The one guy that I can’t figure out not having been able to get an NBA job is Kyle Guy.
Guy, one of the heroes of UVA’s national-title run in 2019, can shoot the lights out, but the knock on him is, he’s too small – 6’0.75” without shoes, 6’2.25” with shoes, somewhere between 165-170 pounds, depending on what he had for breakfast.
There aren’t a lot of two-guards in the NBA at that height, which is why teams kept trying Guy at the point in the G League.
In parts of two seasons in the G League, Guy seemed to take to the switch, averaging 21.1 points and 4.7 assists per game.
Whatever, after trying to get a full-time NBA gig for three years, Guy decided to go overseas in 2022, and he’s spent the past two seasons bouncing around Europe, where his minutes (20.4 per game) have been limited, which you notice in his other numbers (11.2 points per game, 42.3% FG, 35.0% 3FG in 83 games over the past two years).
Guy, an Indianapolis native, told the Indy Star in an interview this week that he’s come to terms with how “maybe the NBA closed the door on me for now.”
“I’m very at peace with my career,” Guy said. “I’ve been lucky enough to make good money and play in Sacramento, Miami, Barcelona, Athens and Tenerife. It’s hard to beat those places. Basketball has done me good, so I’m not hung up on, I have to get to the NBA. I know I’m good enough. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, I’ll be in a good spot.”
Which isn’t to say that he still isn’t trying to get an NBA job. He’s still just 26, just about to enter what you’d consider his athletic prime.
The big factor for him is family – Guy and his wife, Alexa, have two young children, so he really can’t afford to make $40,000 a year in the G League when he can make in the low six figures in Europe.
“I have leverage because I’m not yearning to go overseas, and I’m not yearning to go the NBA. We’ll see whatever the perfect situation is for me and the fam, and we’ll make that happen,” Guy said.
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Chris Graham
