The G-League rarely offers a straight line, but for several former Zags, this past season marked real progress. Anton Watson and Drew Timme turned strong performances into professional contracts. David Stockton remains a mainstay of the league, reliable and known. Jeremy Jones returned to the G-League and has been steadily expanding his role. Malachi Smith continues to grind, sharpening his game year after year. The journeys look different, but the throughline remains: even outside the spotlight, Zag talent keeps finding ways forward.

Here’s a look back at the G-League seasons of those dudes.

After three productive seasons in Japan with the Toyotsu Fighting Eagles, plus earlier stops in Germany and Austria, Jeremy Jones returned to the U.S. for the 2024–25 season, suiting up for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G-League. In 33 appearances this year, Jones averaged 5.4 points and 2.9 rebounds across 20 minutes per game, providing steady rotational value for a Vipers team that went 20–14 and finished sixth in the G-League’s Western Conference. He spent the year playing alongside big-name prospects like Reed Sheppard (Kentucky) and Cam Whitmore (Villanova), both of whom were called up to the Houston Rockets during the season—elevating the stakes and spotlight for every guy left grinding it out on the Vipers’ roster.

Jones, a San Antonio native, initially committed to Rice as a quarterback before switching sports and transferring to Gonzaga, where he carved out a niche as a glue guy with off-ball savvy, strong instincts, and relentless effort. His redshirt season in Spokane kicked off a three-year stretch that culminated in his breakout 2018–19 campaign: 37 games, two double-doubles, and a 14-point, 11-rebound gem against Illinois in the Maui Invitational. He was never the loudest player on the court, but Gonzaga fans remember the way he anchored bench units and sparked defensive runs with pure hustle and floor awareness.

Now 29 and finally back in Texas, Jones closed out the 2024–25 season as part of a system that feeds directly into an NBA pipeline—a rare and meaningful shot for a player whose career has thrived overseas but never quite cracked the NBA radar. Whether this G-League season was enough to earn him another shot stateside remains to be seen. If not, expect to see him back overseas with a bigger role and a fatter stat line. Either way, the return to Texas felt right. A full-circle year, and a worthy one.

Malachi Smith didn’t make any headlines, but he absolutely made an impact—averaging 11.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists across 25 minutes per game during his most productive G-League season yet. After brief stints with Portland and Wisconsin, he landed in Memphis and found his rhythm alongside former UNC big man Armando Bacot and UConn sharpshooter Cam Spencer, who earned a two-way deal with the Grizzlies. Smith chipped in three boards a night to the third-best rebounding team in the G-League, provided a steady hand in the backcourt, and dropped a season-high 23 points in March 2025 against the South Bay Lakers.

The Memphis Hustle finished 11th in the Western Conference at 15–19, but Smith’s contributions were unmistakable: efficient, disciplined, and quietly indispensable. Which, to anyone who watched him in Spokane, should sound very familiar.

At Gonzaga in 2022–23, Smith was WCC Sixth Man of the Year, led the team in three-point percentage (50.0%), and averaged more rebounds per game (3.7) than any other Zag guard. He shot 3-for-4 from deep for 11 points against TCU in the NCAA Tournament and was a two-way force against UCLA in one of the most electric postseason games in program history, finishing with 14 points and 6 rebounds. His biggest outing came against Portland: 27 points in 25 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting from three, a dazzling heat check that reminded everyone what he could do when given the green light.

He was never the most hyped transfer to roll through Spokane, and maybe not the flashiest, but he might’ve been the most underrated—a high-IQ, low-mistake vet who could defend multiple positions, hit open shots, and blend into any lineup and quickly make himself indispensable.

Now, with his best pro season behind him, Smith faces an open runway. Whether he’s back with Memphis next year, draws G-League interest elsewhere, or takes his game overseas, he’s proven—again—that he knows how to contribute to winning basketball.

David Stockton is 33 years old and still starting in the G-League, still putting up real numbers, and still making teams better. In 2024–25, he averaged 14.2 points, 5.6 assists, 1.5 steals, and shot 45% from three for the Valley Suns, who finished fifth in the Western Conference at 20–14. His season high came in a win over the Rip City Remix, where he dropped 33 points and 8 assists. It was one of the sharpest, most complete years of his career—steady, efficient, and impactful from start to finish.

At this point, Stockton is a G-League institution. He’s played in 244 games, the 11th most all-time, with 7,187 total minutes (12th), 3,969 points (6th), 359 steals (8th), and 1,668 assists—fourth-most in league history. He’s played for at least six different franchises and signed every kind of professional contract imaginable. He’s had two short NBA stints (Sacramento in 2015, Utah in 2018), but the bulk of his career has unfolded across the margins of the sport, where his game has only sharpened. It’s a rare kind of longevity, built on feel, floor management, and elite decision-making.

