- Texas Western, the first All-Black starting team in an NCAA tournament, changed the landscape of college basketball, and continues to be commemorated 55 years laterPosted 16 hours ago
- March Madness 2021: Which teams are national title favorites?Posted 1 week ago
- Before Anthony Fauci became a doctor, he grew up as a sports junkie and was captain of the Regis High School basketball teamPosted 2 weeks ago
- When Jack Ferguson died from coronavirus, a college he attended may have been the first to suffer the loss of two of its basketball players in the pandemicPosted 1 month ago
- Dee Rowe, who had covid-19, was a coaching icon, but his talents as a college player were ignored by most of the media when he died at 91Posted 2 months ago
- With Quickley and Toppin, Knicks have finally found young core to build aroundPosted 2 months ago
- How did two teams in the Patriot League manage an unlikely 46-point turnaround in back-to-back games? Or, what a difference a day makesPosted 2 months ago
- The chaos at the United States Capitol affected college basketball, preventing the playing of the UMass-George Washington gamePosted 2 months ago
- Yup, LaMelo Ball’s going to be pretty damn goodPosted 2 months ago
- Not just a football player, Hall of Famer Floyd Little also played on his high school basketball teamPosted 2 months ago
Miye Oni of Yale signs NBA contract; first Ivy Leaguer to make it since Jeremy Lin in 2010
- Updated: July 18, 2019
Miye Oni, who could have been a rising senior at Yale, has instead become the first Ivy Leaguer to ink an NBA contract since Jeremy Lin (Harvard), who was signed as a free agent in 2010.
Although Oni was the 58th pick in this year’s draft by Golden State, the Warriors immediately sold his rights to the Utah Jazz for two-million dollars, according to USA Today. The Jazz have assigned him a familiar uniform number, 24, the same as he wore his first two seasons at Yale and before that at Suffield (CT) Academy. His most recent number with the Bulldogs was 25.
He has been guaranteed the NBA rookie minimum, $898,310, the first year of a 3-year contract, as reported by Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights.
Oni, a two time Ivy League Player of the Year, averaged 9.5 points, five rebounds, two steals and 1.6 assists in two games at the Salt Lake City Summer League, including a game high 17 points in his second outing. Then he averaged 8.2 points, 2.8 assists and two rebounds in four games at the Las Vegas Summer League. He did that in an average of 25.4 minutes of playing time in those four games.
“I’m honored to have signed with the Jazz,” Oni told the Deseret News of Salt Lake City. “I’m thankful to the front office and coaching staff for believing in me. I’m incredibly excited for what’s to come.”
The Northridge, California, native, whose parents were originally from Nigeria, was the first player in 24 years to be drafted out of the Ivy League, the last one being Jerome Allen of Penn. He averaged 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists in his junior year at Yale, the Ivy-League co-champion.
“The NBA limits rosters to 15 players, but only 13 can be activated each game. By signing Oni and William Howard, the Jazz filled its fourteenth and fifteen roster spots. Howard is an interesting story. He was born in France and recruited by the University of Washington. But he was declared ineligible so he returned home and played professional there.
Two others who were drafted by Utah, Jarrell Brantley (50th) of the College of Charleston, and Justin Wright-Foreman (53rd), from Hofstra will probably split time between the Jazz and the development G-League.
Oni and Howard are the only rookies to be given a full NBA contract by Utah.