Former NBA lottery pick Jarrett Culver has signed with the Sendai 89ers of the B. League, the top basketball league in Japan, according to the agency RBA Showcase (Twitter link).
Culver was selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Texas Tech and appeared in 97 games with the Timberwolves in his first two NBA seasons. He was subsequently traded to Memphis ahead of his third year and signed a two-way contract with Atlanta for year four.
Culver appeared in a total of 144 NBA regular season games for those three teams from 2019-23, averaging 6.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 17.2 minutes per contest, with a .401/.276/.509 shooting line. The 6’6″ swingman had good length for a wing and showed promise defensively in college, but never developed into a reliable rotation player at the NBA level.
The 26-year-old signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Orlando last fall and spent the 2024/25 season with the Osceola Magic in the G League, averaging 13.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 2.5 APG on .441/.330/.663 in 49 total appearances.
Reporting earlier this month had indicated that Culver was nearing a deal with the 89ers. This will be his first time playing for a team overseas.
Yet another in a seemingly endless list of poor draft choices by the hapless Timberpuppies. Of course, what else would you expect from an organization that laid the groundwork for the existence of their franchise by spending their first ever draft choice on a player named POOH ??
He was selected by the Suns and traded to the Wolves on draft night rather than drafted by the Wolves as the article says.
I mean, it’s one of the cases where the trade agreement was made before he was drafted, so the Wolves were the ones making the decision to draft him. But you’re right that the Suns technically did it on their behalf, so I’ll tweak the wording.
I stated that the draft choice was “SPENT” on POOH, not made for POOH.