Perth young gun Luke Travers has gone from development player to solid contributor to potential NBA lottery pick in the past three years.
Stepping up his game, perimeter shooting and strength each season to now be a major part of the Wildcat’s success, Luke joins Dan Boyce on the podcast to discuss his decision to play in the NBL over college, the people within the Perth Wildcats organisation helping him prepare for the NBA draft and lessons learnt along the way.
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Travers is one of the rising stars of basketball in Australia and has his sights set on being drafted to the NBA in 2022.
The young, wiry 17-year-old kid from Perth who turned down full offers from Mississippi State and Western Kentucky in the US to sign as a development player for the hometown franchise looks to have made a solid call for his draft stock.
The Wildcats signed him as a Development Player for the 2019-20 season and although he only played in four games, he showed enough promise to be elevated into the Wildcat’s starting unit the following season. By mid-way through the 2020-21 season Travers had returned to the bench but after injuries saw Bryce Cotton unavailable for the remainder of the year Travers was elevated back into the line-up and produced his best stretch of games to date. He averaged 11 points, 8 rebounds and 1 steal per game across his final 7 games and become the third-youngest player in history to record a double-double in an NBL playoff game.
This season, Travers’ early season play has catapulted him from strong whispers from those who know Australian basketball well to the power ballad start to the season that has earned him 88th in ESPN early NBA Draft rankings.
Travers is averaging 8 points and 6 rebounds mid-way through the 2021-22 season and whilst eyeing a spot in the NBA next season, is a key contributor for the Wildcats who currently sit in third position with a 9-6 record.
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Podcast topics include;
- Snapping the Wildcat’s three-game losing streak with a win over Tasmania (2:00)
- How the Perth Wildcats players view the JackJumpers roster who many fans refer to as Perth 2.0 (4:30)
- Growing up in Rockingham and watching the Wildcats as a junior (5:30)
- At what point as a junior did he feel he could play as a professional (8:00)
- What led to him deciding he would attempt to reach the NBA via the NBL instead of college (9:30)
- His first season with the Wildcats and takeaways from his “learning” year (10:30)
- Winning an NBL championship in 2020 under bizarre circumstances due to COVID (15:00)
- The differences playing for under Scott Morrison compared to Trevor Gleeson (18:00)
- Mock Drafts and draft rankings how much attention does he give those types of things?(21:30)
- Plans on improving his stock prior to the NBA draft (22:30)
- Which players does Luke get along with the most off the court (23:30)
- Players who have helped Luke with his development along the way (24:30)
- What’s the go with the haircut? (26:30)
- His relationship with his Mum and Dad (28:00)
All of this and a whole lot more…
