Inside The Huskies

Brooks Gets Second NBA Shot, Recalled from G League

The former UW swingman has been summoned to the New Orleans Pelicans for the second time in two months.

Dan Raley

Keion Brooks Jr. has been called up by the New Orleans Pelicans a second time this season.
Keion Brooks Jr. has been called up by the New Orleans Pelicans a second time this season. / Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

No one said the NBA was going to be easy.

Keion Brooks, a year removed from the University of Washington basketball team, has received a second call-up this season from the New Orleans Pelicans, leaving the G League as he tries to establish himself at the game's highest level.

In early February, the 6-foot-7 Brooks played in two games for the Pelicans while making his NBA debut and then returned to the Birmingham Squadron.

Brooks, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection and the Huskies' leading scorer at 21.1 points last year, is signed to a two-way contract with the Pelicans that enables him to move back and forth between the NBA and the G League.

Previously, he played in games against Denver and Oklahoma City on the road, making his NBA debut on Feb. 5 against the Nuggets, a 144-119 loss. Five days later, he appeared against the Thunder and scored his first career points with 4 in a 137-101 loss.

On the college level, Brooks played three seasons for Kentucky and two more for the UW before going undrafted and having to work his way to the NBA the hard way.

For Birmingham, he's played in 26 games and averaged 16 points and 6.4 rebounds an outing while shooting 43.8 percent from the floor.

He joins a New Orleans team that is 18-51 and currently well out of playoff contention.

For the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

Published |Modified
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Husky Legends