Deonta Vaughn

Deonta Thomas Vaughn (born August 6, 1986) is an American professional basketball player, who lastly played for Polpharma Starogard Gdański of the Polish Basketball League (PLK). He played high school basketball in his native Indianapolis and in Cincinnati, Ohio, and signed to play for the Cincinnati Bearcats in the NCAA Division I. He stayed 4 years with the Bearcats, earning two all-conference selections in his sophomore and junior year, and he retired as the third best scorer in program history. After going undrafted in the 2010 NBA draft, Vaughn started his professional career in Poland. Throughout his career he has played in Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Hungary, France and Cyprus.

High school career Vaughn was born in Indianapolis to father Derek and mother Veronica Taylor, and attended Arlington High School there. In high school Vaughn played both as a point guard and as a shooting guard; as a sophomore he averaged 12 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.8 steals per game and was a regular member of Arlington's starting lineup under coach Larry Nicks. In the summer of 2004, before the start of his junior year, Vaughn attended the Nike All-American Camp, a camp for the best recruits of the United States. As a junior at Arlington, Vaughn averaged 18 points, 4.5 assists and 4 steals per game, was selected to participate in the Indiana-Kentucky High School All-Star Game, and he was an all-state selection. He won the conference championship with the team, which had a 23–1 record, and was named the team MVP. and started all four years at Arlington. At Harmony, Vaughn averaged 17 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game, and was coached by Rodney Crawford, a former player of the Cincinnati Bearcats.

At Cincinnati, Vaughn chose jersey number 5 and made his debut on November 10, 2006 against Howard, playing 22 minutes and scoring 7 points. He made his first start on November 21 against Wofford, and he scored a career-high 33 points in 38 minutes of play, shooting 12/24 from the field (9/17 on three-pointers). He recorded the second-best scoring average for a Cincinnati freshman behind Dontonio Wingfield, who had averaged 16 points in the 1993–94 season,

Sophomore season Vaughn made his debut as a sophomore on November 9, 2007 in a game against Belmont, scoring 19 points in 37 minutes of play. He then scored a new career high of 36 points against Coastal Carolina on November 6, shooting 12/19 from the field (9/15 on three-pointers) and 3/5 from the free throw line. ranking 5th in scoring in the Big East, 9th in assists per game and 4th in 3-point field goal percentage (a career-high 39.8%), and was named in the All-Big East First Team. Vaughn was also the top scoring returning guard of the Big East. Vaughn came off the bench for only 1 game during the season, on December 6 against UAB, and scored 16 points in 33 minutes of play. and ranked 8th in the Big East in assists per game.

Senior season Vaughn entered his senior season as a preseason First-team All-Big East selection, and he was included in the John R. Wooden Award watchlist. He made his season debut on November 16, 2009 against Prairie View A&M, scoring 15 points along with 5 rebounds. In his first season with the club he averaged 11.6 points, 4 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 29 minutes per game during the regular season; he also played 8 games during the Polish Basketball Cup, averaging 10.3 points per game. His team won the Polish Cup that year, beating Anwil Włocławek in the final game, 75–67.

Vaughn moved to Ukraine in 2011, signing for MBC Mykolaiv, a team of the Ukrainian SuperLeague, and in 37 games he averaged 9.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. He then joined MIA Academy, a team of the Georgian Superliga, for the 2012–13 season. With the new team Vaughn won the league title, the national cup and he was named an all-star.

Vaughn went back to Polpharma Starogard Gdański for the 2013–14 preseason, but left before playing any official match, and signed for Atomerőmű SE of the Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A, the first level of Hungarian basketball, in late September 2013. During the 2013–14 season, Vaughn played 20 games during the regular season (11.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game) and 9 games during the postseason (13.2 points per game). He also had the chance to debut at international level, playing 6 games during the 2013–14 EuroChallenge (7.3 points, 2 rebounds, 3.7 assists per game).

In August 2014, Vaughn went back to Poland and signed for Anwil Włocławek. In the 2014–15 PLK season he played 29 games and posted averages of 11.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game, while shooting 38.8% from three, a career high in his professional career. On April 21, 2015, Vaughn signed a 2-month contract with Paris-Levallois of the LNB Pro A, the first level of French basketball. He played 5 games with the club, averaging 3.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 12.4 minutes per game. In June 2015 he left France for Cyprus and signed for AEK Larnaca. He had the chance to play in the 2015–16 FIBA Europe Cup with AEK, and in 5 games he averaged 11.2 points, 4 rebounds and 4.6 assists.

In December 2015, Vaughn joined Pro B team Boulazac Basket Dordogne, replacing Matt Carlino. In 8 games, Vaughn averaged 7 points and 3.3 assists in the second tier of French basketball.

Vaughn then went back to Georgia and signed for BC Dinamo Tbilisi, and played 27 regular season games in the 2016–17 Georgian Superliga, averaging 13.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists; he then played 3 games during the playoffs, averaging 17 points per game while shooting 38.9% from the three point line, and won his second Superliga title. Vaughn then spent the 2017–18 season in Hungary with Zalakerámia ZTE: in the 2017–18 Nemzeti Bajnokság I/A he played 34 regular season games (14.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists) shooting a career-high 41.3% from three. He also played 4 playoff games, and averaged 13 points and 3.8 assists.

After playing for Bearcat Jam in The Basketball Tournament 2018, Vaughn spent the 2018–19 in Cyprus with APOEL. On March 6, 2020, Vaughn signed for Polpharma Starogard Gdański, his second stint with the club.