After his four years at Georgia Tech ended, Anthony Morrow declared for the 2008 NBA Draft, ready to successfully transition to the biggest stage in basketball.
In his collegiate career, Morrow established himself as a standout sharpshooter whose perimeter shooting dominated the Atlantic Coast Conference. For the Yellow Jackets, he appeared in 123 games, averaging 11.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and an assist per game.
Despite his reputation, as Anthony expressed, the politics of the NBA took over, leading every team to pass on him and ultimately go undrafted.
However, Morrow's dreams of playing professional basketball didn't end there when a team from Ukraine, which he never named, offered Anthony an annual $80,000 contract. Fortunately, that contract had an "NBA out" clause, which allows the player to terminate the deal early to sign with an NBA franchise.
"I felt like I played with house money 'cus I was gonna go to Ukraine," said Morrow. "I didn't think about going to the league like that. Signed to go to Ukraine for $80,000, so I had to go to all three summer leagues."
"I had to go to Orlando , then Vegas, then Utah," said Morrow. "Agent said $80,000, I said, 'Give me that, I'm on. So it was like 'Nah, you still gotta go' [to summer league]. There's like 14 ni—as, I'm not gonna get it. He was like, 'You still gotta go.'"
When he arrived to try out for the Miami Heat , a blessing in disguise appeared for Anthony when Daequan Cook, who was a featured guy on the roster, injured his shoulder. Coming in as his replacement, Morrow knew not to waste his chance.
"They had to play me. So, the last two games, I averaged like 18 or something. So Ukraine, they talking about $100,000 now. They tryna get you an incentive not to go [to the NBA]. I go to Vegas. Same thing. There's like 17 people on the roster. They done went up to $120,000 now. I'm cool with that. I don't care how cold it is in Ukraine," Morrow shared.
No matter the various negotiation tactics Morrow threw at his agent to leave for Ukraine, he didn't allow him to drop out of the summer league that easily, as Anthony's agent saw the bigger picture when his performance for the Heat caught the attention of the Golden State Warriors , who invited him to play for their summer squad.
"Same thing, didn't play the first few games. Last couple of games like 16, 20, 22. They done went up to $140,000. Aye, I'm out bro, we goin'? Hell nah, we gotta go to Utah. What the f–k is in Utah, bro? He's like there's another summer league you gotta go to, but you're gonna be a feature guy. So, they started me, and I got MVP. And that's how I got [an NBA contract]."
Throughout the summer league, Morrow caught absolute fire from the three-point line, where he shot an unbelievable 70 percent, before he set a then-summer league record of 47 points in a single game.
Following his tremendous showing, Morrow received a two-year, $1 million offer from the Warriors at the right time, allowing him to terminate his Ukrainian deal.
From that point on, Morrow proved his worth as an NBA player. In his first career start, he set the all-time scoring record for an undrafted rookie in their first career start with 37 points against the Los Angeles Clippers . With that, Anthony led the NBA in three-point percentage that year with 46.7, becoming the first rookie ever to do so.
After nine seasons, Morrow stepped away from the NBA in 2017.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jul 14, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
