This past season, the Michigan State Spartans basketball program had their first one-and-done player in 15 years come through East Lansing, when Deyonta Davis announced back in April he was declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft. It was 2001 when former Spartan and current Memphis Grizzlies big man Zach Randolph was drafted 19th overall.
On Thursday in this year’s latest installment of the NBA Draft, the lottery pick-hopeful Davis slipped not only out of the lottery picks, but out of the first round entirely and going to No. 31 overall, first pick of the second round. He is drafted by the Boston Celtics then traded to the aforementioned Grizzlies.
Boston is drafting Deyonta Davis and sending him to Memphis, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 24, 2016
https://twitter.com/PelicanBriefNBA/status/746176279720923136
In his one season with the Spartans, the numbers for Davis are by no means jaw-dropping (7.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.8 BLK), but he also averaged just 18.6 minutes per contest in 35 games played this past year. The ‘per 40 minutes’ efficiency averages of 16.1 PPG, 11.8 RPG, and nearly 4.0 BPG has increased his stock as a true big-body presence with rim-protecting ability.
