John Petty Jr. to Play in NBA Summer League with Detroit Pistons

The Crimson Tide guard dealt with a knee injury over the summer, resulting in him not being selected in the NBA Draft.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama basketball guard John Petty Jr. will play summer basketball with the Detroit Pistons, Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats revealed in a press conference on Friday morning.

Petty was dealing with a knee injury throughout the draft process, which resulted in him not being selected in Thursday's nights NBA Draft. However, Petty will get a second chance in the Pistons' Summer League team. He will be seeking a two-way contract.

"Petty went to Chicago to train with his agent," Oats said Friday morning. "Had a knee injury, had to get it rehabbed. He had two deaths in the family, had to come home and that took away from rehab. [...] There's no guaranteed contracts in the second round. The Pistons have been high on him since last summer. He picked the team he goes to in the summer league, hopefully he stays healthy and plays well and plays his way into a two-way contract."

In the 2020 season for his senior campaign, Petty started 31 of the Crimson Tide's 33 games and averaged 31.3 minutes per appearance. He finished third on the team in points with 402, an average of 12.6 points per game. His offense was coupled with solid defense of the boards, where he recorded the Crimson Tide's second-most rebounds with 165 — an average of 5.2 per game.

From beyond the three-point line, Petty led Alabama in both attempts and made threes with 208 and 77, respectively. At the end of his career, Petty finished as the Crimson Tide's all-time leading three-point shooter, with 311 made shots over the course of his four-year career.

While Petty will be remembered for his dynamic offensive play and skills from beyond the arc, he was hampered by injuries on multiple occasions throughout his career that kept him from fully reaching his potential.

Heading into Thursday night's draft, Alabama coach Nate Oats joined The Paul Finebaum Show and spoke about Petty's upside as well as his injuries.

“In John Petty, you’ve got a shooter, an elite shooter that’s got range," Oats said on Tuesday. "The NBA’s become about shooting, and he’s one of the best shooters in the draft. He had some injury problems through the workouts, wasn’t able to work out as much as he would have liked in the spring and summer, so it’s probably not gonna help him a lot. But hopefully, he gets drafted."

Following Alabama's loss to UCLA in the Sweet 16 in March, Petty gave a heartfelt statement regarding how he wanted his time in Tuscaloosa to be remembered.

"I just want to be remembered as a winner," Petty said. "That's all I wanted to do when I got here. No matter what it took, what I had to do, I just wanted to win. I wanted to make this school, make this season special. That's exactly why I came back, and that's exactly what we did.

"Hats off to my brothers because, without them, this season wouldn't have been as special as it was. I just want to be remembered as a winner. No matter how many awards we got, how many accolades we received, it really doesn't matter to me. I just always wanted to be known as a winner."