Derrick Byars

Derrick JaVaughn Byars (born April 25, 1984) is an American entrepreneur and former professional basketball player.

As a sophomore (1999–2000), Byars was an honorable-mention All-State selection and led the Roadrunners to the Class AA State Championship.

As a senior (2001–02), he averaged 23.2 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists and led Ridgeway to its second TSSAA Class AA State Championship in three years.

[7] In his senior season (2006–07), Byars was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year by the league's coaches, who also unanimously selected him to their All-SEC first team.

He led Vanderbilt to a 22–12 record (SEC East: 10–6, 2nd) and the Elite Eight Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, because Jeff Green's travel was not called, ending the season at least one game early.

He led the Commodores in scoring with 17.0 points per game and was ranked among the SEC's top 10 in four other statistical categories.

Byars return to the NBA Summer League was successful, as he led the Magic in scoring in their first game against the New Jersey Nets with 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting [1].

In late September, Byars was signed by the Oklahoma City Thunder where he averaged 4.1 points and 14.8 minutes per game in the preseason.

[10] Byars was invited to the Chicago Bulls' training camp in 2009 but was waived on the opening day of the season, October 28, 2009.

[12] In December 2007, Byars played in eight games for the Köln 99ers, a Basketball Bundesliga team based in Cologne, Germany, having arrived at the end of October with a foot injury that had to be cured first.

On January 24, 2008, he was subsequently signed by Chorale Roanne Basket of the Ligue Nationale de Basketball (LNB) in France.

He returned to the team briefly in 2011, claiming another NBA Developmental League Player of the Week award after scoring a career-high 45 points versus Springfield Armor.

On April 12, 2014, Byars signed with Belfius Mons-Hainaut of the Basketball League Belgium for the rest of the 2013–14 season.