photo by: Kansas Athletics

Kansas center Hunter Dickinson shoots against Baylor on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Waco, Texas.

After the 2025 NBA Draft concluded late Thursday night with several veteran Kansas men’s basketball players unselected, center Hunter Dickinson became the first Jayhawk to receive an NBA opportunity.

Dickinson signed a two-way contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

A two-way contract essentially allows an NBA team to add a young player beyond its normal 15-man roster limit, but that player splits time between the parent club and its NBA G League affiliate. In New Orleans’ case, that would be the Birmingham Squadron.

Dickinson, a 7-foot-2 native of Alexandria, Virginia, spent his final two seasons with the Jayhawks after playing his first three with Michigan. He was named a second-team All-American following the 2023-24 season, when he was the only player in the Big 12 to average a double-double with his 17.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. He followed that up with 17.4 and 10.0 in his fifth season at the collegiate level.

Way back after his freshman season at Michigan — when he was also a second-team All-American — Dickinson briefly entered the draft process. He instead returned to the Wolverines for two more years, and accomplished first-team All-Big Ten honors in both, before entering the transfer portal following the 2022-23 campaign in what was at the time one of the most prominent moves in the portal’s existence.

Dickinson will likely make his first appearances in a Pelicans jersey at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, which begins on July 10.

His former teammates Dajuan Harris Jr. and Zeke Mayo, who also did not hear their names called at the draft in Brooklyn, New York, were still waiting on their own prospective professional opportunities as of 10 p.m. Thursday night.