After achieving their goal of leading the Crimson back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 66 seasons, former men’s basketball co-captains Keith Wright ’12 and Oliver McNally ’12 aren’t ready to step off the court just yet.
Both players announced on Friday that they had signed professional contracts to continue their careers abroad.
Wright will be playing in Uppsala, Sweden in the Swedish Basketball League, while McNally signed with the Moncton Miracles of Canada’s National Basketball League.
“Couldn’t be happier with the situation that I am going into,” Wright wrote on his Tumblr. “Its an amazing feeling. I finally know the next chapter of my journey and i am ready to go.”
The 2010-11 Ivy League Player of the Year finished his Crimson career as the program’s all-time leader in blocks and in fifth place on its all-time rebounding list. Wright originally sought to follow in the footsteps of Jeremy Lin ’10 and play in the NBA, but he did not receive an NBA contract after playing with the Dallas Mavericks’ summer league team.
On Friday, Wright posted a photo on his Tumblr of pair of a text messages he received from Lin, which read “CONGRATULATIONS BRO!!!” and “Do work. Every opportunity is a stepping stone and a building block for the next challenge.”
Lin’s former backcourt mate, McNally, finished his Harvard career as the program’s all-time leader in games played and in second place on the team’s free-throw shooting list. The San Francisco native will join the Miracles for the next five months, with the seasion tipping off Nov. 4.
“Just officially signed my first pro contract with the Moncton Miracles in the Canadian NBL,” McNally tweeted Friday. “Excited to get after it and start up the season.”
The former Crimson co-captains will be joined overseas by some of their former rivals. Yale’s Greg Mangano will be playing in Turkey, Penn’s Zack Rosen will be playing in Israel, and Princeton’s Doug Davis—who hit a buzzer-beater over McNally to send the Tigers to the 2011 NCAA tournament—will be playing in Germany.
