Not ringing any bells? Let me refresh your memory: he’s the guy who was called up from the D-League by the Utah Jazz last season and hit this game-winner against Cleveland in his NBA debut:
It was a real feel-good story… one of the most memorable moments of the year. The incredible shot got Gaines signed for the season, but the NBA is a business, and it didn’t end up working out for him in Utah (they were over the cap). He was released in October of 2010, and it was back to the D-League. A bumpy road with plenty of twists and turns was in front of the young point guard from Georgia.
He would appear in just a handful of minor league contests before getting another shot at the NBA, this time with the T-Wolves in November. He was let go after a total of eight games and 65 minutes with the team, but would find another job with the Toronto Raptors just 10 days later. His stint in Toronto didn’t go any better than the one in Minnesota. Sundiata appeared in just six games and was released on the 26th of January in favor of fellow D-Leaguer Trey Johnson. Gaines would next find himself on his way to his third team in three months when the Nets inked him to a ten-day deal on the 28th of February. You have to figure that the guy was getting tired of bouncing around, and he probably felt like he’d never find a long-term home.
His Nets career began on a familiar note. He played just seven minutes of a 13-point win over the Raptors in London (as if the poor guy needed any more travelling in his life). He did make good use of what little time he was given by knocking down all three of his shot attempts. He was granted more burn in his second appearance–20 minutes–but he connected on just one of five shots. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for a guy like Sundiata who is out there playing for his NBA life. Talk about pressure, man… anyway, he continued to see limited minutes over the next few games and was signed to a second 10-day contract. He put up a couple of solid lines (five points and eight assists against Golden State, nine points and six assists against the Clippers) and finally, on the 20th of March, the entire struggle became worth his while as he was signed to a multi-year contract by his current New Jersey squad. Via the USA Today…
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Nets have signed guard Sundiata Gaines to a multiyear contract.
Gaines signed the first of two 10-day contracts with the team in late February. In seven games with New Jersey he has averaged 5 points and 2.6 assists in 14 minutes per game.
The 24-year-old from the University of Georgia also played for Toronto and Minnesota this season and Utah in 2009-10.
In 53 career NBA games, Gaines has averaged 3.7 points and 1.4 assists and has shot 43 percent from the field.
Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Link.
You could say that Deron Williams’ injury was as big a factor in this decision as the play of Gaines himself, but note that this is a multi-year deal. He didn’t post any eye-popping digits, but he must’ve impressed someone in the organization. Teams aren’t just handing out multi-year deals to random D-Leaguers because their starting PG got hurt.
I guess I just wanted to write this article to make my readers aware of this young man’s success story. He went undrafted in ’08, did the D-League grind for a few years, bounced around the country playing on 10-day deals, and finally made it. It’s been nearly three years since he went unselected in that 2008 draft. I’m sure those three years were anything but easy for the guy. The D-League life is hardly one of glamour, and bouncing around from NBA bench to NBA bench has to be rather stressful. Well, Sundiata breathed a massive sigh of relief tonight and dropped a career-high 18 points on the Indiana Pacers. I imagine it was the first time he played a pressure-free game of basketball all season long. It must’ve felt like the weight of the world had just been removed from his back. His Nets did blow a big lead and lose the game, but forget that… Sundiata just made it. To me, that’s a much bigger story than Indiana’s four-point victory. Someone’s hard work just paid off… and I love nothing more than to see that happen.
