Background and career
Matthew William "Delly" Dellavedova (born 8 September 1990) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Sydney Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL). He played college basketball for Saint Mary's College. In 2016, he won the NBA championship as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers. As a member of the Australian national team, he won bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Dellavedova was born and raised in Maryborough, Victoria, as a sixth-generation Italian Australian. As a junior, he played basketball, tennis, soccer, and Australian rules football. On the football field, Dellavedova played the position of wing and kicked a total of 32 goals in 26 games between 1999 and 2001, but gave the game away to focus solely on basketball. Dellavedova played junior basketball for the Maryborough Blazers and Bendigo Braves. After playing State basketball for Victoria Country, he attended the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra for three years, where he played for the AIS men's team in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). Prior to leaving for the AIS on a scholarship, he attended Maryborough Regional College. While in Canberra, he attended Lake Ginninderra Secondary College. In 2017, he was inducted into the Lake Ginninderra Hall of Fame. Between 2007 and 2009, Dellavedova played for the AIS in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). He averaged 15.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 18 games in 2008 and 10.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in nine games in 2009.
Dellavedova was recruited by Randy Bennett and the Saint Mary's College of California in 2009 and signed with the Gaels before the 2009–10 season. He was ranked by ESPN as one of the top junior players in Australia. Dellavedova immediately contributed for the Gaels and started all 34 games as a freshman. In 2009–10, he averaged 12.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. That season, the Gaels won 28 games and reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 2010 NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Gaels reached the Sweet Sixteen by upsetting Villanova, 75–68. Dellavedova's crucial late free throws iced the game against the Wildcats. On 16 January 2013, Dellavedova scored 18 points, including a game-winning three-point buzzer-beater, in a 70–69 victory over the BYU Cougars. The forty-foot shot soon became known as the "Dellavedagger." In 2012–13, Dellavedova was an Academic All-America selection and a Senior CLASS Award finalist. Dellavedova graduated from Saint Mary's in 2013 with a degree in psychology. He finished his college career as Saint Mary's all-time leader in scoring, assists, games played, free throw percentage, and three-point shots. St. Mary's retired his jersey on 15 February 2014. Dellavedova's #4 was the second retired by the school's men's basketball program, joining Tom Meschery in the rafters of McKeon Pavilion.
After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA draft, Dellavedova joined the Cleveland Cavaliers for the 2013 NBA Summer League. On 12 September 2013, he signed a two-year, $1.3 million contract with the Cavaliers, with $100,000 guaranteed. On 26 March 2014, he scored a career-high 21 points in a 97–96 win over the Detroit Pistons.
In July 2014, Dellavedova re-joined the Cavaliers for the 2014 NBA Summer League. Between 5 November and 5 December, Dellavedova was sidelined with a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL). In February 2015, he participated in the Rising Stars Challenge as part of the NBA All-Star weekend. In the regular-season finale on 15 April, he recorded 18 points and 12 assists in a 113–108 overtime win over the Washington Wizards. In Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Dellavedova scored a team-high 19 points to help the Cavaliers defeat the Chicago Bulls and advance to the Conference Finals. Following the Cavaliers' Game 3 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Eastern Conference Finals, Dellavedova's aggressive play became a major talking point with some describing him as a "dirty" player. Despite this criticism, teammate LeBron James and NBA great Charles Barkley both defended Dellavedova's style of play. The Cavaliers defeated the Hawks 4–0 to advance to the 2015 NBA Finals. In Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, in the absence of the injured Kyrie Irving, Dellavedova held Stephen Curry to 0-of-8 shooting and four turnovers while guarding him. The Cavaliers won Game 2 in overtime, 95–93, for their first victory of an NBA Finals game in franchise history. In Game 3, Dellavedova scored a playoff career-high 20 points as the Cavaliers defeated the Warriors to take a 2–1 series lead. After the game, Dellavedova was so dehydrated that he needed an IV, and he was quickly taken to the Cleveland Clinic for medical attention. The Cavaliers went on to lose the last three games of the series, and Dellavedova shot just 19% from the field in those three games.
On 27 July 2015, Dellavedova re-signed with the Cavaliers. On 19 November 2015, he recorded a then career-high 13 assists in a 115–100 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. On 20 December, he scored a season-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in a 108–86 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. He missed five straight games in February 2016 with a strained hamstring. The Cavaliers returned to the NBA Finals in 2016 with a 4–2 series win over the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals. In a Finals rematch with the Golden State Warriors, the Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to win the championship after being down 3–1 in the series.
