Former Illinois Basketball Star Starts Year 3 In the NBA

Former Illinois Basketball Star Starts Year 3 In the NBA

Ayo Dosunmu is an Illinois Basketball legend. He was the spearhead behind a complete turnaround in Illinois Basketball’s trajectory. After a decade of mediocrity and painful losses, Dosunmu jolted the Illinois Basketball program back into the upper echelon of the Big Ten. Ayo will be in his third year in the NBA, playing for the hometown Chicago Bulls. Notably, he looks to make a jump after a plateau of a Sophomore year.

After Lonzo Ball’s mysterious injury, Ayo Dosunmu was thrust into the starting point guard spot last year. Dosunmu has always been more of a scoring guard who makes plays for others in the open court. Furthermore, Ayo was forced to try his best to create and play off of Zach Lavine, Demar Derozan and Nikola Vucevic. As a result, he struggled in this role and kind of had a Sophomore slump.

A chance to return to his proper role.

Ayo most notably made his jump into college stardom between his sophomore and Junior year. Additionally, Ayo Dosunmu signed a 3 year, 21 million dollar deal to return to the Chicago Bulls this past summer. Not too bad for a second round pick lots of people counted out. The former Illinois Basketball star will likely return to a role off the bench as the Bulls look ready to start Jevon Carter or Coby White at the starting point guard spot. Ayo may be better suited for sixth man role.

Dosunmu would be able to focus more on what he does best. That is scoring the basketball and getting out in transition. Because the starting lineup is built the way that it is, Dosunmu gets relegated to a spot-up shooter role in the starting lineup. Though he hopefully has improved his shooting, that is not where Dosunmu thrives.

Other Former Illini in the NBA

The only other Illinois Basketball alum in the NBA is Malcolm Hill. In fact, Hill signed a training camp with the New Orleans Pelicans. Malcolm hopes to cement his spot in the league after a brief stint with the Chicago Bulls and other G-league affiliates. Other than Dosunmu and Hill, former Illini, Brandin Podziemski made his professional debut with the Warriors yesterday and did quite well. Nonetheless, Illinois Basketball fans will watch Dosunmu’s season unfold with great intent.

Thank you for reading Armchair Illini. For more Illinois Athletics and Big Ten content from Armchair Illini, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  For feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email our Publisher at [email protected]. Please use our Seatgeek code for 20$ off your purchase on Seatgeek.com: ARMCHAIRILLINOIS. It is because of your support that we have become one of the fastest-growing Illinois media outlets around!