Wyoming Cowboy Selected in 2nd Round of NBA Draft

Congratulations to Wyoming guard, Justin James, who was selected #40 overall in the 2019 NBA Draft on Thursday night.

Justin James came to Wyoming from Florida out of high school. Once on campus, James played every season at Wyoming and saw his numbers improve every year, culminating with his senior season. While the Wyoming Cowboy basketball team was not very good in the 2018/2019 season (finishing 10th in the Mountain West and with an overall record of 8-24), James had a very good year. James led the Cowboys in minutes, points, rebounds, assists, and steals. Overall, James put up some pretty special numbers as noted in the tweet below, which also includes his draft selection and highlights.

James heads to Sacramento to play on a younger team that appears to be up-and-coming in the Western Conference, joining De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley III, Buddy Hield, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. The Kings also might be able to bring back Harrison Barnes and Willie Cauley-Stein in free agency from a team that went 39-43, missing the playoffs as the #9 team in the West.

In the immediate future, Justin James will try to impress in summer league play and into the following preseason. Backup guard, Alec Burks, is a free agent for the Kings, so opportunity might be there for James in Sacramento if he can impress early. Also, a plus is that the Kings seem to view James as an immediate contributor.

Otherwise, Justin James may likely end up playing in the G League next season for the Stockton Kings. Either way, a golden opportunity for Justin James after a great college career at Wyoming.