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After three years overseas, Torrey Craig is confident he'll discover his NBA role

Timmy Samuelsson

November 30, 2017

Torrey Craig‘s circuitous journey as a professional basketball player took him from the rolling hills of South Dakota to a city that sits at the foot of mountains Tuesday morning.

After pouring in 35 points for the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the G League on Monday night, Craig received a phone call from Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly asking him to board a plane to Salt Lake City. The Nuggets had a game there on national TV against the Jazz on Tuesday. Denver needed Craig, who it signed to a two-way contract in July, as an emergency option at small forward with Wilson Chandler (back) sidelined.

“Not a lot of sleep,” Craig said after practice Wednesday. “I think we played two nights ago, then I got a call from Tim saying they was going to fly me to Utah.”

Craig wound up earning the first NBA minutes of his career. He logged six minutes in the 106-77 loss. It was a small but significant milestone for the 26-year-old who has kept his NBA dream alive while playing professional basketball overseas for the the last three years.

“It was funny because that game was on ESPN,” Craig said. “So everybody from back home was hitting me up. I got so many notifications on every social media platform. It’s ridiculous. They showed a lot of love from where I’m from. And even in Australia, a lot of people were tuning in.”

For Craig, home is Columbia, South Carolina. Craig played college basketball at the University of South Carolina-Upstate. In 2012, he was named the Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year. After college, Craig headed to the other side of the world to play professionally in New Zealand and Australia.

Craig played for the Brisbane Bullets of the Australian NBL last season. He was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year as well as Most Improved Player. In July, Craig played for the Nuggets’ Summer League team. He showed enough promise to earn a two-way contract, which allows him to spend a maximum of 45 days with the Nuggets this season.

While he waited for his first call up, Craig was busy dominating the G League. The 6-foot-6, 215-pound forward is averaging 25.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 blocks for the Skyforce. Craig is an impressive athlete, capable of using just a single dribble to dunk from the three-point line.

“He is an NBA player,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone at training camp in October. “He shoots the three-ball very well. He moves very well without the ball, which is a great asset when you are playing with the bigs that we have.”

Craig spent most of his time Tuesday getting reacquainted with the Nuggets’ playbook. He remembered most of it from training camp and the preseason. Still, there were some cobwebs to dust off.

“It’s not difficult,” said Craig, who will suit up Thursday against the Bulls while Chandler recovers from back soreness. “You’ve just got to make the right cuts and make the right reads. It’s mostly a read offense. There are so many different things you can do. But once you get out there and read off the players, it’s not difficult to figure out.”

During his time in the G League, Craig kept an eye on NBA players such as Brandon Paul (Spurs) and Mike James (Suns). Both are American-born hoopers in their mid-20s who have carved out roles for themselves on NBA teams after stints overseas.

“It’s a hard thing to do,” Craig said. “I was gone over there for three years. To get back over here, it’s kind of an amazing feeling because it don’t happen every day. Guys like that, I’m definitely motivated by it. I know I can play in this league. It’s just a matter of time before I get the right opportunity.”