Stockton’s Gonzaga tenure followed a similar arc—unflashy at first, and then indispensable. By the time he was a senior, he was starting every game and averaging 7.4 points, 4.2 assists, and 1.5 steals per contest. In the 2014 WCC tournament, he torched Saint Mary’s for 21 points to earn All-Tournament honors. That final season, he was part of one of the most stacked backcourts in program history—sharing the floor with Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. in a three-headed setup that gave Gonzaga an edge in ball security, shot selection, and perimeter defense that few teams could match. That group helped lay the foundation for the modern Gonzaga guard blueprint.

The NBA may have moved on, but the G-League never had a reason to. Stockton continues to be a stabilizer for winning teams—an elite passer, a capable scorer, and one of the most intelligent floor leaders in professional basketball. Whether or not another NBA call-up ever materializes, his value as a veteran lead guard remains clear. He’s still building something out there—and someone next season is going to benefit from it.

Anton Watson logged 30 minutes a night for the Maine Celtics this year and earned every one of them. In 21 games, 18 starts, he averaged 12 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists, played disciplined, physical defense across three positions, and rarely looked rushed or out of place. He shot the three well enough to stretch the floor, stayed active on the glass, and picked his spots as a cutter. The high-water mark came against Greensboro in December—25 points on 64% shooting, seven boards, five made threes, and a handful of possessions where he switched out onto guards and locked them up in the backcourt. Much like his time at Gonzaga, he wasn’t flashy, but he was deeply functional, and on a G-League team filled with guys chasing calls and chasing shots, Watson stood out by doing exactly what was asked and never forcing what wasn’t.

Watson’s basketball life has always been one defined by patience, adaptability, and trust. A Spokane native, he stuck out five years at Gonzaga—survived the injury, role uncertainty, and a lot of consternation from fans as his minutes began to stack up, and by the end of his career had worked his way into rare territory. He finished second in career steals (215, behind only John Stockton), third in games played (151), ninth in rebounds (780), ninth in field goals made, and top ten in blocks. He made All-WCC, led the team in minutes his final year, and became a foundational piece on a team struggling to reinvent itself in real-time. Off the floor, he became a local icon—Papa Murphy’s commercials, Pint House Burgers and Brews sponsorships, and billboards across town. He wasn’t the loudest guy on the floor, but he never needed to be. “I want people to remember me as a winner, a competitor, and just a good teammate,” Watson said in his final weeks as a Zag. “Every team that I have been on here, I have had to do something different in my role and I feel like I have done my role pretty well.”

The Celtics waived him on March 2. The Knicks picked him up two days later and slotted him onto a two-way deal. Whether he breaks through to full NBA status or not will depend on summer camp reps, team needs, and a little luck—but his G-League film is undeniable. If Watson ends up back in Westchester next season, it won’t be because he didn’t look the part.

Drew Timme – Long Island Nets, Brooklyn Nets

For a guy who was “too slow,” “too cocky,” and “too old-school” to make it in professional basketball, Drew Timme sure didn’t listen. After lighting up the G-League all season long, Timme turned a December trade into a full-on career breakthrough, averaging 23.9 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 4.1 assists for the Long Island Nets before signing a multi-year contract with Brooklyn. He made his NBA debut the next day—grabbed a double-double, and officially closed the loop on one of the most satisfying “prove-it” arcs in recent basketball memory. The G-League is full of hopefuls, very few have the confidence and persistence to turn it into a launchpad.

And it didn’t come easy. After going undrafted in 2023, Timme bounced from Summer League to training camp to a G-League stint with the Wisconsin Herd, where a foot injury ended his first professional season early. The following fall, he signed with Sacramento, was waived the same day and landed briefly in Stockton before being traded to Long Island. That’s where it all came together. With real minutes, a clear role, and a system that let him operate, Timme absolutely soared, and not because he transformed, but because someone finally handed him the ball and let him play his game.

Before any of that, Timme carved out one of the most memorable college careers in the modern era. He scored more points than anyone in Gonzaga history, anchored three deep tournament runs, and helped push the program into a whole new era of low-post reliance. His presence on the court had weight, an unmistakable blend of precision footwork, instinctive passing, and relentless scoring that few teams could keep up with, let alone countenance. Yet the numbers alone never captured what made him unforgettable. Drew played with a rare blend of swagger, joy, and focus, drawing attention with post buckets and postgame quotes in equal measure. The flexes, the mustache, the interviews that didn’t sound like interviews—none of it was for effect. It all came from the same place: a player fully at ease with who he was and entirely unwilling to flatten that into anything more palatable.

That refusal to conform, once seen as a barrier, became part of the appeal. Now, with a professional contract in hand and an NBA debut already behind him, Timme moves forward without having left anything behind. The personality, the game, the identity—it all made the trip.