Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Hollis Thompson goes from undrafted to an NBA player

NCAA Basketball Tournament - North Carolina State v Georgetown

COLUMBUS, OH - MARCH 18: Hollis Thompson #1 of the Georgetown Hoyas drives to the basket against Alex Johnson #3 of the North Carolina State Wolfpack during the third round of the 2012 NCAA Men’s basketball tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 18, 2012 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The big news of the day in Washington DC is that former Hoya Hollis Thompson has inked a three-year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The terms of the deal are not yet known, and they also are not all that important. What is important is that Thompson, who declared for the draft with a year of eligibility left before going undrafted, will be in the NBA and will be making NBA money. Even if Thompson is getting paid the league minimum, he’ll cash almost $500,000 worth of checks as a rookie.

How many of his Georgetown classmates can say as much?

But this signing also is significant for John Thompson III.

The Hoyas have been and always will be associated with big men. From Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutumbo to Greg Monroe, Roy Hibbert and Jeff Green, the pros produced by both John Thompson Jr and his son are front court players. And seeing as Hibbert and Green will sign contracts that total nearly $100 million this summer, I think it is safe to say that recruits are noticing how good JT3’s big men end up being.

That’s probably why the top recruit in the Class of 2012 -- Nerlens Noel -- thought long and hard about becoming a Hoya. Like it or not, being able to get players to the NBA is more important to recruiting than winning national titles. Why do you think John Calipari was the best recruiter in the country before he won the title back in April?

Which brings us to Thompson.

Technically, Thompson is a front court player (he plays small forward), but he’s most definitely a wing. He is a 6-foot-8 sharpshooter that once went 44-50 from beyond the three point line in a workout. He’s also Georgetown’s first perimeter player to get this kind of a contract under JT3. Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, Jason Clark and Jonathon Wallace were good college players but couldn’t find their footing at the next level.

Thompson has, and he’s done it in a place that should be beneficial to his development. If he can carve out a career in the NBA, he can be the example that JT3 uses while recruiting perimeter players.

It wouldn’t hurt if D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and now Stephen Domingo, top 100 recruits enrolling at Georgetown next season, had successful freshmen campaigns to back up this notion.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.