LAS VEGAS — Ozyiah Sellers sat in the locker room at the Thomas & Mack Center with ice strapped to his knees and a simple thought running through his head: Rick Pitino already put him through worse than anything he’d see on a Summer League court.
The undrafted St. John’s guard just helped the New York Knicks grab their first win of the 2026 NBA Summer League, an 86-75 grind against the Detroit Pistons. Sellers came off the bench for 22 minutes and put up 10 points with seven rebounds. Nothing flashy. Just solid. Which is exactly what the Knicks need from a guy nobody drafted four weeks ago.
Five Knicks scored in double figures Monday. But Sellers was the only bench player to do it. That matters for a 22-year-old trying to stick on a roster that’s already got its rotation pretty much set.
When reporters asked him what prepared him for this moment, Sellers didn’t talk about his workout routine or his time at USC or Stanford. He talked about the guy who screamed at him all winter in Queens.
“If you could play for Coach P, you could play for anybody,” Sellers said. “He told us what to expect. Held us accountable every day. Didn’t care about our feelings or our egos. He just kept it real with us. That’s what I respect about him.”
More Than Just Tough Love
Pitino’s program at St. John’s isn’t for everyone. It’s intense, it’s demanding, and it doesn’t let up. Sellers said that environment is the closest thing to pro ball he’s experienced. The practices are longer. The standards are higher. The margin for error is basically zero.
And there’s another layer here that Sellers clearly appreciates. He spent last season playing home games at Madison Square Garden in a St. John’s uniform. Now he’s running the same floor in a Knicks jersey. The crowd feels familiar because, well, a lot of it is the same people.
“Being at St. John’s, we play pretty much all our home games at MSG. So I feel like we have a lot of the same fanbase too,” Sellers said. “Knicks fans, a lot of them are St. John’s fans. It’s kind of like a perfect fit just transitioning right to the Knicks.”
The transition from college to the NBA, especially for an undrafted player, is rarely smooth. Players get cut without much notice. Two-way contracts get yanked. But Sellers sounds like a guy who’s already been through the meat grinder and came out the other side fine.
The Knicks are back in action Thursday against the Golden State Warriors in Las Vegas. Sellers will likely get another long look. And if his minutes are anything like Monday, the Knicks might have found something worth keeping.
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