thompson was the 4th pick in the third round (50th overall) of the 1982 nba draft by the dallas mavericks and played 44 games with them in the 1982–83 season, averaging 2.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. during the summer prior to his second year with the mavericks, he suffered a knee injury, after which he was released from the team. corny worked hard to get healthy and played basketball in italy for pallacanestro varese in the italian league for six years. it is when he played in the spanish acb league for a great joventut badalona team between 1990 and 1994 that he reached his full potential though, making it to the fiba european league final in 1992 and winning the title in 1994.tompson scoring the winning 3 point shot at the 1994 fiba european league final four against olympiacos.