Bader determined for success

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Going undrafted in last week’s NBA Draft, Travis Bader will now look to make an impression in the NBA Summer League.

Former Oakland University basketball star Travis Bader signed summer league contracts with two NBA teams, the Philadelphia 76ers and Golden State Warriors.

Bader chose to join the 76ers in the Orlando Summer League from July 5 to 11 and the Warriors in Las Vegas from July 11 to 21. 

The decision to sign with the teams came after Bader went undrafted in Thursday’s NBA Draft.

Bader was apparently very sought after, telling Dave Goricki of The Detroit News: “Six teams have already called my agent, there are some teams that fit me better than others,” within one hour of the draft ending.

Bader tweeted the news on Friday, saying he looked “forward to playing summer league with the @Sixers and @warriors time to take advantage of great opportunities #determined4greatness.” 

The sharpshooter became a hot name leading up to the draft, as scouts seemed to finally take notice of the mid-major senior that kept making threes. 

He joined Gary Harris, James Young and Glenn Robinson III in Los Angeles to work out with Don MacLean, an NBA trainer.

Bader said his workout with Golden State went particularly well, but he didn’t work out for Philadelphia. He worked out for 13 different teams prior to the draft. 

This draft was one of the deeper drafts in recent history, a likely reason he was not selected.

“Looking at their draft picks, I don’t know if they drafted a knockdown shooter,” Bader said.  

He wasn’t the only stud to not hear his name called. Several well-known names went undrafted, including national champion Deandre Kane from UConn, Khem Birch from UNLV, and Melvin Ejim of Iowa State. In a normal year, all of those players would have been sure picks. 

Bader’s success at OU

The shooting guard/small forward achieved greatness in his time at Oakland. He set the all-time NCAA record for 3-pointers with 504 in his career. 

On top of that, he has already earned a masters degree in communication in his five years at Oakland University and earned Academic All-League honors four times.

Bader also becomes only the third player from OU to sign to an NBA contract, joining Rawle Marshall and Keith Benson. 

He’ll look to continue his shooting prowess in the NBA, an always in-demand skill.