Cady Lalanne became the 16th player in Massachusetts basketball history to hear his name called in the NBA Draft after he was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 55th overall pick in Thursday’s second round.
The 6-foot-10, 253-pound center finished his senior season with the Minutemen as a 2014-15 Third Team All-Atlantic 10 selection with a team-leading 11.6 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. He amassed 1,107 total points and 881 rebounds over his four years at UMass.
Projected as a late second-round pick or viable undrafted free agent target, San Antonio made the call after Lalanne impressed in pre-draft workouts. Lalanne particularly improved his stock at the Portsmouth Invitational, where he earned a spot on the all-tournament team behind 13.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.
Lalanne was the Spurs’ second pick of the night following the team’s earlier selection of Serbian-born center Nikola Milutinov in the first round.
Considered a long shot to immediately make San Antonio’s roster, Lalanne joins a Spurs frontcourt already composed of established big men like Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw and Tiago Splitter.
Lalanne’s selection ended a seven-year drought for UMass in the NBA Draft. The last Minuteman before Lalanne to be drafted was former center Stephane Lasme in 2007 by the Golden State Warriors.
Anthony Chiusano can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @a_chiusano24.
