Former Missouri guard Sean East II thinks the recognition he earned by being named to the NBA G Rising Stars game might just be the blessing that former Missouri assistant coach C.Y. Young said would be on the way years ago.
East led Missouri's infamous 2023-24 team that went winless in SEC play, with East averaging 17.6 points per game. Season-ending injuries to Caleb Grill and John Tonje suffered early in the season proved to be significant setbacks the next year when Tonje became a star for Wisconsin and Grill one for Missouri.
Through that season, Young would tell the team that they eventually would get past the misfortune of that year.
"He always told us, like, 'God's gonna have something good for us after this year," East recalled to Missouri On SI during a press conference in Los Angeles on Friday. "We went through a lot downhill, but after this year we gonna have something good.' And I mean, this might be the something good that he had me waiting on."
In his first season with the Salt Lake City Stars, East was one of nine NBA G League players to earn a spot on the Rising Stars roster. He's averaged 17.8 points, three rebounds and 5.4 assists per game so far this season.
To get there, East has applied the lessons he learned from Dennis Gates and the rest of the Missouri coaching staff in his two years with the Tigers.
"I still use all the things that coach Dennis Gates and that coaching staff taught me," East said. "... I mean, he instilled so much things in me, and I carry those with me every day."
Jan 28, 2023; Columbia, Missouri, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Sean East II (55) and head coach Dennis Gates look on during the second half against the Iowa State Cyclones at Mizzou Arena. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images
East continues to keep in contact with Gates, saying he talked with him Thursday about Missouri's crucial road win over Texas A&M on Wednesday.
Additionally, East has remained in contact with his former Missouri teammate, Kobe Brown, saying he plans to meet up in Los Angeles with Brown this week. Brown was traded from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Indiana Pacers at the trade deadline on Feb. 6. In each of his first two games with the Pacers, Brown has earned a starting spot, scoring 12 points and grabbing 13 rebounds across the two games.
In the Rising Stars game, East's team fell 40-34. East shot 1-for-3 from the field for two points, grabbing a rebound and creating one assist.
Following the game , East told David Mendez-Yapkowitz
of ClutchPoints that he's "heard a bit" from a few NBA teams about possibly signing a two-way contract.
East began his professional career with with the South Bay Lakers before having a standout season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. With the Edmonton Stingers, East broke the league's single-season scoring record by reaching 546 points.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/missouri as Sean East II Talks How Mizzou Helped Him Become G League Rising Star .
