Close Menu
The Daily Hoosier
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • Updated: IU basketball’s 2026 through 2028 prospects
    • IU basketball recruiting: Top-25 PG Deron Rippey on Indiana visit, his game and recruitment
    • BTN releases “Indiana Classic” replay of IU football’s emotional 2007 win over Purdue
    • IU football 2025 opponent overview: Week 14 — Purdue
    • IU basketball recruiting Q&A: Latrell Allmond recaps Indiana visit, next steps
    • IU basketball recruiting: Hoosiers offer 2026 5-star forward Miikka Muurinen
    • Spring highlights: Class of 2027 in-state 4-stars Jason Gardner, Jr. and Isaiah Hill
    • The top-10 IU football seasons of all-time: No. 5 — 1910
    • Sign Up
    • About/Support
    • Jobs
    • Tickets
      • IUBB Tickets (Stubhub)
      • IUFB Tickets (Stubhub)
    • Shop
      • Official IU Store
      • IU Adidas Store
      • Amazon: Support TDH
      • IU Memorabilia
      • IU Press (Books)
      • The Daily Hoosier T-Shirt
    • Radio/Podcasts
      • East 17th Street
    • Pro IU
      • IUBB NBA
      • IUFB NFL
      • IUBASE MLB
    • Forum
      • Disqus Forum
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    The Daily HoosierThe Daily Hoosier
    Friday, July 11
    • IU Basketball
      • Latest IU Basketball News
      • 2025-26 IU Basketball Roster
      • DeVries’ new staff
      • Future Schedules
      • Scholarship Chart
      • Big Ten Coming and Going
      • IU Basketball 2024-25 Schedule
      • 2024-25 Big Ten Standings
      • 24-25 IU Basketball Stats
      • Rankings & Bracketology
      • IU Basketball Media Guide
    • IU Football
      • Latest IU Football News
      • Roster updates by position
      • 2025 scholarship tracker
      • 2025 Schedule
      • Current roster
      • Curt Cignetti’s staff
      • Future opponents through 2032
      • 2024 B1G Standings
      • 2024 IUFB Stats
      • IU Football 2024 Record Book
    • IU Recruiting
      • IU Basketball Recruiting News
      • IU Football Recruiting News
      • IUBB 2026-28 Prospects
      • Recruit Interviews
      • Recruit Highlights
      • IU Football Recruiting Commits
    • IU Women’s Basketball
      • IU Women’s Basketball News
      • 24-25 Schedule
      • Big Ten Standings
    • IU Men’s Soccer
      • 2024 Schedule
      • Indiana Men’s Soccer: Program History
    • More Hoosiers
      • Fan and Business NIL options
      • IU Baseball
        • Baseball Schedule
        • Statistics
        • Big Ten Standings
      • IU Swim & Dive
      • IU Olympic Results
    • Hoosier History
      • March Madness Classics
      • Basketball History
      • Football History
    The Daily Hoosier

    Hoosiers in the NBA: Thomas Bryant Season in Review

    Mike SchumannBy Mike SchumannApril 18, 2018 IUBB NBA No Comments
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    The 2017-18 NBA season has ended for five of the eight former Indiana Hoosiers that registered statistics in the league this year.  Today marks the second in a series of more in depth reviews of their respective seasons.  Today we discuss former Hoosier big man Thomas Bryant.

    It was about this time of year in 2015 when Thomas Bryant committed live on ESPN to play for Indiana.  A lot has transpired for Bryant and the Hoosiers since then, including an outright Big Ten title, a coaching change, and an early exit to the NBA in 2017.

    While some have speculated that Bryant would have returned for his junior year, he has stated that he probably would have entered the NBA Draft irrespective of the firing of Tom Crean.  Bryant was selected in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft.  He was the 42nd overall pick.  As a draft choice, Bryant spent the year under contract.  He has a two-year deal with the Lakers, with the second year being a team option.

