NBA

North Texas Well-Represented in 2020 NBA Draft

NBCUniversal, Inc.

Four players with ties to the North Texas area are expected to be selected in Wednesday night’s “virtual” NBA Draft.

Wednesday night’s NBA Draft will feature quite a bit of Texas, including when former Little Elm basketball player R.J. Hampton is selected. Hampton is projected as a top 15 pick tonight after he skipped college basketball to instead play a full season of pro ball in New Zealand to prepare for the NBA.

“Being around guys who have wives, kids and families when you’re an 18-year-old kid, that’s one of the best things I learned,” Hampton said. “I learned to deal with different types of people, different types of races throughout my journey in basketball. I definitely think it was worth the trip.”

Other former North Texas high school basketball stars took a different trip to hearing their names called Wednesday night, like former South Garland and Kentucky guard Tyrese Maxey who is also a projected first-round pick, and former Duncanville and Texas Tech guard Jahmi’us Ramsey, who is expected to go toward the end of the first or early in the second round.

And TCU will also have a highly picked player in guard Desmond Bane, who is a projected first-round selection and who feels ready to show four years with the Horned Frogs has him ready for the big show.

“I’ve been able to develop, not only physically, but mentally,” Bane said. “I feel like that will help me along the way and throughout my NBA career.”

An NBA career that begins Wednesday night, as four players with ties to North Texas prepare to hear their names called – about to have their basketball dreams come true. 

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