RJ Hampton to Start NBA Career with Nuggets

NBL Next Star RJ Hampton will begin his NBA career with the Denver Nuggets after they traded for him in the NBA Draft.

Hampton was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 24^th pick. Reports have indicated that selection was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, who then traded it to the Nuggets, where Hampton will start his career.

Hampton had an impressive season with the SKY Sport New Zealand Breakers in NBL20 and will now team up with the likes of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

Hampton says playing in the NBL helped prepare him for the NBA and he can't wait to begin his NBA journey in Denver.

"It (the NBL) prepared me a lot, it grew me up quick. I was 18 years old going over there, I had a lot of adversity, so I think that helps me a lot coming into the NBA and I can make an immediate impact," Hampton told Stadium.

"I have an organisation that believes in me in the Denver Nuggets. I’m happy to be there and ready to get to work."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From the NBL to the 24th pick in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBADraft?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBADraft</a> <br><br>Congratulations to RJ Hampton (<a href="https://twitter.com/RjHampton14?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RjHampton14</a>), the newest member of the <a href="https://twitter.com/nuggets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nuggets</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/Bucks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Bucks</a>/<a href="https://twitter.com/PelicansNBA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PelicansNBA</a> ?<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLxNBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLxNBA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLNextStars?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLNextStars</a> got NEXT! ? <a href="https://t.co/04n1j2qpiu">pic.twitter.com/04n1j2qpiu</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1329265554209705985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>