SALT LAKE CITY — Thomas Wilder watched, listened and waited with his phone by his side at an apartment in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
His cousin was with him, but not a large group of supporters.
Sixty names were called during the NBA draft on June 21 in Brooklyn, but none were his.
As soon as the drafted ended, though, his agent Jamar Smiley was the first to call him with an opportunity. The Utah Jazz had extended an offer to play on the summer league teams in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Wilder told Smiley.