Watch Sindarius Thornwell lace highlight-reel pass for New Orleans Pelicans
Sindarius Thornwell only had one foot down, and he didn’t have much balance.
But a tight spot can bring out the best, in this case, a nifty pass between the legs of longtime NBA veteran Robin Lopez.
Thornwell, a former South Carolina Gamecocks star now playing for the New Orleans Pelicans, delivered the nice play, colloquially called nutmegging, late in a bubble preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks. He was part of a comeback in a 124-103 win, mostly powered by a late comeback.
Thornwell had missed a floater and rookie Jaxson Hayes couldn’t corrall the rebound. Thornwell’s momentum had carried him out of bound, but he got back in, then leaned, reached and snapped the ball between Lopez’s legs to Hayes, who dropped in the dunk.
Thornwell finished the game with nine minutes played, with three points, two rebounds and a steal.
He had not been on an NBA roster during the 2019-20 season, but made the larger roster that came with the league’s restart in its Orlando bubble. He averaged 4.9 minutes per game in 64 games in 2018-19 for the LA Clippers.
Thornwell, who won SEC Player of the Year as a senior and led USC to the 2017 Final Four, saw his role became smaller after a rookie season in which he averaged 15.8 minutes, starting 17 of the 73 games he played in. LA got a full healthy season from Danilo Gallinari, plus Landry Shamet started to come on and Avery Bradley had a big role for much of the season.
Thornwell played 12 minutes in four playoff games.
He was the 48th pick in the 2017 draft and earned $1,378,242 last season.
Thornwell was an anchor for the Gamecocks all four years on campus. He averaged at least 29 minutes a game each season, and helped the program improve.
His junior year, USC went 25–9. The next season, it went 26-11, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in more than a decade. Thornwell’s final season was his best, averaging 21.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists, posting far and away the best shooting numbers of his career.
At 6-foot-5, he could catch on somewhere as a solid wing defender. He’s a career 34.2 percent 3-point shooter in limited attempts.
