Erick Travez Dampier (born July 14, 1975, in New Hebron, Mississippi) is an American basketball player. He is a 6 ft 11 in / 265 lb. center who currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA.
Erick played competitively at Lawrence County High School in Monticello, Mississippi, where he led the rural county to two state championships. Dampier played college basketball at Mississippi State University. While there he became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. He was an early entry to the 1996 NBA draft after his junior season, in which he led MSU to the 1996 Southeastern Conference tournament championship, and the NCAA Final Four before being drafted as the tenth pick in the first round by the Indiana Pacers.
He played 72 games in his rookie year with the Pacers, starting 21 of them and finishing with averages of 5.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. On August 12, 1997 he and Duane Ferrell were traded to the Golden State Warriors for Chris Mullin.
He spent the next seven years, primarily as the starting center, for the Warriors, hitting his peak production in 2003-04 with averages of 12.3 points, 12 rebounds and 1.85 blocks per game. However, some critics claimed that he stepped up his production because he was in a contract year, and indeed he was considered a top free-agent commodity in the 2004 off-season.
Eventually he signed with the Mavericks, and in his first season in Dallas he played in 59 games (starting 56), averaging 9.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.85 blocks per game. However, in the 2005 playoffs, he played against elite centers Yao Ming and Amare Stoudemire and was criticized as inconsistent and foul-prone.
In his second Mavs season, Dampier acquired a decent backup in DeSagana Diop. Together, they form one of the strongest defensive center rotations in the NBA.
