Nova Scotia's Lindell Wigginton set to join Raptors for summer league: reports

A day after being passed over in the NBA draft, Dartmouth's Lindell Wigginton is headed to the Toronto Raptors for summer league play, according to several reports.

Wigginton, 21, retweeted one of the social media reports linking him to the Raptors.

No player born and raised in Nova Scotia has played a game in the NBA.

He played two seasons at guard for the Iowa State Cyclones before declaring his eligibility for the NBA draft in April.

He helped the Cyclones to the Big 12 Conference title in his second year, becoming the fifth Nova Scotia player to appear in the NCAA championship tournament. The Cyclones lost their tournament opener to Ohio State.

Wigginton averaged 16.7 points in his rookie season. That number slipped to 13.5 points in his second year, partly because of injury and partly because of a different role that saw him come off the bench for the team.

It is believed the injury and bench role hurt his draft prospects.

The NBA Summer League will be played in Las Vegas starting July 5. Thirty NBA teams, plus teams from China and Croatia, will play between five and seven games over 11 days.

It is viewed as a showcase event for future NBA stars. It also allows undrafted prospects a chance to impress coaches and general managers in hopes of landing an invitation to training camp in October.

His longtime trainer, Colter Simmonds, said Wigginton has a great chance of being on the opening day roster of the Raptors in the fall.

"I believe that he's probably going to get a guaranteed spot on the team. I think he fits a part that they don't have right now at the guard spot," said Simmonds.

'A special part of his game'

"They don't penetrate and beat their defenders off the dribble and that's something that Lindell is known for and is a special part of his game."

Simmonds trained Wigginton up until he was 19 and now occasionally trains him in the off-season.

"It's good for the community, it's good for him, good for the whole country," said Simmonds. "The right kid for the Raptors."

Katherine Brien, executive director of Basketball Nova Scotia, said it's exciting to see someone who played in Nova Scotia make it to a summer league.

"On top of him being selected to the summer league team, it's the Raptors, which has essentially changed the whole view of Canadian sport over the last two months," said Brien.

"It's amazing for the sport and we're really excited to see what happens next."

Brien said this is a chance for kids playing in the province to see that the NBA dream isn't as far away as they thought.

Record draft for Canadians

A record six Canadians were drafted into the NBA on Thursday, led by RJ Barrett. He was selected third overall by the New York Knicks.

Efforts to reach Wigginton were not successful. The Raptors would not confirm the signing, saying they would announce their summer league roster next week.