Scotty Hopson's NBA Chance After Playing in Eight Countries and the G-League Over 10 Years Is the Best Story You'll See Today

Mike Breen did a fantastic job detailing the story of the Thunder's Scotty Hopson, which is one of the coolest you'll see in the NBA this year.

COVID has forced teams across the league to sign a flurry of guys to 10-day contracts, many of the names blasts from the past. Hopson has to be the most inspiring, though. On December 29, Hopson played in just his fourth career NBA game at 32 years old, more than 10 years after his final collegiate season at the University of Tennessee.

In the time since, Hopson has played overseas in Greece, Israel, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia and more, with several G-League stints thrown in there. Before signing with Oklahoma City, Hopson had played a total of just 15 minutes in the NBA over the course of three games — two with the Cavaliers in 2013-14 and one with the Mavericks in 2017-18. The list of teams he's played for in his career can't even fit into one screenshot.

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But he just kept playing anywhere they'd let him on a court and in his 11th professional season, he finally got another chance at the NBA. Hopson scored four points in 18 minutes against the Suns on December 29, more than doubling his career total four years since he last played an NBA game. What an awesome story of perseverance.

I hope Hopson at least catches on with the Thunder for the rest of the season and then we'll see what happens after that. But even if those four points against Phoenix are as good as it gets, he's already won.