Allen Isiah Jeremiah Durham (born July 9, 1988), nicknamed The Hulk, is an American professional basketball player for Ryukyu Golden Kings of the Japanese B.League. Allen owns the Grand Rapids Danger of the North American Basketball League and runs a foundation under his name. He leads Grace Bible College all-time in points, rebounds, and blocks and has played in multiple leagues around the world.
College career
Durham came to Grace Bible College, a Division II school in the NCCAA, after graduating from Wyoming Park in 2006. He was recruited by Coach Gary Bailey. He left after his freshman year due to financial limitations to attend Grand Rapids Community College, but didn't play basketball. He returned to Grace the following season.
Before his senior season, he had offers from several Division I schools to transfer, such as Iowa State, Central Michigan and Miami at Ohio. He scored 31 points in a win against Lincoln Christian University to move into first place on the all-time scoring leaderboard of Grace. The record previously hadn't been broken since 1966. He also became Grace's all-time leading rebounder. He won the Pete Maravich Award for men's basketball in 2011.
Professional career
Dinamo București (2011) Durham started his professional career in Romania, after signing with Dinamo București. In his first career game with the team, he recorded 32 points and 13 rebounds in an 87–94 OT loss against the CS Otopeni. In his second game with Bucuresti, he racked up 21 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists in an 86–91 OT loss against the CSS Giurgiu. He finished his time there with 23.3 points and 13.7 rebounds (including 5.7 offensive) per game in 18 games.
Vilpas (2011–2012) Durham then played for Salon Vilpas of Korisliiga in Finland. In his debut, he had a 27-point and 19-rebound show in an overtime match against Torpan Pojat. He then led his team with 21 points in his second game in an upset win over Tampereen Pyrintö. After going through a four-game losing streak, he helped Vilpas end it by contributing 23 points and 12 rebounds. They qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2003, where they faced Joensuun Kataja.
Hapoel Afula (2013) Durham then signed with Hapoel Afula along with Anthony Fisher in the Israeli National League. He averaged 21 points and 12.1 rebounds in 28 matches.
Nantes (2013–2014) After some negotiations, Durham came to Nantes of the French Pro B. He averaged 18.6 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 44 games.
Barako Bull Energy (2014) Durham then played for the Barako Bull Energy in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) as a replacement import for Eric Wise, who only had one win in his stint with the team. He could have played in the PBA sooner as he could have been the import of the Air21 Express that season, and was recommended to that team by his former French league teammate Wesley Witherspoon. But he decided to rest his body until Barako Bull called him. In his PBA debut, he had 32 points, 24 rebounds and 10 assists that propelled the Energy to their second win in seven outings. He then had 28 points and 29 rebounds in an upset over the first place Talk 'N Text Tropang Texters. But they were eliminated by the Tropang Texters in the first round of the playoffs.
Second stint with Nantes (2014–2015) In his second stint with the team, he averaged 17 points and 8.6 rebounds.
Texas Legends (2015–16) Durham played with the Legends for 24 games in the 2015–16 season, averaging 8.8 points and 7.4 rebounds, starting seven contests.
Third stint with Nantes (2016) Nantes announced that they had brought Durham back to close out their season, replacing Jordan Morgan. He was able to average 19 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 61% from the floor.
Meralco Bolts (2016) After playing in France, Durham joined the Meralco Bolts, returning to the PBA. His nose was injured during a match against the Alaska Aces, which forced him to wear a mask. He initially wore a transparent face mask, which worsened his performance. He then switched to a black-colored mask, and had a 32-point, 12-rebound, and five-assist performance in his first game with the black mask. During their Finals against Barangay Ginebra San Miguel, he was awarded Best Import of the Conference. Despite winning Game 1 and going up 2–1 in the best-of-7 series after the third game, the Bolts were unable to secure the 2016 PBA Governors’ Cup title following their Game 6 loss. He only had 15 points in Game 6, and Ginebra import Justin Brownlee scored the series-winning, buzzer-beater three pointer over him.