{"id":746401,"date":"2026-05-28T18:36:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:36:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/746401\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T18:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T18:36:23","slug":"cam-spencer-and-tristen-newton-wrap-up-solid-second-pro-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/746401\/","title":{"rendered":"Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton wrap up solid second pro seasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cam Spencer<\/a> (53rd overall) and Tristen Newton<\/a> (49th overall) were second round picks in the 2024 NBA Draft. Both have performed well with the opportunities presented to them as less-heralded pro prospects.<\/p>\n

Drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>, Spencer saw the floor 25 times in his rookie campaign with eight G League appearances. After signing<\/a> a four-year, $10.5 million contract, he made a major jump in the sophomore season, playing in 72 games and starting in 25.<\/p>\n

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The 6 \u20183 guard averaged 11.1 points on 44.9% from three-point range, which ranked him 3rd in the NBA behind Bobby Portis<\/a> and Luke Kennard<\/a>. The former UConn sparkplug has become a key role player for the Grizzlies.<\/p>\n

Spencer is on a rebuilding Memphis team which dealt Desmond Bane<\/a> to Orlando<\/a> last offseason and 2-time All-Star Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah at the deadline. He faced off against former teammate Stephon Castle<\/a> and the San Antonio Spurs<\/a> in early January, finishing with 21 points, 13 in the 4th quarter, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Spencer hit the go ahead shot with 36 seconds left, knocking off the powerhouse Spurs team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good, I love winning,\u201d Spencer said postgame.<\/p>\n

Winning is what the former Husky is used to. Off the court, Spencer caught some UConn games, most notably the Elite 8 classic as the Huskies knocked off Duke to head to the Final Four.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be here today without them and, super grateful to have had those guys in my life. Got to play with a few of the guys who are still left on the team, obviously, and, just super proud of them for fighting back yesterday,\u201d said Spencer<\/a> after seeing Braylon Mullin\u2019s buzzer beater to cap off the comeback win over the Blue Devils.<\/p>\n

Newton\u2019s path has been more winding. He was selected 49th in the 2024 draft by the Indiana Pacers<\/a>. The guard played for their G League affiliate before being waived and picked up by Minnesota<\/a>. This season, he appeared in 35 G League games, 5 for the Iowa Wolves and 30 for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, where he is currently on a two-way Contract with the Houston Rockets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Newton was selected to play in this year\u2019s Rising Stars Game at NBA All Star Weekend in Los Angeles<\/a>. Four out of the five starters on the 2024 championship team, himself, Donovan Clingan<\/a>, Spencer and Castle were all playing in the Rising Stars Game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat shows a lot about UConn as a whole. The level of work we put in day in and day out translates to the next level.\u201d Newton said. The fifth starter, Alex Karaban<\/a>, is on his way as a prospect in this upcoming draft.<\/p>\n

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The two-time national champion has proved he is capable of making an NBA roster, averaging 25.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game on 48% from the field. His scoring ranks 3rd among the G League behind Jahmir Young<\/a> and 2-time G-League MVP Mac McClung<\/a>, as he earned All-NBA G League first team honors.<\/p>\n

Newton was called up for the final game of the season for the Rockets, where he put up 12 points in 12 minutes, knocking down a pair of three-pointers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cam Spencer (53rd overall) and Tristen Newton (49th overall) were second round picks in the 2024 NBA Draft.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[2377,7,507,8675,497,974,5597,294,194,126,10699,91925,251,1171,9934,293,177,4070,307,6,12,47,474,930,181,17642],"class_list":["post-746401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-memphis-grizzlies","tag-alex-karaban","tag-basketball","tag-bobby-portis","tag-cam-spencer","tag-desmond-bane","tag-donovan-clingan","tag-g-league","tag-grizzlies","tag-houston-rockets","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-jahmir-young","tag-killa-cam","tag-los-angeles","tag-luke-kennard","tag-mac-mcclung","tag-memphis","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-memphisgrizzlies","tag-minnesota","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-orlando","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-stephon-castle","tag-the-grizzlies","tag-tristen-newton"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116653652964104460","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}