5 Santa Cruz Warriors Players That Deserve an NBA Call-Up

LaDontae Henton || F || 25 || 6’6″ || 215 lbs.

Henton averages 15.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 steals in 30.8 minutes. He’s played in 14 games with Santa Cruz on 41.0 percent shooting from the field and 38.9 percent shooting from behind the arc.

On record, Henton was surprisingly waived back in November despite being chosen as the 10th overall pick in the 2016 NBA D-League Draft by the Santa Cruz Warriors, but he was officially reacquired in December. As a result, he’s played a minuscule amount of games compared to most of the other guys that have been or will be named.

Nevertheless, Henton has seen success at every level working up to the NBA:

• He was a decorated college wingman out of Providence where he averaged 19.6 points and 6.5 rebounds as a senior.
• He averaged a whopping 31.5 points and 12.0 rebounds on 51.8 percent FG shooting and 41.9 percent 3P shooting in his most recent overseas stint in the Philippines playing with the Alaska Aces.
• And now he finds himself back with the Warriors organization after a six-game Summer League appearance in 2015 saw him shooting 40.0 percent from the field and 47.4 percent from downtown on averages of 8.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 18.5 minutes.

This season, he’s had three instances in which he’s recorded at least 26 points and four rebounds while shooting 50+ percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc (6+ 3PA).

In one of those cases, he finished with 32 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals, and two blocks while shooting 12-for-21 from the field (57.1%), 6-for-10 from behind the arc (60%), and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.

Henton is a scorer in every essence of the word. Whether he’s running with the second unit or playing with the starters, he has little-to-no conscience when it comes to putting the ball in the basket, and he has a knack for chasing down boards.

He’s demonstrated a number of different ways to score, and he’s shown the ability to get to the stripe when his shot isn’t falling. It’s true that the sample size for Henton is still in its infancy, but there’s only been two instances this season in which he hasn’t scored in double-digits.

Teams in need of a scoring wing should take a peek at a proven scorer like LaDontae Henton.