Dewayne Dedmon is about add another chapter to his incredible basketball journey.
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27-year-old Spurs player who's about to cash-in on free agency has had an incredible journey that began with leaving Jehovah's Witness
Dewyane Dedmon's wild journey to the Spurs began with deciding at 18 years old that he wanted play competitive basketball for the first time.
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It was reported on Tuesday that Dedmon, a 27-year-old center for the Spurs, intends to opt out of his contract to become a free agent.
For Dedmon, free agency will represent a chance to earn a big payday and some long-term job security, a far cry from where he was just nine years ago.
At 18 years old, Dedmon made a big decision — he wanted to play competitive basketball for the first time.
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Though Dedmon grew up playing outside, playing basketball at parks, he did not play competitively on any actual teams because of his faith.
Dedmon's mother, Gail, was a member of Jehovah's Witness and raised Dewayne and his two sisters under the same faith.
As Sports Illustrated's Chris Ballard wrote in 2011, under the religion, "allegiance to anyone or anything but Jehovah is forbidden." According to Ballard, while playing on a sports team was not "expressly forbidden," to play on a team might encourage allegiance to an external factor. Additionally, the Dedmons dedicated multiple hours per week to studies, meetings, and solicitations on Sundays.
Gail, according to Ballard, ultimately decided not to let Dewayne play on anymore sports teams after he got into a spat with a volleyball coach in eighth grade.
However, when Dewayne turned 18, becoming an adult, he knew he could make his own decisions. He told his mother he was going to play on the basketball team.
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"At first, she definitely wasn’t a fan," Dedmon told Business Insider in March. "But like I said, I was 18, so I was an adult, so I could make my own decisions.
"It definitely took some time for her to come around to the fact that I was playing basketball."
To get to where he is now, Dedmon faced a steep uphill climb into the basketball world that involved learning the game at 18, going to junior college, transferring schools, then surviving cuts and the D-League to make it in the NBA.
During a productive second year at Antelope Valley, Dedmon's name began spreading into the Division I world. Dedmon was a still-growing, raw, athletic center — teams wanted him. He was recruited by and eventually transferred to USC in 2011.
Playing alongside current Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic at USC, Dedmon continued to learn the game and grow into his body. Dedmon served as a practice opponent for Vucevic, the two sharing defensive and offensive lessons for one another, respectively.
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After two "nondescript" seasons at USC, as Jeff McDonald of San Antonio Express-News put it, Dedmon declared for the NBA Draft. It was NBA or bust for him — there was no backup plan.
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Despite, as he estimates, 15 or 16 workouts with NBA teams, Dedmon's name didn't get called on draft night. Toward the end of the event, he did receive a call from the Dallas Mavericks, asking him to play on their Summer League team in Las Vegas. He also played for the Miami Heat in the Orlando Summer League. He didn't make either team. From there, he set off on a whirlwind 2013-14 season, hopping between the NBA and D-League, on different teams, in different cities, on short-lived contracts. Dedmon's recollection of the experience sums up the hectic life of a fringe NBA prospect.
More importantly, according to NBA.com/Stats, Dedmon improved the Spurs when he was on the floor this season. With Dedmon on the court, the Spurs allowed just 97.5 points per 100 possessions, three points better than their league-leading mark.
Still raw and fairly new to the game compared to his contemporaries, Dedmon enjoyed learning the ropes from Gregg Popovich.
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Dedmon's play will put the Spurs in a tough position come July; frankly, he's probably a goner. The Spurs don't have full Bird rights on Dedmon, meaning they don't have a financial advantage to re-sign Dedmon over other teams. Many teams around the league could use long, athletic, rim-protecting big who doesn't demand the ball on offense. More than likely, another team will outbid the Spurs for Dedmon's services.
By July, Dedmon may have gone from a junior college walk-on to an NBA center making eight figures per year, adding another leg to a winding journey.
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