ball. “I was motivated when it happened at my last high school basketball game and my mom wasn’t there because she was working hard like every day. It pushed me to make sure my mom didn’t have to go out to work anymore.”the player said in an interview on the Euroleague website.
My father’s death pushed me to make sure my mother no longer had to go out to work.
Life changed for the boy, who became a man by force and at full speed while he glimpsed his dream of being a professional. There were complicated steps to take, like when he had to leave his native Luverne to go to Tuscaloosa to enroll in the University of Alabama. “It was my most difficult time”remember: “The nights were long and it was difficult for me to sleep thinking about things. I went to the gym at 2:00 or 3:00, I stayed there until 5:00 or 6:00 and had classes at 8:00 or 9:00. I went and then I trained”.
Donta Hall takes the game ball.
So much effort and averaging 10.5 points and 8.8 rebounds in his last season as a university student They were not enough for him to be drafted in 2019. He was tested with the Pistonsbut his first professional year began in the Grand Rapids Drivethe affiliate team of the G League. In February he got the opportunity to debut in the NBA with Detroit. He played four games. Then five more would arrive with the Nets and, the following year, another 13 with the Magic. In those 22 games he had averages of 5.1 points and 4.5 rebounds. In between, steps through the Development League.
Nervous before his arrival in Europe
Faced with this lack of stability, Hall opened himself to the possibility of exploring other destinations. In August 2021 he signed for AS Monacowhich debuted in the Euroleague. “I was nervous. When I spoke to my agent, I had my doubts about coming to Europe without my mother.. His health had worsened and he was not sure, but I felt it was the best and she supported me. I didn’t want me to leave, but I knew it was the best,” says the center who in 2023 renewed for the Principality, rejecting any NBA offer.
In three seasons in Monaco, almost always coming off the bench, Hall averaged 6.8 points, 4.7 rebounds and a PIR of 10.9highlighting his ability to play above the rim with great jumping ability and tremendous wingspan. Last summer he arrived in Vitoria, where he has fitted in well. “I just try my best”dice. Baskonia Character. In the two Euroleague games he has averages of 10.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks and 15.5 efficiency.
I believe that God does many things for a reason, so I take them and accept them
Hall, after playing the game of his life against UCAM Murcia, took the ball home as if he had achieved a hat trick. The last prize in that personal struggle that began with a misfortune in 2010 and that is engraved on his skin through tattoos. “I believe that God does many things for a reason, so I take them and accept them”sentence.
