Daniel Dillon (basketball)

Daniel James Dillon (born 19 March 1986) is an Australian professional basketball player who last played for the Waverley Falcons of the NBL1 South. He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats before playing professionally in Australia, Romania, Poland, Japan, and France.

Early life
Dillon was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Hampton. In 2003, he moved to the United States to attend North Laurel High School in London, Kentucky. He averaged 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists per game for the school's basketball team.

College career
Dillon had a four-year college basketball career with the Arizona Wildcats under coach Lute Olson from 2004 to 2008. He played sparingly for the Wildcats, averaging 1.6 points and 10.5 minutes in 113 career games with six starts. As a senior in 2007–08, he averaged 2.0 points, 1.3 assists and 14.4 minutes in 30 games with five starts.

Professional career
After a brief stint with the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Summer League, Dillon returned to Australia and joined the South Dragons as a development player for the 2008–09 NBL season. The Dragons went on to win the 2008–09 NBL championship. In 12 games, Dillon averaged 1.8 points per game.

Following the NBL season, Dillon joined the Sandringham Sabres for the 2009 South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) season. He was named the 2009 SEABL South Men Australian Youth Player of the Year.

In February 2010, Dillon travelled with a SEABL Select Team to Doha to play the Qatar national team in a two-game friendly series. He then returned to the Sabres for the 2010 SEABL season.

Dillon joined the Cairns Taipans for the 2010–11 NBL season. He helped the Taipans reach the NBL Grand Final series, where they were defeated 2–1 by the New Zealand Breakers.

After helping the Waverley Falcons win the championship in the Big V in 2011, Dillon joined the Melbourne Tigers for the 2011–12 NBL season. He left the Tigers after one season.

After another stint with the Waverley Falcons in the Big V, Dillon moved to Romania to play for CSM Oradea in the 2012–13 season. He played three seasons for Oradea.

For the 2015–16 season, Dillon joined PGE Turów Zgorzelec of the Polish Basketball League. He moved to Japan for the 2016–17 season, joining Hiroshima Dragonflies of the B.League.

In June 2017, Dillon joined the Kilsyth Cobras of the SEABL. He suffered an Achilles injury playing for Kilsyth and was ruled out for six to eight months. He had signed with Melbourne United, but subsequently missed the entire 2017–18 NBL season. Melbourne went on to win the 2017–18 NBL championship.

After a season with the Waverley Falcons in the Big V, Dillon moved to France to play for Paris Basketball of the LNB Pro B in the 2018–19 season.

Dillon joined the Adelaide 36ers for the 2019–20 NBL season. Following the NBL season, he had a short stint in Poland with Polpharma Starogard Gdański to finish the 2019–20 PLK season.

Dillon returned to the 36ers for the 2020–21 NBL season.

In 2021 and 2022, Dillon played for the Waverley Falcons in the NBL1 South.