Anytime you hear a pro athlete talk about fighting through adversity and scratching and clawing for everything, tell them to check in with Wesley Matthews first.
Here’s what the 6-5 shooting guard has overcome in his NBA career:
He went undrafted out of Marquette in 2009, despite averaging 18.3 points and 5.7 rebounds as a senior. That instantly put his odds of any long-term NBA success at slim-and-none.
He latched on with Utah and played well enough to earn a 1,000-percent raise from Portland in his second season.
Then he was promptly told he would not be a starter on an elite NBA team.