LaPhonso Ellis

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LaPhonso Ellis
Position	Power forward
Height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Weight	240 lb (109 kg)
Nationality	United States
Born	May 5, 1970 (age 36) East St. Louis, Illinois
College	Notre Dame
Draft	5^th overall, 1992 Denver Nuggets
Pro career	1992–2003
Former teams	Denver Nuggets (1992–1998) Atlanta Hawks (1999–2000) Minnesota Timberwolves (2000–2001) Miami Heat (2001–2003)

LaPhonso Darnell Ellis (born May 5, 1970 in East St. Louis, Illinois) is an American former professional basketball player. He was an outstanding high school basketball player at East St. Louis Lincoln High School, where he led the Lincoln Tigers to two straight Illinois Class AA boys' championships in 1987 and 1988. Although many thought he would attend Illinois, the Illini's questionable recruiting tactics came into play, and Ellis chose to avoid the taint of Illini misconduct, receive a first-rate undergraduate education, and attend the University of Notre Dame. Ellis' Notre Dame squad qualified for the NCAA championship tournament his freshman year. To this day, Illini fans pine for their lost opportunity, imagining that Ellis would have been the missing piece for a final four Illini squad, despite the fact that Illinois never made a Final Four during the years in question.

Ellis was one of four captains of the 1991-92 Notre Dame team. Throughout his career, he scored 1,505 career points, and averaged 15.5 points per game to earn school rankings of 12th and 22nd, respectively. He recorded 200 career blocks, a school record. He ranks third on the school’s career rebounding list with 1,075, and eighth on the career rebounding average list, with 11.1 rpg. He led the '91-92 team in scoring (17.7 ppg), rebounding (11.7 rpg), field goal percentage (.631) and blocked shots (2.6 bpg). He paced Notre Dame in blocked shots in each of his four seasons, the only player in school history to do so. Ellis overcame difficulties with the high academic standards at Notre Dame, and recovered to graduate, on time, with a degree in accounting from the undergraduate college of business. He was the fifth overall selection in the 1992 NBA Draft, picked by the Denver Nuggets, and was named to the 1992 All-Rookie first team. He subsequently played in Atlanta, Minnesota and Miami, where he retired after the 2003 season.