Quick Facts
CancerBiography
Tyson Demos (born 3 July 1988) is an Australian professional basketball player who last played for the Illawarra Hawks of the National Basketball League (NBL). He previously played for the Gold Coast Blaze from 2007 to 2010. He primarily plays as a shooting guard, but is occasionally used as a small forward. He has been named the Hawks' Defensive Player of the Year on three occasions.
Career
Demos is a junior product of the Illawarra Basketball Association and attended the Australian Institute of Sport. During this time, he also represented Australia Under-19's at the 2007 FIBA World Championships in Serbia.
Demos signed his first professional contract with the now defunct Gold Coast Blaze in 2007. He played with Gold Coast for three seasons before returning home to Wollongong for the 2010–11 NBL season.
On 18 July 2011, Demos re-signed for a second season with the Hawks on a one-year deal. He played well enough through the season to earn himself a three-year deal in June 2012. The option to remain a Hawk for the third year in the deal was confirmed on 29 August 2014.
During the 2015 off-season, Demos played for Mackay Meteors during the 2015 Queensland Basketball League season. On 3 July 2015, the Hawks announced Demos would be returning to the club for a sixth season. With a complete overhaul at the club, including a name re-branding to "Illawarra Hawks" and bringing in championship-winning coach Rob Beveridge, Demos was excited to return as one of the most experienced club members. However, he managed just six games in 2015–16 before being ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury on 30 November.
On 6 August 2016, Demos announced his decision to sit out the 2016–17 NBL season to give himself the best possible chance of a full recovery from his knee injury.
Player profile
Demos has earned the reputation of a hard-working defender throughout his career. His tenacity, energy and grit in the defensive aspects of the game has been rewarded by the club with the Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2012–13, 2013–14, and 2014–15.