St. John’s basketball’s Daniss Jenkins signs two-way deal with the Detroit Pistons

Daniss Jenkins did not hear his name called during the NBA draft, but he quickly found a professional landing spot once the draft concluded.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Jenkins signed a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons.

Listed as a 6-foot-4 guard, Jenkins was arguably the Red Storm’s best player last season, averaging a team-high 14.9 points per game and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 44.6% from the field and 35.4% from three. Jenkins was also named to the All-Big East second-team and was the only St. John’s player named to earn all-conference recognition at the end of the season.

Jenkins’s play was marked by creative playmaking, confident scoring, and comfort in big games. His 27-point performance in an 80-66 win over No. 15 Creighton propelled St. John’s back into the NCAA tournament picture. While St. John’s ultimately fell short against UConn in the Big East tournament semifinals, Jenkins kept the Red Storm at pace with the high-octane Huskies offense with another 27-point outburst.

His play also improved noticeably as the season unfolded. In the final thirteen games of his season, his scoring average grew to 17.8 points per contest, and his shooting splits exploded to 50.6% from the field, 43.1% from three, and 93.3% from the free-throw line.

Jenkins will join Seton Hall alum Jared Rhoden and UConn alum Cam Spencer, who was drafted 53rd overall in this year’s NBA draft, as Big East players hoping to be a part of a successful reclamation project for the moribund Detroit Pistons. Last season, the Pistons finished dead last in the league with a 14-68 record and ignominiously set the record for the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history by dropping 28 straight games from October 30 to December 30. As of today, the Pistons are searching for their next head coach after firing Monty Williams on June 19.