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How two players turned a simple $150 open tryout into full NBA careers
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- How two players turned a simple $150 open tryout into full NBA careers
Photo by Marek Antoni Iwanczuk/NurPhoto via Getty Images
With the Detroit Pistons offering tryouts to the public, we've taken a look at two former players who managed to pay their way to the league.
The Detroit Pistons' G League team, the Motor City Cruise, got people talking on social media after announcing their open tryouts.
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Anyone looking to live out their basketball dreams just has to pay a non-refundable $250 fee. That gets you on the court in front of actual team scouts, plus a jersey and some game tickets.
Sure, the odds of actually making the roster are super slim, but basketball fans love the idea that a random $250 registration fee could literally be your foot in the door to the pros.
David Nwaba and Jonathon Simmons lead by example in the NBA
Both Jonathon Simmons and David Nwaba hit a wall where traditional scouting simply passed them by. Undrafted and running out of conventional options, paying a $150 fee for an open G League workout was essentially their last-ditch effort to keep their basketball dreams alive before quitting or moving on.
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In 2013, Jonathon Simmons was dead broke and almost ready to abandon basketball to work a regular job. Spending his last $150 on an open tryout with the Austin Toros was his final gamble, leading to a roster spot and eventually a breakout role with the Spurs .
He played four NBA seasons (2015–2019) across 258 games. After making noise with the Spurs, he signed a $20 million contract with the Orlando Magic , putting up a career-best 13.9 points per game in 2017–18. He closed out his NBA run with the Philadelphia 76ers .
Three years later, David Nwaba went completely unselected after college and paid $150 to attend a Reno Bighorns tryout. He dominated the session, earned a spot in the G League, and quickly turned his lockdown defense into an NBA contract with the Lakers .
Nwaba carved out a six-year NBA career (2016–2022) playing 237 games as a fan favorite. He suited up for the Lakers, Bulls , Cavaliers, Nets , and Rockets, consistently securing multi-year deals and earning a reputation as one of the league's toughest perimeter defenders.
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