Ferris State Alum Zach Hankins Making Third Appearance This Year In NBA Summer League

Big Rapids, Mich. - Former Ferris State University men's basketball standout and 2018 NCAA Division II National Player of the Year Zach Hankins (Charlevoix) has been selected and is currently competing for the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA Summer League.

This year marks Hankins' third trip to the NBA's official summer league.

Hankins, who previously played in the NBA Summer League with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019 and the Phoenix Suns in 2021, also has worked out for multiple NBA organizations following the conclusion of his collegiate playing career three years ago, including the Toronto Raptors, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, 76ers and more.

This past season, Hankins played in the NBA G-League with the Birmingham Squadron, an affiliate of the Pelicans. He saw action in 32 contests overall, averaging 13.3 points along with 8.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 blocks per game while seeing nearly 25 minutes of action per contest.

Hankins is currently in Last Vegas with the Pelicans for the NBA 2K23 2022 Summer League, which runs from July 7-17 at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. New Orleans opened action on Saturday (July 9) with a setback to the Portland Trail Blazers before coming back to beat the Atlanta Hawks 101-73 on Monday (July 11). After not seeing action in the opener, Hankins responded by going three-of-four from the floor and finishing with six points and two boards in nearly 18 minutes of action during Monday's win.

New Orleans and will follow with games against the Washington Wizards (July 13) and Los Angeles Lakers (July 15). The date and opponent for the Pelicans' fifth game will be determined by the results of the first four games.

The 17th annual NBA 2K23 Summer League will feature all 30 NBA teams playing five games each. After every team plays four games July 7-15, the two teams with the best records from the first four games will meet in the Championship Game on Sunday, July 17 at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN. The tiebreak criteria to determine the participants in the Championship Game are available here. The 28 teams that do not play in the Championship Game will play a fifth game on July 16 or July 17.

All 75 games of the 11-day competition will air live on television on ESPN networks or NBA TV. Games will also be available to stream on ESPN+ and the ESPN App. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting NBAEvents.com.

Previously, Hankins had an opportunity to showcase his skills in front of NBA and professional scouts by participating in the 2019 Portsmouth Invitational Tournament and was ranked among the country's top 100 draft eligible players in 2019 by multiple sources, including Sports Illustrated, before going undrafted.

Hankins, who led FSU to the 2018 NCAA Division II National Championship, played his final collegiate campaign as a graduate transfer at NCAA Division I Xavier University in 2018-19 following four years in the Bulldog program.

Hankins made a major impact in his one season at Xavier. He averaged 10.6 points and 5.3 rebounds as a Musketeer while leading the BIG EAST Conference with a single-season school-record 68.6 percent field goal percentage mark. Hankins also led Xavier in blocked shots at 1.5 per game and his season total of 54 blocks is ranked sixth in Xavier history.

Before heading to Xaiver, Hankins led the Bulldogs to a school-record 38-1 overall mark in 2017-18 en route to claiming the D2 National Championship and matching the all-time NCAA Division II record for most wins in a season. The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II National Player of the Year for the Bulldogs, Hankins spent four seasons in the Bulldog program, helping FSU to four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, back-to-back Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Regular Season Championships and four consecutive GLIAC Tournament titles in his career.

In his final season at FSU, Hankins was tabbed as the National Player of the Year in Division II basketball by being selected as the country's top performer by both the NABC and Division II Bulletin. Hankins, whose dominant post play was pivotal as Ferris State advanced to its first NCAA Division II Elite Eight in 30 seasons, led Division II in total blocks for the second straight season and was ranked among the national leaders in field goal percentage.

In his junior campaign, Hankins set new school single-season records with 380 rebounds and a 71.1% field goal percentage while being a consensus All-America choice and claiming both the GLIAC and Midwest Region Player of the Year awards for the second consecutive campaign. He was one of the national finalists for the Bevo Francis National Small College Player of the Year honor and also scored his 1,000th career point during the historic season.

Hankins graduated from Ferris State as the school's all-time leader in blocked shots (319) and holds the school record for highest field goal percentage in a career (64.2%). He also ranks among the program's all-time best with 858 rebounds and finished his Bulldog career with 1,232 points. He became the first sophomore in GLIAC history to earn the league's coveted Player of the Year honor in 2016-17 when he paced the league with a conference record 130 total blocked shots. Initially, he redshirted in his first season at FSU in 2014-15 before playing as a reserve under all-region center Jared Stolicker in 2015-16 when FSU reached the D2 Sweet Sixteen.

A two-time All-American for the Bulldogs, Hankins also claimed All-GLIAC honors each of his final two Bulldog seasons and was a two-time GLIAC All-Defensive Team honoree in addition to being a two-time Bevo Francis National Player of the Year finalist.

In his final season with the Bulldogs, Hankins helped FSU win its final 26 games of the season and the team compiled a perfect 22-0 home mark en route to the national championship.