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Tennessee basketball: Another chance at the NBA for former Vol Jarnell Stokes

By Billy Williford

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 28: Jarnell Stokes #5 of the Tennessee Volunteers drives to the basket against Jon Horford #15 of the Michigan Wolverines during the regional semifinal of the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 28, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 28: Jarnell Stokes #5 of the Tennessee Volunteers drives to the basket against Jon Horford #15 of the Michigan Wolverines during the regional semifinal of the 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 28, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Former Vol Jarnell Stokes has another chance at the NBA. He will be suiting up for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Summer Leauge.

Another Tennessee basketball player is getting a shot at the NBA. Well, I suppose I should say another shot at the NBA while participating in the NBA Summer League.

The Chicago Bulls announced that former Vol, Jarnell Stokes made the 12-man roster for their 2018 Summer Leauge team. This is great news for a guy that has been bounced around different leagues since 2014.

Now, making a summer league team is in no way promising a roster spot for the regular season. However, you never know what can happen if Stokes can come out and play good basketball.

And, as we mentioned, this isn’t Stokes first action with an NBA team. He was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies and played in 19 games, two of which he started, in the 2014-15 season.

Stokes scored a total of 57 points with five blocks, five steals, four assists, and pulled down 34 rebounds that season. All while shooting an impressive 56.8 shooting percentage from the field.

On Saturday, the Bulls had their first summer league game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Chicago ended up winning the game 86-81 in large part due do to Wendell Carter Jr. and Antonio Blakeney who combined for a total of 41 points.

However, Stokes did enough to help the team get the win. In only 11 minutes of action, which was the second most off the bench, he scored eight points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field. He also added one rebound.

It should be considered a decent outing to pour in eight points in only 11 minutes. Any NBA team could use that kind of production coming off the bench. Notably, for how cheap it would be to sign Stokes.

He has shown that he can score in bunches. At Tennessee, he averaged 13.0 points per game. And, in his final season in 2013-14, Stokes scored 15.1 points per game. If given a chance, he could be a decent player coming off the bench.

We aren’t necessarily sure Chicago is the best fit only because they aren’t going to be that good of a team. However, why not the Warriors? He wouldn’t have to score much, if at all. He could just ride off other players, be in the NBA, and have the best chance next season to win an NBA Championship.

Next: Recapping Lamonte Turner’s best 5 games of 2017-18

We will keep a close eye on Stokes and his journey at finding an NBA roster next season. You can watch the next game is on Sunday, July 8th at 11:30 pm ET on ESPN 2.

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