Determined to finish the season on an NBA roster, Damien Wilkins has returned to the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League, the team announced Thursday.
It was with the Swarm last season, averaging 14.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 31.5 minutes per game in 2016-17, where the Pacers took notice of Wilkins’ play. Especially Chad Buchanan, the Pacers’ general manager who then was the assistant general manager for the Charlotte Hornets.
Wilkins, who turned 38 on Jan. 11, was with the Pacers for the first 39 games of the 2017-18 season, appearing in 19 — starting starting in his last.
“I’ll be back,” Wilkins said on a wide-ranging Vigilant Sports Pacers Podcast a week after getting waived by the team. “I don’t where that’s going to be, and like I said I hope it’ll be here, but I’m coming back. Wherever that place is, I learned a lot being here and I’m thankful for the opportunity to have played and put on that Pacers uniform. I remember the first time I did it for media day and it was like, ‘Wow, I’m here. I did it.'”
Wilkins’ first game will be Friday, Feb. 2 at Westchester. Then, in one week, the Swarm face the Fort Wayne Mad Ants — the Pacers’ G League affiliate.
“It’s important to me and my career, my life, and my goals to finish out this season on an NBA roster,” he told me on the podcast. “I just want to finish this year — and whatever happens after this year, I can accept it. I’ll take it because I’m ready for it. But it’s a goal of mine to finish this year out.”
[Photo: Frank McGrath/PS&E]