After suiting up with the Utah Jazz for Las Vegas Summer League, Travis Leslie figured it would probably be awhile before he crossed paths with the organization again.
So it was with a bit of surprise when he signed with the Sydney Kings in August that he learned the team’s final exhibition before the season would come in Salt Lake City.
“I never thought this would happen: an NBA team playing an NBL team,” he said. “It’s a crazy coincidence how it happened.”
A former Georgia standout, Leslie, 27, has been around, most recently in the D-League last year before moving Down Under. The 6-foot-4 guard’s last appearance on an NBA roster was also with the Jazz, when he was signed to a 10-day contract in 2013. He didn’t play, so he acknowledges he doesn’t have a lot of memories to reflect on.
But merely being back in an NBA arena was meaningful to the former 2011 draft pick, who has also played in Germany, France and Lithuania. He wanted to have a big game against Summer League teammates Donovan Mitchell, Tony Bradley and Eric Griffin.
“My plan is to go out there have fun and try to make a statement,” he said. “I’ve been out of the league for what, five or six years now? My ultimate goal is to get back. I think this opportunity will be pretty good for me.”
One of his Kings teammates also has some memories at Vivint Smart Home Arena, though not as a player. Guard Adam Thoesby spent a year at Utah State before heading to South Dakota and Georgia Southwestern State to wrap up his college career.
Thoesby said while he didn’t have the best time in his one-year tenure in Logan, he still has a lot of fond memories about his time in Utah. He was hoping to go upstate to visit old stomping grounds but couldn’t find time. But in playing the Jazz, he’s achieving a goal he would’ve never dared dreamed of as a college player.
“Never even thought about it,” he said. “It’s pretty cool to be back here.”
Old score to settle
The Jazz had the advantage going into Monday night’s game, but historically, Sydney Kings coach Andrew Gaze has had the upper hand on Jazz coach Quin Snyder.
Emphasis on “historic,” because the last game the two played was in 1989 — as college players. Gaze scored 20 points as his Seton Hall squad upset Snyder’s Duke team in the Final Four, played in Snyder’s hometown of Seattle.
“How I could I forget? I’m 1-0 against him, that’s fantastic stuff,” Gaze said pregame, beaming. “I’m not sure how that pans out tonight, whether he squares the ledger, but it was a great game.”
The Pirates went on to finish as national runner-up to Michigan that year.
No anthem controversy
Amid a fiery national debate over athletes kneeling for the national anthem to protest police treatment of African Americans, the Jazz didn’t kneel — they side-stepped.
As they did at the beginning of last season, the team linked arms for Monday night’s national anthem in a display of team unity. General manager Dennis Lindsey indicated in media day comments last week that the team would have a team plan for the first anthem of the season.
Notably, the Jazz also played the Australian national anthem to honor their international opponents.