Five former Virginia basketball standouts appear on NBA G League rosters, with three of them carrying “two-way” status.
Those three — Ty Jerome, Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key — will split time between their respective G League teams and their NBA “parent” squads.
Their former Cavalier teammate from the 2019 national title team, Jay Huff, as well as 2015 Wahoo alum Justin Anderson, are also both back on G League rosters.
The G League season started last Friday, and a few of the former Wahoos are already making solid contributions.
Anderson, the 25th pick in the 2015 Draft by Dallas, has played in 242 career NBA games across his professional career, including 16 last season with Cleveland and Indiana, but he has also been a star at the G League level.
He was an All-G League first-team selection last season as a member of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Mad Ants, the Indiana Pacers’ affiliate. Anderson was also a third-team all-league choice in 2020 with the Long Island Nets.
He’s back with the Mad Ants to start the season after signing a two-year contract prior to last year, and always has the possibility of getting called up to Indiana or any other team at any point in the season.
Through three games, Anderson is averaging 21.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game (second-best average in the league) for the Mad Ants. He’s shooting 46 percent (6-for-13) from 3-point land, and eventually wants to get back in the big league.
“I’m just two feet in each step here in the G League and Fort Wayne, and like I said it’s a great setup,” Anderson said in a recent interview. “So I’m hoping that, barring health, my journey is leading me to where I ultimately want to be. I know my big picture, I know where I want to be. This is just all a part of it.”
Huff is back with the South Bay Lakers after being waived by Los Angeles at the end of the preseason. He was a two-way player with the organization last season, playing in four NBA games and 28 regular-season games in the G League, where he averaged 15.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per contest.
This season, Huff is averaging 15.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.7 blocks, which ranks third in the G League thus far.
Jerome, the 24th pick by Phoenix in the 2019 Draft who’s already seen the floor for Golden State this season, is one of the Warriors’ two-way players, meaning he can play up to 50 NBA games and the rest with G League affiliate Santa Cruz.
Just before the start of the season, he was traded from Oklahoma City to Houston, and then waived by the Rockets before being scooped up by the defending champions in October.
Jerome has played in 12 career G League regular-season games — three with the Northern Arizona Suns in his rookie season and nine with the OKC Blue in 2020-21 — and 120 NBA contests with the Suns, Thunder and Warriors.
Jerome is averaging 6.0 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 15.0 minutes per game with Golden State in eight contests. He had season highs of 18 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in 32 minutes against the Pelicans last Friday.
“He gets you organized, he doesn’t turn the ball over, he plays good position defense without fouling, he does all the things that you try to teach, basically, and he’s been a godsend for us,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Jerome’s addition.
“He’s got good size, excellent shooter, he’s got really good feel,” said Kerr. “Played four years of college, he’s been in the league a few years. He’s a really good basketball player.”
Key will split his season between Detroit and the Motor City Cruise. He was named to both the All-G League second team and the league’s All-Defensive Team in his second season with the Delaware Blue Coats (the 76ers’ affiliate) before winding up with the Pistons to conclude the regular season.
Key played in 24 G League games last season and, like his time with UVA, did a little bit of everything, averaging 19.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. In his 11 games in the Association last season, Key put up 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest.
He’s off to a great start with Motor City, averaging 18.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals across his first three games.
After signing a two-way deal with Milwaukee as an undrafted free agent after graduation in 2020, Diakite excelled with the Lakeland Magic (Orlando’s affiliate), because the Bucks’ G League team — the Wisconsin Herd — didn’t participate in the 2020-21 pandemic season.
Diakite added to his championship resume, averaging a double-double (18 points and 10 rebounds) in his 12 games with Lakeland, winning the league title in the process. He was named an All-G League first-teamer, and also appeared on the league’s All-Defensive and All-Rookie teams.
Diakite then joined the Bucks for their NBA title run before being waived prior to the start of last season. He was acquired by Oklahoma City on three separate 10-day contracts and was briefly teammates again with Jerome — but played in just 13 games before being cut by the Thunder in February.
Diakite entered this season on an Exhibit 9 contract with Cleveland, and was initially waived just before the regular season, but after a strong preseason, the Cavaliers decided to make him one of their two-way players. He averaged 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals in 16.8 minutes per game in the Cavs’ four preseason games, including a 13-point, 11-rebound performance in his third contest.
Diakite has not yet played in a game for the Charge, but posted 2 points, 2 rebounds and a steal in 5 minutes for the Cavs against the Pistons on Nov. 4.
Sam Hauser is another former Hoo that was expected to be a two-way player for the Celtics heading into training camp, but he was so exceptional from beyond the arc in the preseason that he instead wound up making the big-league roster. He’s played in all 12 games for Boston, averaging 7.7 points per game in 15.1 minutes. He registered a career-high 24 points (including 6 3-pointers) Wednesday night against Detroit.
One familiar name on the Celtics’ G League roster is Marial Shayok, who began his career at UVA before transferring to Iowa State. Another G League name Virginia fans will recognize is point guard London Johnson, who considered committing to the Wahoos this summer before deciding to sign a two-year, seven-figure contract with the G League Ignite, a team mostly made up of players who aren’t yet eligible to join the NBA due to not meeting the 19-year-old age requirement.
Don’t be surprised to see all five of the former Cavalier standouts in the NBA at one point or another this season and beyond.
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