With the NBA draft wrapping up on Thursday, many undrafted collegiate prospects signed deals in various capacities to prove themselves in the league. That group includes two former Massachusetts men’s basketball players — R.J. Luis Jr. and Matt Cross – who will represent the Minutemen and their other collegiate squads on the NBA’s stage.
On Friday, Cross announced that he had accepted an invitation to play for the Dallas Mavericks in the team’s summer league camp. Cross made his mark with UMass over two seasons (2022-24), averaging 13.8 points per game to go along with 7.3 rebounds. Cross also shot 47 percent from the field and made 34 percent of his tries from deep.
Cross, sitting at 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, showed the ability to score at will, rebound and shoot at a high clip from beyond the arc while in a Minutemen uniform.
Cross had some huge moments for Massachusetts during his senior season, tying the program record with eight steals against Siena and setting a career high with 31 points against Central Connecticut State on 11-of-13 shooting.
The Beverly native joined the Minutemen after a year each at Miami (FL) and Louisville, starting at the same time Frank Martin made his first appearance as head coach in 2022. During his tenure at UMass, Cross was named to the All-Atlantic 10 First Team, the NABC All-District Team, the Myrtle Beach Invitational All-Tournament Team and won the MVP award at the 2022 Hall of Fame Invitational.
While playing his final collegiate season with the Mustangs, Cross notched 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds and shot 48.5 percent from the floor while also being named ACC Player of the Week once. The senior led his team to a 24-11 record.
Just a day before Cross’ news broke out, former Massachusetts guard R.J. Luis Jr. signed a two-way deal with the Utah Jazz. Despite his camp claiming he received multi-million dollar offers from Kansas, Arkansas, North Carolina and Indiana, Luis Jr. declared for the NBA draft shortly after the end of the 2024-25 college basketball season. The junior was not selected in either round, but just minutes after the second round had ended, the Jazz called and offered the guard a two-way contract.
The two-way deal will allow Luis Jr. to split time with the Jazz and their G-League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.
Luis Jr. only played his freshman season with the Minutemen, where he averaged 11.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 steals across 22.7 minutes per game. The 6-foot-7 junior also scored a career-high 31 points in a win against Duquesne.
After transferring to St. John’s, it was his junior season where Luis Jr. really found his rhythm: he jumped to average 18.2 points per game and 7.2 rebounds, he became the program’s 11th consensus All-American (and its first since Malik Sealy in 1992) and he was named Big East Player of the Year.
Luis Jr. also led the second-seeded Johnnies to their first tournament win under former Massachusetts coach Rick Pitino, tying multiple generations of UMass basketball into the New York City team’s successful season.
Unfortunately for St. John’s, its title hopes ended in a loss to 10th-seeded Arkansas in the second round (a game in which Luis Jr. shot 3-of-17 from the floor), but the guard’s body of work was enough to now set his sights on a successful career at the next level.
Adam Kysiak can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @adampkysiak.
