Matthew Dellavedova Australian Basketball Player

Early life

Matthew William Dellavedova, nicknamed "Delly", was born on 8 September 1990 in Maryborough, Victoria, Australia, where he grew up as a sixth-generation Italian Australian. As a junior he played basketball, tennis, soccer and Australian rules football. In the football code he played on the wing and kicked 32 goals in 26 games between 1999 and 2001 before deciding to concentrate on basketball.

He played junior basketball for the Maryborough Blazers and the Bendigo Braves, represented Victoria Country at state level, and then moved to Canberra on a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport. He spent three years there, playing for the institute's team in the South East Australian Basketball League from 2007 to 2009, and attended Lake Ginninderra Secondary College while living in the capital. That school inducted him into its hall of fame in 2017.

Career

Dellavedova was recruited by coach Randy Bennett to Saint Mary's College of California in 2009 and played for the Gaels until 2013. He started all 34 games as a freshman, averaging 12.1 points and 4.5 assists, and the team reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 2010 NCAA tournament after beating Villanova. On 16 January 2013 he scored 18 points, including a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer against BYU, a shot that fans called the "Dellavedagger". He graduated in 2013 with a degree in psychology and left as the program's all-time leader in scoring, assists and games played, and also in free-throw percentage and three-point shots. The school retired his number 4 jersey on 15 February 2014, the second in its men's basketball history.

Undrafted in 2013, he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers through the NBA Summer League and signed a two-year contract on 12 September 2013. In 2015 he took part in the Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star weekend, and in the playoffs that year he helped Cleveland past Chicago and Atlanta and into the NBA Finals against Golden State. In Game 2 of the Finals he guarded Stephen Curry in the absence of the injured Kyrie Irving, and in Game 3 he scored a playoff career-high 20 points. He re-signed with the Cavaliers in July 2015, and in 2016 the club won the NBA championship after trailing the Warriors three games to one in the Finals.

On 7 July 2016 the Milwaukee Bucks acquired him in a sign-and-trade deal for a four-year contract worth 38 million dollars. In 2016-17 he averaged career highs of 7.6 points and 4.7 assists across 76 games. On 7 December 2018 he returned to Cleveland in a three-team trade involving the Bucks and the Washington Wizards. He recorded a career-high 14 assists against Denver on 7 March 2020 and re-signed with the Cavaliers that November.

In July 2021 he signed with Melbourne United of the Australian National Basketball League. On 16 January 2022 he scored a career-high 33 points against the Illawarra Hawks, and in July 2022 he left to rejoin the NBA with the Sacramento Kings. In May 2023 he returned to Melbourne United on a two-year deal. United finished the 2023-24 season as minor premiers and reached the championship series, losing 3-2 to the Tasmania JackJumpers. In 2024-25 they again reached the series, losing 3-2 to the Illawarra Hawks, and Dellavedova was named the series' most valuable player, receiving the Larry Sengstock Medal. On 10 April 2025 he signed a three-year contract with the Sydney Kings.

For Australia, he played for the junior national team at the 2009 FIBA Under-19 World Championship, averaging 10.1 points, and the same year was selected for the senior team, the Boomers, at the FIBA Oceania Championship, where at 19 he was the youngest Australian player at the event. He went on to compete at the 2012 London Olympics, the 2014 World Cup in Spain, the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 2019 World Cup in China and the 2020 Olympics, where Australia won the bronze medal. He was also named in the squad for the Paris Olympics in July 2024.

Recognition

Beyond the NBA title with Cleveland in 2016 and the bronze medal at the delayed Tokyo Games, Dellavedova's honours include the NBL Larry Sengstock Medal for the 2025 championship series, an Academic All-America selection in 2012-13 and a place among the finalists for the Senior CLASS Award that year.

Personal life

Dellavedova's father Mark grew up playing Australian rules football, and his mother Leanne played netball; both of his sisters, Yana and Ingrid, also play basketball. He married Anna Schroeder, whom he met at Saint Mary's, on 1 July 2017. He supports the Collingwood Magpies in the Australian Football League. In 2015 he escorted a young hospital patient to a charity prom organised by Akron Children's Hospital after she chose him as her celebrity guest.