Tigers' All-SEC guard KT Harrell will play with the Philadelphia 76ers in the 24-team Las Vegas Summer League July 10-20, at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion.
“I actually woke up around 6 a.m. because I couldn’t sleep and looked at my phone and my agent had texted me that Philly wanted me to play summer league on their team in Vegas,” Harrell said, who graduated from Auburn with a degree in Psychology last December. “I was happy and really excited. I am ready to show what I can do. It is a blessing." I knew it was going a tough stretch for me getting drafted. I have always been the underdog, and I have been doubted my entire life. It’s another opportunity for me to prove myself, and I know what I am capable of and what I can do. I am looking forward to it, and I am excited a lot.”
Harrell heads to Las Vegas either July 4 or 5, and will practice for five days before the Sixers Las Vegas Summer League opener vs. the Los Angeles Lakers on July 11 at 7:30 p.m. followed by games against the Boston Celtics on July 12 at 9:30 p.m. and the New York Knicks on July 14 at 4:30 p.m.
All three Philadelphia games are in the Thomas & Mack Center.
The Vegas Summer League playoffs begin on July 15 with all 24 teams, culminating with the Championship on July 20.
“In the coaching profession, you think that players have to answer to coaches,” Bruce Pearl said. “Coaches need to answer to players, too. When I came to Auburn, I looked at KT Harrell, and I saw a really hard worker, a Christian kid who has his values right, but he played for a bunch of different coaches in a bunch of different programs, and what is going to happen in his senior year? He just wanted to build and add to the history and tradition in some way, shape or form to Auburn basketball. What drove me this year with this team was somehow to let that young man have a little bit of success.Individually, he wanted to have great success. He was the leading scorer in the SEC, only the sixth time in Auburn basketball history that we have had a leading scorer, and that was from a team that finished near the bottom. That’s a pretty significant accomplishment. Then, for him to go on and train and have all of those NBA workouts, he almost got drafted late in the second round, and he’s going to be with the 76ers on their summer league team. He is my responsibility. He graduated on time and on target, so I am proud of KT.”
Harrell led the SEC in three stat categories, becoming the first Tiger since 1994 to lead the SEC in scoring, averaging 18.5 points while having 18 20-point games.
The Montgomery native also led the SEC and was ranked 10th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (.445) while averaging a league-best 2.8 3s made per game. He finished the season sixth in the SEC in field goal percentage (.464).
“KT is a great shooter,” Pearl said. “You better guard him. He can go in the paint and big boy a little bit because he is strong, a very physically strong player. He’s a willing defender. He’s not going to be a starter in the NBA, but he is a guy who can come off the bench and play in the league for a long, long time because you know what you are going to get with him.”
In his two-year career at Auburn, Harrell finished 23rd on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,196 points, averaging 18.4 points per game, the sixth best in history.
He was second on Auburn’s career free throw percentage (.839) chart and was sixth in career 3-point field goal percentage (.400).
Harrell, who played at Virginia from 2010-12, finished his four-year collegiate career with 1,497 points.
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