'This is what you dream of, man': Memphis' Kendric Davis earns NBA Draft Combine invitation

Kendric Davis was on a FaceTime call with his 1-year-old son, Kendric Davis Jr., late Sunday night when there was a knock on the door of his Chicago hotel room.

"I told him, 'I love you. Let me see who this is, I'll call you back,' " Davis told The Commercial Appeal. "So, I looked through the peephole and it was all the (G League) Combine people."

Just hours after Davis − who became an All-American point guard under Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway in 2022-23 − put up the second of back-to-back impressive performances at the G League Combine in front of scores of prominent decision-makers, he was invited to stay in Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine. Davis is one of eight G League Combine standouts to earn the invitation to the NBA Draft Combine, which runs Monday-Sunday at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. The NBA Draft Combine is expected to feature more than 80 draft hopefuls.

Davis, who turned 24 years old Sunday, said he could not have asked for a better birthday gift.

"This is what you dream of, man," Davis said as close friend and Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane called and Hardaway congratulated him via text message. "This is the biggest of the biggest. Anytime Coach Penny texts me, I get hype. He just said he always knew I was the one.

"But, I still gotta just keep proving myself like I've had to my whole life."

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In the G League Combine scrimmages, Davis averaged 12 points and 5.5 assists. In Sunday's scrimmage, he scored 16 points (on 4-of-10 shooting, 1-for-4 on 3-pointers) and had five rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes. Davis had the second-best plus-minus rating (plus-16) in the scrimmage.

Davis also stood out at the Portsmouth Invitational last month, averaging 15.3 points, 6.7 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.7 rebounds in three games. He was named to the Portsmouth Invitational all-tournament team, which was made up of 13 of the 64 players who were invited to participate.

Between the Portsmouth Invitational and the G League Combine, Davis completed workouts with the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and Atlanta Hawks.

"It's been exhausting, man," said Davis. "These last two days felt like a year. But it's the way it's always been − I just gotta get it out the mud."

Davis, despite being relatively undersized at 6-foot, said the feedback he has received from scouts and coaches has been overwhelmingly positive. He added it validates what he has repeatedly heard from numerous players currently in the NBA.

"Everybody loves me," he said. "Everybody says I can play with the best of 'em. Everybody says I'm gonna play in the NBA. (Lakers forward) Jarred Vanderbilt, (Bane), Ja (Morant), all the dudes in the league have always told me I'm gonna play in the league. If it's that, then I know it's something."

After one season at TCU and three at SMU, Davis transferred to Memphis for his final season of collegiate eligibility. He led the Tigers to a 26-9 record and an AAC championship, averaging 21.9 points, 5.4 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball: Kendric Davis earns NBA Draft Combine invitation