Santa Cruz Warriors All-Star guard Travis Leslie earned a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz making it the 24th Gatorade call-up of the 2012 NBA D-League season.
The deal was first broken by Marc J. Spears of USA Today Hoops Hype on Friday Mar. 8., but was just made officially earlier today.
Leslie was just ranked as the number one player in the D-League earlier this week on NBA.com. The 6-foot-4 guard lead the Warriors in both scoring and rebounding through 28 games, with 16.1 points and 7.8 rebounds respectively.
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The 13th overall selection of the 2012 D-League Draft suffered a minor setback mid-way through the season when he suffered a groin injury during the D-League Showcase in Reno, Nevada. He went on to miss the next eight games, but in his first four games back in the starting line-up he had two performances of 30+ points.
His strong play in his return from injury earned him a spot in the D-League All-Star game in relief of Andrew Goudelock because of an injury. The Former Georgia Bulldog came away from the game with 19 points and was named the Most Valuable Player.
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Leslie first started his career with the Los Angeles Clippers when they selected him with the 47th overall pick in 2011 NBA draft. He played in just 10 games for the Clippers and also saw time with their D-League affiliate the Bakersfield Jam. He was waived this year before the start of the NBA season.
Warriors head coach Nate Bjorkgren said earlier this year that Leslie had a "100 percent" chance of making it back to the NBA. He also described him as one of the hardest workers he's ever coached and an extremely athletically gifted player.
He is the second Warrior to receive a Gatorade Call-up this season. Center Chris Johnson was called-up by the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this season and earned his way to a contract for the rest of the 2012-13 season.
