photo by: Mike Yoder

Kansas guard Wayne Selden Jr. (1) puts down a slam dunk in the second-half against the Connecticut Huskies in a 73-61 win at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, IA. Saturday, March 19, 2016.

Since Wayne Selden Jr. left the University of Kansas a year early to enter the NBA Draft, things haven’t exactly gone according to plan for the young shooting guard.

A meniscus tear in his right knee slowed Selden down leading up to the draft, which came and went without the 6-foot-4 prospect hearing his name called. And though Selden landed a preseason camp invite from Memphis, the Grizzlies parted ways with him before the regular season.

Though his basketball journey currently finds Selden in the NBA’s Developmental League, it doesn’t seem to have curbed his approach. Eight games into the season, he’s averaging 19.5 points to lead the Iowa Energy, the Grizzlies’ D-League affiliate.

Selden is hitting 2.3 3-pointers a game at a 35.3% clip and averaging 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.8 steals, too.

His overall 47.6% shooting from the floor, no doubt, has been helped by his tenacity in attacking the rim.

On Sunday, in a game against Fort Wayne, Selden drove to the paint and took off for a nasty one-handed throw-down over Rakeem Christmas as if to say, “Bah humbug!”

The 22-year-old Selden currently ranks 17th in the D-League in scoring. That won’t guarantee him an invite to an NBA roster by any means, but the more he keeps playing with confidence and aggression, the more Selden will get noticed by organization’s scouts and increase his odds of speeding up his track to The Association.

Selden’s knee doesn’t appear to be giving him any issues at this juncture, which is a good sign. His strength and athleticism are a big part of his game on both ends of the floor.

And, of course, the more he works on his 3-pointer the better. So far Selden has hit 18 of 51 from long range. If he can get his 3-point shooting at or above 40% he’ll look that much more enticing to NBA decision-makers.

Perhaps going undrafted has inspired Selden. His highlights make him look one of the better young players in the D-League.