INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Being the mid-major school the University of Wyoming is, it isn’t every day that a former Cowboy makes a splash in the NBA, America’s dominant basketball league. The most notable examples still today are Kenny Sailors, creator of the jump shot, and Fennis Dembo, who won an NBA championship with the ‘bad boy’ Detroit Piston’s in 1989.
Enter young Hunter Maldonado, a guard from Colorado Springs who spent his college years with the Cowboys. As a poke in 2022-2023, he started 33 games in the Cowboys’ extended season and averaged 18.5 points, 6.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game. His 207 total assists that season is an institution-high.
He was also First Team All-MW that year and recorded just the third triple-double in Cowboys history. If there is a former player out there with a real chance to have his name put up in the rafters of the Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, it may be Maldonado.
Post graduation, Maldonado spent some time with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s G-League affiliate, the Oklahoma City Blue. For the one season he spent in Oklahoma, which was from 2023-2024, he averaged 10.3 points, 4.8 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game. The following year, he signed to play ball oversees in Germany.
Prove it in Summer League
The former poke is back in the country, however, and playing for the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 Summer League. The Summer League is an off-season competition where rookie, sophomore, undrafted and G-Leauge players suit up and show off what they’ve got and entertaining fans missing the regular season.
For players like Maldonado, who haven’t been shown much interested from league teams since going undrafted in 2023 and 2024, Summer League is a great opportunity to demonstrate what they can contribute if given the proper chance.
And while still not dominating the court as a starting guard, Maldonado is putting up some impactful numbers from Indiana’s bench. In the Pacer’s two games so far, a win against the Cavaliers and a loss against the Thunder, Maldonado has put up five points each.
That’s also on very limited minutes. In the Pacer’s July 10 win over the Cavs, he saw just 10 minutes of play time. He had a little more time to shine Saturday with 14 minutes.
It will still take a bigger impact from Maldonado if he want’s to earn himself a more permanent place on an NBA team’s roster, however. Despite the prominence of rookie and bench players in Summer League, some players such as Minnesota’s Rob Dillingham, Dallas’ Cooper Flagg, San Antonio’s Dylan Harper and more have really stood out with heavy-hitting performances.
This includes former Colorado State guard and 2025 Mountain West Tournament champ Nique Clifford, who was drafted in the first round to the Sacramento Kings via trade. He put up an impressive double-double against the Bulls on Saturday, scoring 19 and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Maldonado plays tonight
Can Maldonado make that kind of leap as a bench player with limited minutes? Time will tell. What is already certain is that thousands of Pokes fans will be cheering him on from home as the Pacers take on the Bull’s today at 4 p.m. Mountain Time. For more information on the Summer League schedule, visit ESPN’s website.