Wayne Selden’s Journey To The NBA

Wayne Selden has had a strange path to the NBA. He was a top recruit expecting to be a one-and-done lottery pick, but that wasn’t what ended up happening.

From hyped prospect to one of the best players on an elite program to undrafted NBA player, Wayne Selden has had an interesting journey to the pros. Three years at Kansas. he then declares for the NBA draft instead of returning for his senior year. The Memphis Grizzlies gave him a chance before sending him to the G League. He ended up coming back to Memphis, showing signs of becoming a key part of this team’s future.

High School

Wayne Selden was a top recruit in high school, attending Tilton Prep school. He was so good during his senior season that he was invited to the McDonald’s All-American game. He also participated in the Jordan Brand Classic game. His stellar play led to him being ranked as the 14th best player in the ESPN “Top 100” as well as the 12th by Rivals.

College

Wayne Selden came into Kansas with very high expectations as most thought he was for sure a one-and-done guy.  He was a big physical guard who was supposed to be able to dominate games in college. He couldn’t shoot the ball as well as he anticipated, which led to him struggling in other areas. Shooting just 33 percent from 3 his freshman season, averaging just 9.7 points per game.

Selden then decided to return his sophomore season with hopes of regaining his lottery pick draft status — or at the very-least “first round: status. He did improve his 3-point shooting to 37 percent, but he got worse in other areas. He only shot just 40 percent on 2-pointers, which was down over 13 percent from his freshman season. Selden would come back to Kansas for his junior season after it seemed unlikely he would get drafted in the first round or even drafted at all.

Selden would go on to perform much better his junior season. His percentages went way up as he shot 55 percent from 2 and just below 40 percent from deep. He improved his scoring to 13.8 points per game, and he started to show some of his big time potential  He was selected to the All-Big 12 team that season, as well as being chosen to the midesason top-35 watchlist for the Naismith Trophy.

NBA

He would then declare for the NBA draft after his junior season. Most people expected him to be drafted sometime in the second round. He would wind up going undrafted though. It was tough for him. He’s a talented player, and he wasn’t going to let this stop him.

He would sign as an undrafted free agent with the Grizzlies. They would waive him seven days later before re-signing him to their development league affiliate, the Iowa Energy. He played 35 games there, averaging 18.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists over 30.6 minutes a contest.

On March 8, 2017, Selden signed a 10-day contract with the New Orleans Pelicans. After that 10-day deal expired, the Grizzlies signed him to a multi-year deal. He was the starting shooting guard in the playoffs due to the injury to Tony Allen. Wayne played well as he played good, hard defense on Kawhi Leonard for a lot of that series.

The Memphis Grizzlies then signed him to a new multi-year contract on July 1st. Selden played like a superstar during the Summer League as he averaged 22.7 points a game. He was selected to All-Summer League Second Team, but he was deserving of first team.

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He could be a key part of the Memphis Grizzlies future as he’ll potentially be the shooting guard of the future. With Andrew Harrison currently starting, either McLemore or Selden will take a starting spot once they return. Selden could return first, and if he does, it’ll be interesting to see if he can play well enough to keep that starting spot for the long haul.