The Oklahoma City Thunder are still the defending NBA champions, and are one win away from getting back to the NBA Finals for a chance at doing the double. The present is great, and with their relative youth and stockpile of assets, the future is truly enviable too.
But even among all that good news, the past can still be fun to look at. And a former draftee of the Thunder is doing some big things on the other side of the globe.
Daniel Hamilton, a 6’7 do-it-all wing out of Connecticut, is currently on a tour of the leagues of west Asia. And although he never quite made it full time in the NBA, the same versatile approach that saw him briefly dip his toe in approximately a decade ago now sees him far outstrip the competition in his new home. Or rather, his new homes.
Hamilton’s Well-Stamped Passport
Hamilton is a busy man. His list of leagues played in outside of the G League and NBA cycle reads Bahrain, Dominican Republic, Greece, Jordan, Latvia, Libya, Lebanon, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Syria, Turkey and Uruguay, three of which have come this season alone.
Most recently, Hamilton finished up the season in Jordan, where he played in six games for Al Faisaly, the runners-up in the country’s top competition, the JPL. Prior to that, he had started the season in Lebanon with Beirut Club. And in between, he snuck in a couple of games in the West Asian Super League, playing for Bahraini team, Al-Muharraq.
Across the three, Hamilton filled up the stat line. In the Lebanese DLBL, he averaged 17.4 points, 11.1 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game, and in Jordan, his 13.5 points, 8.2 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game was not far behind. From a 6’7 forward, those numbers are particularly impressive – in the Asian leagues, Hamilton plays like Evan Turner in his prime.
His Time With The Thunder
Hamilton played two seasons at UConn from 2014 through 2016, averaging averaged 12.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game in 36 starts as a sophomore, before declaring for the 2016 NBA Draft following that season. He was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the draft with the 56th overall pick, and was immediately traded to the Thunder in exchange for what was later reported to be $730,000 cash.
Hamilton’s first year in the Thunder organization was spent in the G League with the Oklahoma City Blue, where he established himself once again as a versatile wing and playmaker. During the 2016-17 G League season, he averaged 14.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game, and was signed a two-way contract with the Thunder the following summer. In the 2017-18 season, his first in the NBA, Hamilton appeared in six games for Oklahoma City and averaged 2.0 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 4.6 minutes per game, upping his G League production to 16.1/9.0/7.8 with the Blue.
The Thunder did not sign Hamilton to another two-way deal in the summer of 2018, however, and he instead moved to the Atlanta Hawks, this time on a full NBA deal. He made it as far as the 2019 trade deadline with the team, appearing in 19 games and averaging 3.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 10.7 minutes per game, but was waived to free up a roster spot for the incoming Jabari Bird and never played in the NBA again. Across his NBA career with Oklahoma City and Atlanta, Hamilton played 25 regular season games and averaged 2.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
For all his versatility and playmaking, Hamilton never stuck in the NBA due to a sub-par jump shot from a shooting position, and ineffectual off-ball movement, being much more effective with the ball in his hands without having the low center of gravity, touch and finishing to play such a role in the world’s best league. A bit like Evan Turner, then. Nevertheless, while the NBA fit was never there, the talent level always was. And over in Asia, Hamilton is proving that it still is.
Former Thunder Draftee Becomes Asian Triple-Double Machine