FORMER National University star Ray Parks kept his NBA hopes up after getting an invitation from the Summer League team of the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.
Parks received the invite shortly after the two-time UAAP Most Valuable Player was left undrafted in the 2015 NBA Rookie Draft in Brooklyn.
The NBA Summer League, which kicks off in July, features rookies and unsigned free agents in a series of competitions, where some of them are eventually signed to a regular season contract.
Parks’ agent, Charlie Dy, said the off-season tournament will give Parks another chance to showcase his wares.
Before the draft, the Mavericks along with the Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics already checked out Parks by inviting him to pre-draft workouts.
“[The] past few days I’ve been traveling like crazy but it is such a blessing to be able to have the opportunity to work out in front of these teams,” Parks posted recently on his Instagram account after his Mavericks visit.
The 22-year-old Parks—the son of the late American Bobby Parks, a former seven-time PBA Best Import, and Filipino Marifer Barbosa—hopes to become the first Manila-born player to see action in the NBA.
In 2012, Ginebra player Japeth Aguilar had the same dream after getting drafted by the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA D-League. But Aguilar, who played for NCAA Division I school Western Kentucky, eventually got waived.