Where Are They Now: Travis Leslie

Clippers Career: Leslie was drafted with the 47^th pick in the 2011 draft out of the University of Georgia. A teammate of fellow Clips’ draftee Trey Thompkins in college, the Clippers had hopes that the two of them could eventually become valuable contributors off the bench. Unfortunately for Travis, he got even fewer NBA minutes to prove himself than Trey, playing 45 total minutes over 10 games. He spent most of his time in the D-League, where he acquitted himself well, but never proved enough to earn the trust of the Clippers’ staff. He was waived by the Clips on October 30, 2012, right before the start of the season.

2012-2013: Leslie was selected in the D-League draft by the Santa Cruz Warriors, and played well enough to be sent to the D-League All Star game, albeit as an injury replacement. He actually won the All Star Game MVP with 19 points and 7 rebounds; though the D-League game is just as useless as that of the NBA, it still won Travis much attention. On March 10, the Utah Jazz signed him to a 10-day contract, but Leslie never ended up getting any minutes, and returned to the D-League when the contract was up. He finished the season averaging 15.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.7 steals, and 2.1 assists per game in just 27.4 minutes.

2013-2014: This was a rough year for Travis, as he was a part of three different teams in just one basketball season. He started off signing for Nanterre 92 of France’s LNB Pro A league, but left before appearing in game. Travis then joined ASVEL Basket (in the same league, and whose president is none other than Tony Parker), but was waived in mid-January. Sickened of France, Leslie departed for Lithuania, where he signed with BC Siauliai, who he remained with for the remainder of the season.

2014-2015: Apparently Travis liked Lithuania, for he remained in the Lithuania Basketball League, though he did sign with a new team—powerhouse Lietuvos rytas. He was good enough to be selected to the Lithuanian All Star Game (for the 2^nd year in a row), and took home another All Star Game MVP. In addition, he won the 2014 and 2015 Slam Dunk Competitions, making a name for himself as one of the most explosive dunkers overseas.

2015-2016: Travis signed with medi Bayreuth of Basketball Bundesliga for the season, joining a much more American-player oriented league. In this more competitive setting, Leslie failed to make an All Star Team for the first time in four years, though he also did miss around half the season due to injury, playing in only 16 games. When he did play, Leslie only saw around 22 minutes a game, primarily coming off the bench. However, he was a microwave in the minutes he did play, scoring 11.8 points per game and shooting 60.2% from the floor.

The Future: I actually couldn’t find any news that Travis has signed with a team for the 2016-2017 season. On basketnews.com I saw that he was related to something called Žaidėjai, but I don’t think that’s a team name, and more in-depth searches didn’t lead to much more. Travis has played well enough overseas to guarantee him a basketball job of some kind in the coming years as long as he wants to keep playing, and, according to his Twitter, he is still in the gym with Trey!! While he has had a solid career after the NBA, unlike Trey, I doubt he has shown enough to come back to the NBA. Hopefully he finds a good situation for the 2017 season and in years to come.