First a title at UNC, now Team USA basketball – but Kennedy Meeks still has bigger goals

If Kennedy Meeks, the former North Carolina star and Charlotte native, quit basketball altogether next week, he’d still have had a heck of a career.

First, there’s the impressive high school legacy, winning a state championing at West Charlotte and being named a McDonald’s All-American.

Then there’s his four years at UNC, where he became a starter as a freshman and developed into the team’s primary post option on two national championship runs.

After the Tar Heels came up short in 2016, Meeks at times almost single-handedly carried UNC through the 2017 postseason, and there were arguments that he should have been the Most Outstanding Player in the Final Four. He wasn’t, but his block in the waning minutes of the title game against Gonzaga clinched the victory for his team and allowed Meeks to leave Chapel Hill a champion.

And for that effort, he also graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a nice bonus.

But since the college basketball season ended in April, Meeks has largely been off the map to the casual fan. He went undrafted in June’s NBA draft, something Meeks said did not surprise him, and ultimately he signed with the Toronto Raptors and their G-League affiliate, Raptors 905.

“No, I know where I belong, man,” Meeks said Tuesday after Team USA’s practice at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte. “It’s just part of the business and I’m fully invested to get where I need to be – hopefully the scouts and the coaches see that.”

Now, though, Meeks is back in the spotlight, at least for the time being. Earlier in November, he was named to the 2017 USA Basketball AmeriCup Team, which will play its first game against Puerto Rico in Orlando, Fla., on Thanksgiving. They will play Mexico on Sunday in Greensboro.

Meeks still remembers the moment he found out he made the 12-man team, which consists mostly of G-League players, including former Duke forward Amile Jefferson and point guard Larry Drew II, who played for UNC and UCLA.

“My agent texted me and told me had to tell me something, so I called him immediately,” Meeks said. “I was at the airport leaving New York to go back to Toronto ... and I was just grateful. Caught me off guard just because of the position I’m in.

“Called my mom and told her; she was emotional and stuff. Just happy, happy for me, saying it’s God’s time. Typical mom stuff.”

But as impressive as all that is, Meeks’ basketball career isn’t where he’d like it to be. He, like the dozens of players, coaches and officials languishing in the G-League (the NBA’s version of minor league baseball), wants his shot in the NBA – and he believes he’s good enough to get there.

“I think I deserve to be here,” Meeks said of his stint with Team USA, led by former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy. “I think I deserve to be an NBA player. It’s only a matter of time. I’m being patient, doing the best I can in the G-League, and it’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

At West Charlotte, UNC and now Team USA, Meeks has more than proven his worth as an interior scorer and outlet passer. He’s improved as a defender since his early days in Chapel Hill, too, now possessing the stamina to be physical with bigger defenders inside while capable of drifting farther out of the post to guard big men. Those improvements are part of the reason he’s an attractice big man for Team USA, but also could entice an NBA team to take a chance on him.

And Meeks isn’t rushing the situation. He’s being patient, he says, learning from Raptors 905 coach and fellow UNC basketball alum Jerry Stackhouse, who played 18 seasons in the NBA.

So while on hiatus from Raptors 905, Meeks will focus on Team USA, donning the red, white and blue for the first time since his days with USA youth basketball before college. He’ll continue learning, practicing, working out – doing what’s needed to make it to the NBA.

Then when that call eventually comes, he’ll be ready.

This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 5:33 PM with the headline "First a title at UNC, now Team USA basketball – but Kennedy Meeks still has bigger goals."