Craig to Get Full-Time Status with Denver Next Season

About this time last year, Torrey Craig had just knocked the socks off the Denver staff after a successful run on the Nuggets’ Summer League team. Since then his career arc has continued upward to a reported two-year deal that will keep him in the Mile High City.

To recap the story of Craig who also spent a portion of last season with the Sioux Falls Skyforce would be exhaustive. If you began from the time he left University of South Carolina Upstate to this most recent status of $2 million per year on a 2-year deal in Denver, you would have to make multiple stops in Australia and include a crucial block on Jrue Holiday in one of his early NBA experiences to understand the full scope of the journey to this point.

Since going undrafted out of college in 2014 he honed his craft in Australia’s NBL to eventually become the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2017. Craig then played his way into the starting lineup during Summer League for the Nuggets and eventually a 2-way contract which restricted his NBA status to only 45 days with the rest to be spent in the NBA G League.

Since Denver doesn’t have their own G League team, Craig started the season in Sioux Falls. He quickly caught the attention of Skyforce staffers as an extremely talented player on both ends of the floor. In fifteen games (12 starts) Craig assembled a prodigious stat line of 23 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks per game. The ‘Force went 9-6 in those 15 contests. For the Nuggets in 39 games he averaged 4 points, 3 rebounds and .6 assists in 16 minutes of those matchups with a record of 22-17 in games during which he appeared.

Craig’s signing makes him the second Skyforce player on two-way contract status last season to earn NBA credentials for the 2018-19. As Summer League play began this season, Derrick Jones, Jr. signed with the Miami Heat for this season.

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