He Grew Up in RI, Was Top College Lacrosse Player in U.S., and Just Signed With NBA Warriors
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He Grew Up in RI, Was Top College Lacrosse Player in U.S., and Just Signed With NBA Warriors
He attended Our Lady of Mercy and played youth lacrosse in East Greenwich and North Kingstown.
Now, over the past few years, Spencer has been on track establishing himself as one of the greatest two-sport athletes in America. In an age of specialization, there are few athletes who excel beyond high school in multiple sports.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTHe may not reach the height of the legendary Jim Brown -- football and lacrosse star at Syracuse University and then NFL great -- or Deion Sanders, who played in the NFL and major league baseball simultaneously, but few players have conquered two sports. It is difficult -- Bo knows.
Spencer may have taken one of the most unique routes.
He went from being the best college lacrosse player in America, bypassing pro lacrosse, instead playing one year of college basketball, and now has a chance at the “show.”
Spencer recently signed what is called an Exhibit 10 contract with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. The contract is essentially a non-guaranteed, minimum salary deal that provides teams with more flexibility when filling out roster spots.
In college, Spencer was a megastar.
Attending Loyola University, he was simply the best and most exciting college lacrosse player in 2019.
“Wrapped up the most-decorated career of any student-athlete at Loyola in the school’s history… Became the program’s first recipient of the Tewaaraton Award and the USILA’s Lt. Raymond J. Enners Most Outstanding Player… Finished his career as the NCAA Division I all-time leader in assists (231) and second in Division I in points (380)… Set school and Patriot League records in both categories and was second all-time at Loyola in goals scored (149),” according to Loyola.
He then was the #1 draft pick in professional lacrosse, but he made a detour.
Spencer had one year of college eligibility left -- and opted to attend Northwestern University to play a year of college basketball.
At Northwestern, Spencer, who had not played organized basketball in four years, averaged 10.4 points per game for the Big Ten squad as a 6'3" guard.
Then, COVID hit, and his professional sports career was on hold. He played professional basketball in Germany for a year and then this past season, he played in the NBA's G League and averaged 7.5 points per game.
“He loved all sports but especially basketball and lacrosse, and went to as many PC and URI games as he could. He was here from 4th to 6th grade, then the family moved back to Maryland,” said one of his Rhode Island youth coaches, Herb DeSimone.
“A great kid, always smiling, very modest. He was very talented and always either had a stick or a basketball in his hands,” said DeSimone.
The Spencer family moved from Rhode Island to Maryland and Spencer attended The Boys' Latin School of Maryland, one of the top lacrosse high schools in America.
Today, Spencer is on the verge of establishing himself as one of the best athletes in America -- watch and see how his career goes with the NBA champion Warriors.