ROANOKE, Va. – UPDATE:
Troy Daniels agrees to a 1-year deal with the Lakers for $2.1 million. The sharpshooter averaged more than 18 minutes per game the past two seasons with the Phoenix Suns. He averaged 7.9 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.6 assistS per game in 130 contests with the Suns.
ORIGINAL STORY
A few weeks ago guys like Zion Williamson and Nickeil Alexander Walker went first round in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Six years ago nearly to the day, William Fleming grad and Virginia Commonwealth University alumni Troy Daniels was waiting for the same phone call.
"Actually I didn't get the call on draft day. I went undrafted to the NBA which is very hard to do, but I did it," Daniels said.
And so began the winding and unpredictable NBA career of a free agent.
"My NBA career- I played for the Charlotte Hornets in training camp, I went to the D-league and ended up getting a call from the Houston Rockets. I was with those guy for about a year and a half," he said. "I went from Houston to Minnesota, Minnesota to Charlotte, Charlotte to Memphis, from Memphis to Phoenix."
That's five teams in six years.
"I can't really complain, I'm blessed, I'm undrafted, I'm in the NBA. It's hard to complain when you're in that aspect of the lifestyle."
And that mindset combined with motivation is what he is teaching the future generation of players at his annual "Dream Big" basketball camp in Roanoke.
"Being overlooked, that is something that comes all the time from being in this city. Especially when you get out there to the real world and that's what motivates me every day," Daniels admitted.
Roanoke is known as the Star City, and Daniels knows that he won't be the only star coming out of this town.
"We're just a small town that nobody really knows about so it's my job on that platform to help put the city on the map ... there is talent in Roanoke."
Next up for Daniels is free agency that starts on Sunday, and he doesn't see the end of his career in sight quite yet.
"Basketball is my first love, my one and only love other than my daughter and my mom," Daniels said. "No lie, I could play for the next 30 years as long as my body lets me."