Leland King, who abruptly left the Brown basketball program in January as the team’s leading scorer, announced on Twitter this weekend that he is transferring to Nevada, where he will be eligible to play two seasons after sitting out the 2015-16 campaign.
The 6-foot-7, 220-pound King is in abundant company, as Nevada has welcomed Southern Illinois forward Jordan Caroline, Missouri State guard Marcus Marshall and Marshall guard Shawn Smith as transfers this offseason as well.
King was having the breakout season he was expected to have before walking away in 2014-15, posting 14.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per contest. He functions best as a pure scorer who can penetrate and should have space to do so with several other talented Nevada transfers, including Marshall, who had been averaging 19.5 points per game last season before leaving the Missouri State program.
Because of all the transfers that will comprise the Wolfpack in the future, it’s hard to figure exactly how King will run with the Pack in Reno, but Nevada could use his help, having gone just 9-22 last season.
UPDATE: As the great rb noted in the comment section, King told the Reno Gazette-Journal about leaving Brown for Nevada: “I was just looking for something different. I don’t feel I fit in there and I wanted to play in a bigger league. I was looking for a place that takes basketball a little more seriously.” Well, at least he was honest, and he was also accurate in identifying his “scoring ability” as his biggest strength.
http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/college/nevada/2015/05/23/wolf-pack-adds-another-recruit-brown-transfer-leland-king/27832595/
“I just felt it was the best fit for me basketball-wise,” King said after committing to the Wolf Pack. “The style of play and the coaches were a good fit. They like to play fast and Coach Musselman said he really knows how to use me as far as mismatches on the floor, whether it’s shooting the three or going by a bigger guy. I can play on the perimeter and in the post, so he said he’ll use the mismatches.”
King said he also visited Iowa State, UC Irvine and Bryant before settling on Nevada, a school he visited last week (he had never been to Reno before). A two-star recruit out of high school, King has proven he can play at the Division I level, but said part of the reason he’s transferring was to find more competition.
“I was just looking for something different,” he said. “I don’t feel I fit in there and I wanted to play in a bigger league. I was looking for a place that takes basketball a little more seriously.”
About as serious as an Ivy League program can be