NBA Career
Collison was widely considered to be one of the top point guard prospects in the 2009 NBA Draft coming out of UCLA. He was selected in the first round with the 21st overall by the New Orleans Hornets.
With Chris Paul out for months at two separate times during the 2009-2010 season, Collison became the starting point guard. Collison handed out a Hornets rookie-record 18 assists and scored 17 points on January 30, 2010 when New Orleans ended Memphis's 11-game home winning streak with a 113–111 overtime victory. Later on March 8, 2010, Collison broke his own record with a Hornets rookie-record 20 assists (along with 16 points) in a 135–131 victory over the Golden State Warriors. In a game against the Indiana Pacers on February 19, 2010, Collison became only the second rookie of the 2009-2010 season to get a triple-double with 18 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. He finished 4th in the NBA Rookie of the Year voting and averaged 18.8 points and 9.1 assists, but had four turnovers a contest as a starter in his first NBA season. On August 11, 2010, the Hornets traded Collison and James Posey to the Indiana Pacers in a four-team, five-player deal.
On July 12, 2012, Collison and Dahntay Jones were traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Ian Mahinmi. Collison became the Mavericks' starting point guard, replacing Jason Kidd who left as a free agent. Collison was a key player in Dallas' 4–1 start in 2012–13, but he struggled as they lost 8 of their next 11. After starting the team's first 14 games, Collison came off the bench for one game. He missed the next game with a sprained right middle finger, prompting Dallas to sign Derek Fisher. Fisher started in his first game with the Mavericks, while Collison remained a reserve. 14 games later, on December 27, 2012, he regained the starting job.
Read more about this topic: Darren Collison
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)