Son of college basketball coaching legend signs with new NBA team

Feb 18, 2023; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; The NBA logo on the court at Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The son of an all-time great coach is continuing his own basketball journey.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Monday that Buddy Boeheim plans to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder. As an Exhibit 10 player, Boeheim would be on a one-year contract for the league-minimum salary.

The 24-year-old Boeheim is the son of retired Syracuse coaching legend Jim Boeheim. Buddy was a walk-on for his dad at Syracuse and spent four total seasons there. He went undrafted in 2022 but latched on with the Detroit Pistons on a two-way contract. Buddy posted NBA averages of 2.5 points and 0.8 rebounds in 8.7 minutes a game over two seasons in Detroit and also spent time with the Pistons’ Summer League and G League teams.

It was in the G League last season with the Motor City Cruise that Buddy was able to thrive a bit more. He averaged 17.1 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game over 31 appearances, also canning 43.1 percent of his threes. Now Buddy is parlaying that success into a deal with the Thunder, who recently signed another well-known name from the college ranks too.