“I like being in the right place at the right time,” the 6-foot-8 forward said at the postgame press conference following his Dayton Flyers’ 74-55 victory over the Eagles Saturday at UD Arena.
While Thomas was referring to his penchant for blocking shots, he really could have been talking about his overall basketball situation right now and that would make it not a story about rejection, but of overall embrace.
After his freshman year went off script at Villanova last season, Thomas entered the transfer portal this past spring hoping to find a program where promises would be realized and the rug wouldn’t be pulled out from under him.
When he’d come out of fabled DeMatha Catholic High in Maryland, he had chosen Villanova over numerous college offers that included Xavier, Florida State, Cal and Vanderbilt in his final five choices.
But soon after he committed, Wildcats high-scoring star Eric Dixon unexpectedly decided to return for a sixth season rather than turn pro. That would mean Thomas would get considerably less time on the court than expected.
As Dixon went on to lead the nation in scoring with a 23.4 points per game average and finished his career as Villanova’s all-time leading scorer with 2,314 points, Thomas tried to make the best of an unexpected turn.
He worked on his game on the Wildcats’ practice court — where he was mentored by Dixon — and added 25 sculpted pounds in the weight room.
But then Kyle Neptune, the head coach who had recruited him, was fired and replaced by Kevin Willard, who had just left Maryland in a swirl of controversy and bruised feelings.
Thomas, along with five other players, entered the portal and soon the connection was made between UD, him and his parents, both former college hoops standouts at Syracuse.
His dad, 6-10 Etan Thomas, had been a first round draft pick of the Dallas Mavericks and was in the NBA for 10 seasons.
Malcolm said he and his parents felt comfortable with Anthony Grant and his staff and they hoped (Malcolm) could follow the same blueprint that turned Obi Toppin, Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes II into NBA draft picks in the past five years.
With that as the backdrop, Dayton opened this season against Canisius and Thomas came off the bench to play 13 minutes and score three points, while grabbing three rebounds and blocking two shots.
But in the next two games — against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) at UD Arena and the Cincinnati Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena on the UC campus — he played just four minutes in each and did not score.
And then came the game against Bethune Cookman 11 days ago at UD Arena.
Eight Flyers players got in the game.
Malcolm Thomas did not.
You could tell from the oft-unsmiling, stony look on his face as he sat on the bench that day that he was struggling internally with his situation, though he tried not to let it overcome him or leach onto his teammates.
Through much of the game, UD associate head coach Ricardo Greer was, as Thomas would explain in a private moment after last Saturday’s press conference, “in my ear ... telling me a lot.
“He had me watching the game from a coach’s eye view. He was pointing out every little thing so I’d know where I was supposed to be at every point of the game.
“And, honestly, I now can say it helped me to look at the court in that way. And it humbled me a little bit. I had never been in that situation before.”
And he hasn’t been in that situation since.
After Bethune Cookman, the Flyers traveled to Marquette and Thomas was called off the bench and, in 11 minutes of play, he was a force.
He made three-of-four field goal attempts to finish with eight points and two rebounds in a 77-71 Flyers’ victory.
And then came last Saturday’s triumph over North Carolina Central. Again, he was brought in to replace UD’s 7-foot-1 Amaël L’Etang.
He would play 20 minutes and along with his two blocks, he had two rebounds and an assist. He scored 12 points, four off a pair of rousing dunks.
One was a posterization of North Carolina Central star Greg Lattimiore, who saw close up what the Villanova fan base did last preseason when Thomas won the Wildcats dunk contest with an assortment of high-flying antics, including one Obi-esque, mid-air, 360 spin he finished with a backward, over-the-head jam.
As he came off the court after Saturday’s game, Thomas was stopped by a crush of young kids leaning over the railing above the players’ tunnel, begging him for an autograph and some acknowledgement.
He gave both and threw in some heartfelt give-and-take and a huge smile to boot.
“I was ridiculously excited and happy to be out on the court,” he said quietly in those private moments afterward.
“Right now, I feel like I’m playing with a joy.”
Credit: David Jablonski
‘I like a lot of things’
“I’m more than just a basketball player,” Thomas told me when we sat and talked at length this summer in a room overlooking the Cronin Center practice gym on campus.
“I’m a poet. I like to write. I like a lot of things.”
His parents helped nurture his multi-faceted approach to life.
His mom was a Syracuse basketball player of note — she was Nicole Oliver then — and she went on to do some modeling and acting.
Today she’s a nutritionist and a health coach and she’s also the mother of three children: Malcolm and his sister, Sierra and Imani.
His dad, Etan, was the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year at Syracuse and the Dallas Mavericks made him the 12th overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft.
He was promptly traded to Washington and over the next 10 seasons played for the Wizards, Oklahoma City and Atlanta while sitting out one year due to an injury.
During his playing days, but especially after, he has become one of the best voices to come out of the NBA and speak on everything from social issues to fatherhood.
He’s an author, poet, ESPN radio host, activist and motivational speaker.
Over the years he took Malcolm with him and soon his young son was taking the stage, speaking to groups and reciting social-edged poetry with rhythmic cadence and perfect delivery.
Offering rhyme and reason on topics from Colin Kaepernick to the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, Malcolm addressed crowds at several colleges — including Howard, Maryland, Southern Cal and Syracuse — and at churches across the country, the NBA All-Star Youth Summit in Harlem and at national conferences of the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus.
He’s studying journalism at UD.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
‘A star in my role’
Although he stressed that he’s about more than just hoops in his life, he’s at UD because he is a basketball player.
Grant said the limited action Thomas saw in the first few games was part of a get-acquainted period for both him and the UD coaches:
“Last year at Villanova, Malcolm redshirted and didn’t get an opportunity to go through game experiences.
“He’s getting comfortable now and we’re getting comfortable with what he’s capable of doing and learning.
“It’s on both sides. He’s learning what we need him to do to be the best version of himself and we’re learning how to help him do that.”
Thomas said he understands that:
“Nobody wants to be on the bench, but I trust my coaching staff. Coach Grant knows what he’s doing.
“I realize I need to be a star in my role and do what the coaches need me to do. I realize that is what will get me on the court more.”
The past two games he and L’Etang have split time in the post.
“Me and Frenchy are definitely different players, but I think we complement each other very well,” Thomas said. “He’s very finesse, very skilled. I kind of bring that bruiser mentality. It’s a good contrast.”
Thomas said while the team added six transfers and two freshmen to the four returning scholarship players and three walk-ons this year: “This is one of the tightest teams most of us has ever been on. We just jelled really well.
“The coaching staff, all the guys, there’s a friendship on the team. There’s a real brotherhood thing going on, a real sense of family.”
Speaking of family, he said his parents haven’t seen him play in person yet this season but that they and several family members and friends will be in the stands in Florida the next few days when — as part of the 2025 ESPN Events Invitational in Kissimmee — the Flyers face Georgetown on Thanksgiving night and the winner of the BYU/Miami Hurricanes game the next night.
As he thought about that, a smile lit up his face again and that prompted a quiet aside, as if he were talking to himself rather than really trying to share it with anyone else:
“Life is really great right now ... Really great.”
It all goes back to being at the right place at the right time.
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