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Reid Travis did not hear his name called in the NBA Draft, but he’ll still get a shot at making it in the league.
According to Darren Wolfson, Travis will play with the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Summer League.
Minneapolis native (DeLaSalle HS) and former McDonald's All-American, and Stanford and Kentucky star Reid Travis will play for the Atl. Hawks in the Vegas summer league. Glad to hear that Reid's knee will be good to go in July. It really hampered him during the pre-draft process.
— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) June 23, 2019
The 6-8, 240-pound grad transfer came to Kentucky last season with the hope of improving his draft stock and winning a national championship. While he went undrafted, and didn’t win a championship, Travis was able to showcase his talents on a national stage.
Travis played a huge role on last year’s Kentucky Basketball team. The former Stanford Cardinal not only added a veteran and leadership presence to a young team, he also averaged 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds in nearly 30 minutes per game.
While Travis’ numbers fell significantly at Kentucky (as expected), he was able to fine tune some parts of his game, as well as improve in other areas. His numbers were bound to decline, but he increased his field goal percentage by a full point from last season (52.7 to 53.7), he increased his free throw percentage nearly six points (67.5 to 73.2), and he had more blocks last season (23) than he did in his entire four-year career at Stanford (21).
The former McDonald’s All-American injured himself towards the end of the season, but he found the will to work his way back for the most important stretch of the season: March Madness.
While Travis doesn’t have the size and skill that NBA scouts love, he plays with passion and a deep, mature understanding for the game of basketball. A lot of players get drafted on potential, but the NBA knows what they’re getting in Travis.
I don’t know if he’ll stick in the NBA, or if he’ll end up in the G-League or overseas, but he now has an opportunity. And BBN wishes him nothing but the best of luck!