    NBA EXPOSURE

    While Bryant started the year in the G-League with the South Bay Lakers, he would eventually get called up to Los Angeles in January.  From there, Bryant bounced back and forth between the Lakers and the G-League throughout the remainder of his rookie season.  He saw his most extensive NBA action of the season in April.  In the final game of the year, Bryant played 18 minutes and set career highs with 6 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks.


    Games/Games Started – 15/0
    Points – 1.5
    Rebounds – 1.1
    Assists – .4
    Blocks – .1
    Steals – .1
    FG% – .381
    3FG% – .100
    FT% – .556

     

    Bryant scored his first career NBA field goal in his fourth game with LA against the New York Knicks at Staples Center. It was a 3-pointer from the right wing with under a minute to play off a pick-and-pop pass from point guard and fellow rookie Alex Caruso.

    A G-LEAGUE STAR

    The former Hoosier star spent most of the season with the South Bay Lakers in the NBA G-League, and at least at that level, the year was a major success.

    Bryant was voted to the first team All G-League.  He also placed second in the race for G-League Rookie of the Year, shooting a league-high 74.3 percent on two-pointers on the season.  He averaged 19.7 points and hit 36.4 percent from deep for South Bay.  He also contributed 7.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 blocks per game.

    You can watch one of his better G-League games of the year here, where he scored 33 points against Reno.

    EXIT INTERVIEW

    Bryant gave the media a post-season interview to summarize his rookie season, his assessment of how things went and what he will focus on in the future.  Indiana fans will certainly recognize the reference to Bryant being an emotional player:

    WHAT’S NEXT

    The Lakers are high on Bryant’s future with the NBA team.  On a recent radio interview, Lakers’ GM Rob Pelinka observed that Bryant has the right intangibles to be successful in the NBA, and he is doing the right things off the court as well:

    “In particular with Thomas Bryant, we all know the game is about shooting bigs. It was just stretch fours at one point, now you’ve got to have stretch fours and stretch fives, and Thomas Bryant is a seven-foot stretch five. Gunnar Peterson and our weight staff have done an unbelievable job just getting him locked in to being an ‘NBA strong’ player. His body fat went way down under 10 percent, he’s eating clean and you can just see the wiry, strong way he’s growing into his body.”

    Indiana fans saw Bryant make big strides with his perimeter shot from year 1 to year 2.  Now Pelinka sees that ability as being something that will allow him to carve-out a more permanent role in the NBA:

    “He’s just an unbelievable, almost intoxicating 3-point shooter from the top of the key. It’s almost automatic. As he grows into his body and the pace of the NBA game you can see Lonzo coming off that high ball screen, you can see Kuz in the space that Thomas Bryant will open up for our cutters and our slashers. We do feel like he’s going to be a big piece of the future and how we want to play, and how we want to build this.”

    Bryant will continue to refine his game in the NBA’s Summer League.

    You can follow us on Twitter:  @daily_hoosier

    Find us on Facebook:  thedailyhoosier

    Supporting FREE coverage of IU Athletics operated by an Indiana based small business has never been easier.  Just do your shopping via this link to the Amazon home page.

    Related

    indiana hoosiers Thomas Bryant
    Mike Schumann

    Keep Reading

    The top-10 IU football seasons of all-time: No. 5 — 1910

    Former Hoosiers in action for opening weekend of NBA Summer League

    The top 10 IU football seasons of all-time: No. 6 — 1987

    Latest Hoosier News
    • Updated: IU basketball’s 2026 through 2028 prospects
    • IU basketball recruiting: Top-25 PG Deron Rippey on Indiana visit, his game and recruitment
    • BTN releases “Indiana Classic” replay of IU football’s emotional 2007 win over Purdue
    • IU football 2025 opponent overview: Week 14 — Purdue
    • IU basketball recruiting Q&A: Latrell Allmond recaps Indiana visit, next steps
    • IU basketball recruiting: Hoosiers offer 2026 5-star forward Miikka Muurinen
    • Spring highlights: Class of 2027 in-state 4-stars Jason Gardner, Jr. and Isaiah Hill
    Sign Up



    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    © 2025 The Daily Hoosier, LLC.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Ad Blocker Enabled!
    Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please support us by disabling your Ad Blocker.