Will Summer League be a path back into the NBA for this former UNC basketball standout?

Plenty of former North Carolina Tar Heel basketball stars haven’t enjoyed that same success in the professional ranks, particularly when trying to join an NBA roster.

Garrison Brooks is the perfect example of this. Despite improving his game each succeeding year at UNC (2017-2021), highlighted by a career-best 16.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game during the COVID-shortend 2019-2020 season, he has yet to make an NBA roster.

Brooks went undrafted in the 2022 NBA draft, later joining the Westchester Knicks (New York Knicks’ G-League Affiliate) for the season. Despite averaging 13.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game during the 2022-2023 campaign, he was never called up to the Big Apple.

Brooks attempted to break into the NBA last summer, playing Summer League ball for the New Orleans Pelicans , but ended up signing with the BC Wolves in Lithuania instead.

This summer could present Brooks his best opportunity to make an NBA roster, though, as he was named to the Chicago Bulls’ Summer League team.

If Brooks ended up making Chicago’s regular-season roster, he’d team up with former North Carolina and currently-budding NBA star Coby White.

Brooks made a name for himself in college, mainly due to his thunderous dunks and solid rebounding ability. He helped UNC to three NCAA Tournaments appearances, with UNC’s deepest during Brooks’ time in Chapel Hill (2018) a date in the Sweet 16.

When the NBA season kicks off in October, will Brooks find himself on a final roster?

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