In a summer that saw Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard sign big deals with their hometown teams, Langston Galloway joined in on the fun—the Baton Rouge, LA, native signed a two-year, $10 million deal with the Pelicans. The contract was just part of a big summer for the former Knick, who also got married in late June.
“I ended up with my shirt off,” Galloway says, with a laugh, of his wedding reception.
Galloway went undrafted in 2014, then went to the D-League as part of the Westchester Knicks before signing a 10-day contract with New York in January of 2015. In doing so he became the first-ever Westchester Knick to be called up to the NBA.
From there, the 6-2 combo guard was awarded a partially guaranteed deal with the Knicks, and averaged 11.8 ppg over the rest of the ’14-15 season, good enough to earn a spot on the NBA’s All-Rookie Second Team. In ’15-16, Galloway played in all 82 games, posting 7.6 points, 3.5 boards and 2.5 assists over 24.8 minutes per game.
Now, the hometown kid is getting guaranteed money to play for the hometown team—a pretty remarkable story for a guy who entered the League on a 10-day.
“My family is real excited for me,” says Galloway, who in just over 20 minutes a game is posting 8.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.6 apg and 1.2 spg for New Orleans so far this season. “It’s a dream come true to play back home, to play in front of the home fans and play in front of my friends and family.”
Galloway has gotten a chance to play a key role off the bench for the Pelicans, as fellow NOLA guards Tyreke Evans (recovering from a knee injury) and Jrue Holiday (tending to his family) began the year sidelined indefinitely (Holiday just recently re-joined the team).
The last four months have been nothing short of a whirlwind for the St. Joe’s University product, but the level-headed Galloway is keeping everything in perspective.
“Life is moving pretty fast. I’m enjoying it step-by-step. It’s nothing I can control—I just go out there and enjoy life and enjoy what I’m doing,” says Galloway. “I get to play basketball every single day and do what I love. It’s definitely a blessing.”
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Related: The SLAM Podcast Episode 19 Feat. Langston Galloway
Peter Walsh is an Associate Editor at SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @Peter_M_Walsh.
Photo via Getty Images
