Many NBA fans are familiar with the name Glen Rice. However, they are familiar with Glen Rice Sr., who spent 15 years in the NBA.
Nearly a decade after his father retired, Glen Rice Jr. is playing in the NBA.
The younger Rice is presently a member of the Washington Wizards. He is averaging 2.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 11 games.
He also spent three games with the Iowa Energy in the NBA Developmental League this season. With the Energy, he averaged 24.3 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.0 steals, and 2.67 blocks.
“I feel like this season has been good,” said Rice Jr. “I had a minor setback when I had my wrist injury, but when I’ve been healthy, I’ve received good minutes from the Wizards.
“I want to stay in the NBA for the rest of the year. Everybody wants to play in the NBA, so I’m blessed to have this opportunity. I want to show the Wizards that I can play quality minutes for them. If they don’t feel like it’s a fit later on, then so be it. It won’t be the only setback that I’ve had in the game of basketball.”
Unlike his father, Rice Jr. was dealt shortly after being drafted. He was drafted with the 35th overall pick in the 2nd round by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Minutes later, he was shipped to the Washington Wizards for two draft picks in the 2013 NBA Draft in the second round. His father was drafted with the 4th overall pick by the expansion Miami Heat franchise.
“That was a long day,” said Rice Jr. “You sit there, and you are waiting to have your named called. It felt like an eternity for my name to be called, so when my name was finally called, it was a dream come true. My dream was to get drafted into the NBA, then once it happened, the wait of the world was lifted off of me. The trade happened so quickly. Once I was drafted by the 76ers, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be staying there.”
It was a long road for Rice to come to that point. He played three years of college basketball at Georgia Tech, yet was suspended multiple times, and that led to his dismissal from the team following the 2011-12 season.
“I decided instead of going back to college that I would go pro, because I did not want to sit out the extra year,” said Rice Jr. “I looked at all of my options and I felt like going pro was the best option to play right away. So many things could happen when you take the year off, and I couldn’t risk that.”
After deciding that he would play professionally, he joined the Rio Grande Valley Vipers within the NBA Developmental League for the 2012-13 season. He averaged 13 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 23.7 minutes.
“I had my ups and downs, because I didn’t play much at the beginning of the year,” said Rice Jr. “I knew it was going to be a learning experience, but I didn’t expect to learn as much as I did. I had opportunities to showcase my talent as the season went on.”
In his rookie season in the NBA Developmental League, the Valley Vipers went on to win the NBA D-League Championship. In the playoffs, Rice Jr. averaged 25 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
“That was our goal the whole time,” said Rice Jr. “We felt like we were good enough to play with anybody. We got on a hot streak that helped us win that championship. It’s one of the best feelings that I had in sports, as far as my basketball life is concerned.”
While the younger Rice has an NBA Developmental League Championship, he hopes to won day match his father with an NBA Championship. The older Rice won a Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1999-2000 season.
“We have talked about that,” said Rice Jr. “I would like to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy, like my father did. Every NBA player wants to win that Championship before they retire, and I hope I am able to do that.”
The Capital Sports Report 