While Terrence Shannon Jr. and Coleman Hawkins ultimately backed out of the NBA Draft to return for another year at Illinois, former Illini Matthew Mayer and Brandin Podziemski stood pat.
Mayer, the more recently tenured of the two, unfortunately did not hear his name called by one of the 30 organizations, while Podziemski was taken 19th overall by the Golden State Warriors.
Mayer quickly got to work exploring other options and as reported by Draft Express’ Jon Chepkevich, agreed to be a member of the Houston Rockets’ 2023 Summer League roster just one day later.
After spending his freshman year with the Illini and only seeing the court in 16 games, Podziemski transferred to Santa Clara where he started all 32 games of their season. During those starts, Podziemski made a name for himself as a prolific scorer who averaged 19.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists. While the averages speak for themselves, season highs of 38, 34 and 30 points added even more gravity.
The entire NBA will gather in Las Vegas for the Summer League’s main event on July 7, but Podziemski and the Warriors also participated in the California Classic Summer League earlier this week.
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During that time, the first round pick put up statlines of 12/6/6 and 17/4/1 (P/R/A), with the latter being complimented by five steals and a block.
Mayer and Podziemski are the most recent Illini entering their first year as professionals, but there are quite a few who are a bit more removed from Illinois.
The first and most significant of which is Malcolm Hill, who spent four seasons with the Illini from 2013 to 2017. Hill has had his fair share of NBA stints, beginning with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017 and most recently with the Chicago Bulls in 2023, but has yet to carve out a concrete role. Returning to the Summer League this year on the Orlando Magic, Hill will have another shot at proving his merit.
Among the other Summer League players to don orange and blue are Mark Smith, Tevian Jones and Alan Griffin. Each of the three did not finish their collegiate careers with the Illini.
Smith is getting a shot with the organization at the top, playing for the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets. The four star recruit out of Edwardsville, Illinois spent his freshman year at Illinois in 2017-18 before transferring to Missouri and Kansas State. After finishing his collegiate career in 2022, Smith signed to BG Göttingen of Basketball Bundesliga.
Coming to Illinois the year after Smith’s departure, Jones was also a four star recruit coming out of high school. Sticking around for two years, Jones totalled 37 appearances with the Illini but saw a significant decrease in playtime as a sophomore, making his transfer to Southern Utah after the 2020 season no surprise.
After not being selected in the 2023 NBA Draft, Jones is now in a similar position to Mayer, looking to make a name with the New Orleans Pelicans in the Summer League.
Griffin shared his time at Illinois with Jones, playing from 2018-2020 before transferring to Syracuse ahead of his junior year. After trying his chances in the 2021 Draft, Griffin bounced around the NBA G League, spending time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Westchester Knicks (affiliates of the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks).
During the 2022 season, Griffin went international and signed with the Newfoundland Growlers of the CEBL. A recurring theme, this Summer League may offer Griffin another shot at making it to the highest stage of basketball, with the additional bonus of playing under his father and first year head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, Adrian Griffin.
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