Luke Travers
No. 33 – Cleveland Cavaliers | |
---|---|
Position | Guard / Forward |
League | NBA |
Personal information | |
Born | Perth, Western Australia, Australia |
3 September 2001
Listed height | 200 cm (6 ft 7 in) |
Listed weight | 94 kg (207 lb) |
Career information | |
High school | Willetton Senior (Perth, Western Australia) |
NBA draft | 2022 / Round: 2 / Pick: 56th overall |
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers | |
Playing career | 2017–present |
Career history | |
2017–2019 | Rockingham Flames |
2019–2022 | Perth Wildcats |
2020 | Cockburn Cougars |
2022–present | Cleveland Cavaliers |
Career highlights and awards | |
|
Luke Jacob Travers (born 3 September 2001) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected by the Cavaliers with the 56th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft.
Opting to forgo college basketball in the United States to begin his professional career in Australia, he made his debut for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL) as a development player in 2019 and became an NBL champion in 2020. At state league level, he played three seasons for the Rockingham Flames in the State Basketball League (SBL) between 2017 and 2019, and then had a stint with the Cockburn Cougars in 2020 during the West Coast Classic.
Contents
Early life and career
Travers was born in the Perth southern suburb of Rockingham.[1] He attended Willetton Senior High School[2][3] and played for the Rockingham Flames as a junior.[4] He was childhood friends with AFL player Luke Jackson.[5]
Travers made his senior debut for the Rockingham Flames in the State Basketball League (SBL) in 2017. He saw action in five games and totaled five points.[6] In 2018, he played five games during the regular season and then all five games during the finals, helping the Flames sweep the Geraldton Buccaneers 2–0 in the quarter-finals and averaging 14.7 points during the 2–1 semi-final series loss to the Perry Lakes Hawks.[7] In 2019, he played 18 games for the Flames and averaged 11.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.[8] He was an integral player for the Flames in 2019, starting a number of games but often used as the sixth man off the bench.[9] He was subsequently named the SBL Most Improved Player.[10]
In 2018, Travers helped break a 17-year drought for Western Australia, winning gold at the Under 18 National Championships.[4][11]
Professional career
Perth Wildcats (2019–2022)
2019–20 season
On 1 August 2019, Travers signed with the Perth Wildcats as a development player for the 2019–20 NBL season.[11] His elite athleticism and ability to play multiple positions made him an attractive option for the Wildcats.[9] Regarded as one of Australia's most sought-after basketball prospects, he had interest from a number of colleges in the United States,[9] but indicated his desire to turn professional due to a lack of motivation at school.[12] In his debut for the Wildcats on 1 December 2019, he had three points, four assists and two rebounds in roughly 11 minutes in a 99–88 loss to the Adelaide 36ers.[13] On 20 December 2019, he opted to forgo college basketball and begin his professional career, signing a three-year contract extension with the Wildcats.[14][15] He played four games during the season[16] and was a member of the Wildcats' championship-winning squad in March 2020.[17][18]
During the West Coast Classic in 2020, Travers had a five-game stint with the Cockburn Cougars,[12] averaging 17.8 points, 14.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.[19]
2020–21 season
Continuing on as a development player in the 2020–21 NBL season, Travers was thrust into a much larger role during the preseason, starting in both of the Wildcats' preseason games against the Illawarra Hawks.[20] While mostly a traditional wing player, he added strength to his frame over the off-season and was assigned the starting power forward role.[20] He was replaced in the starting line-up by Jarred Bairstow midway through the season,[21] with Travers later stating he got complacent in the role and was forced to work his way back into starting contention.[22] On 28 March 2021, he went 6-of-6 from the field for 16 points off the bench in an 89–65 win over the Sydney Kings.[23] A season-ending injury to Bryce Cotton saw Travers return to the starting line-up as a guard at the back-end of the regular season and in the semi-finals.[24] On 27 May, he had 16 points and eight rebounds in an 81–67 win over the Kings.[25] In the 2–1 semi-final series win over Illawarra, Travers averaged 10.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and three assists per game.[24] He went on to miss the first two games of the grand final series against Melbourne United with a calf injury,[26][27][28] returning in game three to record nine points and six rebounds off the bench in an 81–76 series-ending loss.[29][30]
On 1 July 2021, Travers signed with the Mandurah Magic for the rest of the 2021 NBL1 West season.[31][32] However, he was never cleared by the Wildcats medical staff to play for Mandurah.[33]
2021–22 season
Travers entered the 2021–22 NBL season as a fully contracted player[34] and earned the rank of number 83 in ESPN's top 100 NBA draft rankings.[35] On 5 December 2021, he had a career-high 14 rebounds in the Wildcats' 90–67 win over the Cairns Taipans.[36][37] On 5 February 2022, he scored a career-high 24 points in a 101–79 win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix.[38] He averaged 7.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.7 blocks per game during the 2021–22 season, playing both inside and outside roles while also periodically running the offense.[39]
Cleveland Cavaliers (2022–present)
On 24 April 2022, Travers declared for the 2022 NBA draft.[40] He was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 56th overall pick.[41] He joined the Cavaliers for the 2022 NBA Summer League.[42]
National team career
In 2018, Travers represented Australia at the Under-17 FIBA World Cup in Argentina and won gold at the Under-16 FIBA Asia Championship in China.[11][43] He had 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists, four steals and two blocks for Australia in their title-clinching victory over China and was named in the all-tournament second team.[44]
Personal life
Travers is the son of Karl and Sam. He has an older brother[45] and a sister.[46]
References
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External links
- NBL profile
- FIBA profile
- "Wildcats to grow legacy of Number 4" at wildcats.com.au
- "Draft rankings snub 'fuel to the fire' for Travers" at nbl.com.au
- Articles with short description
- Use dmy dates from June 2021
- Articles with invalid date parameter in template
- Use Australian English from June 2021
- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
- 2001 births
- Living people
- Australian men's basketball players
- Basketball players from Perth, Western Australia
- Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks
- Forwards (basketball)
- Guards (basketball)
- Perth Wildcats players