COLUMBIA, Mo. — Sean East II handled the scoring.
It was a familiar result for the former Missouri point guard, who led the Tigers in scoring through a challenging 2023-24 season. But when it happened at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament a few weeks ago, East became a bucket-getter on a bigger stage.
East is pushing for a spot in the ranks of professional basketball players after dominating at the junior college level and settling in as the leader of last season’s Mizzou team. He’s an older prospect, with five years of college hoops experience under his belt, making him the same age as Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, for example.
But a path to the pros just might appear for East.
This weekend, he’ll be one of 45 prospects participating in the NBA’s G League combine Saturday and Sunday in Chicago. The event includes five-on-five scrimmages as well as strength and agility drills, putting players in front of scouts from both the NBA and its developmental G League.
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While the G League Elite Camp is a step down from the NBA draft combine that takes place next week, a handful of standouts from the G League event are invited to stick around for the bigger tryout.
The G League combine route has worked out for one recent Missouri product: Guard D’Moi Hodge leveraged participation last year to a shot with the Los Angeles Lakers. He made a few appearances with the Lakers during his debut season but wound up traded to the G League’s Rip City Remix — the Portland Trailblazers’ affiliate — later in his rookie year, where he’s now teammates with former MU guard Isiaih Mosley.
Mizzou coach Dennis Gates and assistant coach Kyle Smithpeters are both planning trips to Chicago to support East as he competes in the combine. Smithpeters knows East as well as any coach in the country, having coached him for the guard’s one year at John A. Logan College before both joined MU.
Smithpeters also stopped by the PIT to watch East perform in three games at that tournament.
East led the field in scoring at the PIT, notching 60 points in three games. He did so while finishing as one of the nine most efficient players, shooting 56.8% from the field and 16 for 17 at the free-throw line.
That was enough to land him on the all-tournament team and on the radar of some NBA draft pundits.
“Sean East II was an unsung star in Portsmouth,†wrote Draft Express scouting director Jon Chepkevich on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Known as a relentless worker, which looks to be paying dividends at the outset of his professional career.â€
And Smithpeters fully expected what he saw in Virginia.
“It didn’t surprise me to see him perform and perform well,†he said. “I wasn’t shocked. That style of play, honestly, that’s Sean’s game. And for him to shoot 56% from the field ... I think it might have shocked a few people, but I was not surprised by it.â€
East will likely test well at the G League combine. He produced the fastest reaction shuttle time among PIT participants — a variation on the classic shuttle run drill that points runners either left or right at the start.
His burst and quickness stood out on the floor for Missouri, too, leading to success at finding the baseline access required for midrange jumpers and space in the middle of the floor for his signature floaters.
East averaged 16.7 points, 4 assists and 3.5 rebounds for Mizzou during his final season, remaining remarkably efficient at 52.1% from the field, 45% from 3-point range and 85.6% from the free-throw line.
That body of work wasn’t enough to buoy the Tigers out of an 0-19 showing in Southeastern Conference games. But East’s consistency during that rough stretch of team play should still play to his favor when it comes to getting a shot at a professional basketball career — at least in the eyes of his longtime coach.
“You got to give him a lot of credit,†Smithpeters said. “He did a hell of a job holding his composure together, pushing through every game. He fought tooth and nail every single game to help us get over the hump.â€