Adonis Arms Introduces Himself to the NBA Summer League With a Jam
Adonis Arms has an incredible story.
If you watched any Texas Tech basketball games this season, you've heard a version of the story. To paraphrase, Arms was around 6-feet tall coming out of high school. Some say he was 5'10", which makes the story better so I guess we can run with that.
Arms would then walk on at Mesa Community College where he'd spend two seasons. Then, he headed to Northwest Nazarene for one season. The following season was spent as a redshirt at Winthrop due to previous transfer rules before he could play the 2020-21 season with Winthrop as a role player off the bench.
By the time Arms got to Texas Tech, he was a 6'5" uber athlete with unreal hops and aggressive defense. Arms started in Lubbock in a similar role he had at Winthrop, but through a set of circumstances and hard work he'd finish at Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 as a starter.
From walking on at Mesa Community College to starting in the Sweet 16 at Texas Tech. If someone made an Adonis Arms movie, they could end it there with a solid production, but I don't think his story is over. Arms is legit turning heads in the NBA Summer League after being picked up by the Denver Nuggets on an undrafted free agent deal.
The videos of his debut on July 8th started in the pregame where Adam Mares noted that Arms can fly. That would become apparent during the game.
On a fast break opportunity, Arms rocked the rim on an alley-oop after securing the loose ball on the defensive end and pushing it up the court.
Here's the cinematic version:
I'm not an NBA scout or anything, but Arms looked like an NBA quality player at Texas Tech down the stretch and NBA experts are taking notice.
Arms' breakout game came in Waco when the Red Raiders went into the number one team's house shorthanded and beat them in a comeback effort. The nail in Baylor's coffin that night was Arms spinning dunk that posterized Matthew Mayer.
He had plenty of other highlights at Texas Tech, though.
Though Arms' story might seem like an overnight success at a glance with his breakout coming on the big stage in the Big 12, his skills have always been apparent. He just needed the platform to be seen. Texas Tech provided that.
Arms isn't the only Red Raider in the NBA Summer League. Mac McClung has recently joined the Golden State Warriors after being on the Lakers squad, and Bryson Williams is playing with the Heat.
McClung has had his own share of highlights in the last couple of weeks.