UWGB all-time great Keifer Sykes returns to Green Bay for first basketball camp

GREEN BAY – One of the best players in University of Wisconsin-Green Bay basketball history will return to the area next week to hold the first of what he hopes will be an annual basketball camp.

Former star point guard and NBA player Keifer Sykes is hosting the Elite Basketball Camp at the Kress Center for players ages 7 to 17 on Aug. 23-24. The cost of the camp is $250, and spots are limited to 100. Those interested can register at ybm-sports.com .

Sykes isn’t the only familiar face expected to help at the camp, a list that includes former Phoenix point guard Carrington Love and former forward Alfonzo McKinnie .

Love was instrumental as a senior in leading the Phoenix to the NCAA Tournament in 2016 for the first time in 20 years and has played professionally overseas since graduating.

McKinnie, who grew up with Sykes in Chicago, played two seasons for the Phoenix and in the NBA for five seasons.

Tristan Jass, a YouTube influencer with millions of followers across his social media platforms, also will be part of hosting the camp. Jass played basketball in high school at Kenosha Tremper and started his social media career after graduating in 2018.

“I want to come back up there, I’ve been trying to do it,” Sykes said. “This is the first annual of something we see happening every year. Kind of my idea, Carrington’s idea, with him getting into his career where he is thinking of doing things off the court.

“It was always a big vision of mine. When I signed in Indiana, signed in Detroit, played in Wisconsin, played in Chicago, I want to create this Midwest pipeline with sports. The best place to start is where I started off my career the most. This was the first place I wanted to venture to after Chicago.”

Keifer Sykes finds success after UWGB

Sykes was inducted into UWGB’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023. It never was a question of if he would receive the honor, just when after a prolific career at the school from 2011 to 2015.

He remains one of the most popular players in program history and one of its most accomplished.

Sykes’ name is all over the all-time Phoenix leaderboard.

He is second in points with 2,096, with only Sykes and all-time leading scorer Tony Bennett finishing with more than 2,000.

Sykes ranks first in free throws made (557), third in assists (526), fourth in field goals (713), seventh in career scoring average (16.5 ppg) and eighth in steals (155).

He was named the Horizon League player of the year as both a junior and senior.

Sykes always had the skills to play in the NBA, but he didn’t have height on his side.

At just 5-foot-11, he faced difficult odds to make it to the highest level of basketball despite flashing a 44.5-inch vertical that made dunking look easy.

Sykes already was on the radar of NBA scouts by his junior season – it only got more intense after he put up 32 points in a loss to Wisconsin in November 2013 – but of the 440 players in the NBA that year, only five were 5-11 or shorter.

While former teammate and standout center Alec Brown was selected by the Phoenix Suns in the second round in 2014, Sykes went undrafted the following year.

He signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers and competed in the Summer League in 2015, kicking off a pro career that took him all over the map.

He played in South Korea. Turkey. Italy. China. Greece. Australia.

But Sykes never gave up on his dream of playing in the NBA, even if he started to have doubts.

It finally became a reality in 2021.

Sykes signed a training camp deal with the Indiana Pacers and joined the team’s G League affiliate in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after being waived.

Three days before his 28th birthday, he was called up by the Pacers.

He made his NBA debut against the Charlotte Hornets on Dec. 29 and signed a guaranteed deal for the rest of the season in early January.

“A lot of people love to doubt you more than they love to see you succeed,” Sykes said. “Even when you get it, it’s 10 times harder, because then people see you actualize your dreams. There were times I definitely didn’t think it would happen, but every time I had that thought, I would always have 10 more positive thoughts.

“Or I kind of just break it down and unpack it. Can I really do this? Can it happen? I think I’ve always been in a spot or kept working my way up to get closer and closer.”

Sykes had plenty of memorable moments in the 32 games he played for the Pacers.

He scored a career-high 22 points against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. He followed with 18 the next night against the Brooklyn Nets while starting and facing one of his favorite players in Kyrie Irving along with James Harden and Kevin Durant.

“It was like, ‘This is not 2K (video game) anymore, this is not a fake player. This is the real guys,’ ” Sykes said. “I really had to warm up and get ready for it.”

If that wasn’t his best memory, then it might have been when the Pacers played the Milwaukee Bucks at the Fiserv Forum. He felt the energy being back in Wisconsin.

He saw friend and former Phoenix player Cordero Barkley in the front row to support him, just like Barkley did when Sykes played a game in Oshkosh in the G League a few months earlier.

It also was cool to beat Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in front of a national audience on TNT, a game Sykes started and finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.

“I think people respected what I did,” Sykes said. “More than anything, people respect my journey. From here on out it’s like, yeah, I reached that. But what can I do next? Leave a legacy, and that’s on the floor and off the floor.”

Sykes has spent the last few seasons in the G League, including a stint this past year in which he got to return to his hometown to play for the Windy City Bulls.

Keifer Sykes hopes to return to the NBA in different role

Sykes always dreams big. He’s not stopping now.

As he prepares for a 10th professional season – he will decide on a destination after his daughter’s birthday next month – Sykes has an eye toward his next goal.

He doesn’t want to be a head coach or assistant in the NBA. He wants to be a general manager or president of operations, just like former Butler coach Brad Stevens now is with the Boston Celtics.

Sykes recently was accepted into the Crossover Into Business program at Harvard, which according to the school is a semester-long program in which pro athletes develop business acumen by working with MBA student mentors.

He also has applied for the NBA Future Basketball Operations Stars Program, which helps develop potential future leaders in basketball operations.

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“One day, Keifer is going to be running a professional franchise or business,” said Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men’s coach Brian Barone, who was an assistant under Brian Wardle at UWGB during Sykes’ career. “He has always had the ability to engage everyone around him in a way that makes them want to strive to be their best. He has always led by example.

“Keifer has stayed loyal to everyone he trusts and believes in. He has a presence that a general manager needs to have. When it’s all said and done, Keifer has always won championships on and off the court. What makes Keifer so special is that he makes everyone around him special as well.”

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB all-time great Keifer Sykes returns to Green Bay for first basketball camp