While the past few years of Kansas Jayhawk basketball have felt slightly jaded compared to where they were in the heyday of Bill Self, there have still been several players turned stars who are now looking towards their shot at the next level.Â
One of those players is former KU guard Zeke Mayo.Â
Mayo enjoyed a stellar sophomore and junior season at South Dakota State, where he averaged 18.5 points while doing so well above a 40% clip.Â
Mayo then earned the move to the Jayhawks, where he took advantage of his opportunity, going for 14.6 points on a 44.7% field goal rate, including a 42.2% three-point rate, to go along with 4.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Mayo finished with a season-high of 27 points in Kansas’ 62-61 loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers.Â
Mayo finished the season with a 2025 All-Big 12 Third Team mention on a Jayhawk side that finished with a 21-13 record and was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round thanks to a 79-72 defeat to the Arkansas Razorbacks.Â
Mayo spent his first season in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers’ G-League team, the Cleveland Charge. With the Charge, Mayo played in 36 games, including two starts, going for an average of 8.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists in about 21.4 minutes per game to along with a 40.1% mark from the fieldÂ
Mayo was recently invited to join the Atlanta Hawks Summer League this season, as reported by Henry Greenstein of the Lawrence Journal-World.Â
https://x.com/henrygreenstein/status/2071774466846146951?s=46
During Mayo’s time at KU on his day, he could outpace any other scorer on the court; the biggest problem with Mayo was that he was hardly consistent, often going through hot patches where he would easily mark over 50% from the field, but there were too many occasions where he would go cold. In the 2024-25 campaign, Mayo shot 40% or under 16 times.Â
Mayo finished his sole season at KU No. 2 on the scoring charts behind just Hunter Dickinson, who led the team with 17.4 points. Mayo and Dickinson were the only two Jayhawks to finish the year with double-digit averages.
On the year, the Jayhawks finished as the nation’s No. 46 shooting offense with a 47.0% field goal rate, and the country’s No. 91 scoring offense that compiled 76.1 points per game.Â
The Hawks will be participating in both the Salt Lake City Summer League and the official NBA Summer League. The Salt Lake City Summer League starts on July 4th and runs through the 6th and the 7th. The official league starts two days later. Last season, the Hawks made the NBA playoffs for the first time in three seasons, losing in the first round to the New York Knicks in six games.
If Mayo can hem down on his cold shooting streaks and raise his floor just a bit more, then there is every chance he may find himself garnering a stronger and stronger role in the G-League, where he will constantly be viewed by NBA scouts and GMs.
More Kansas Basketball News
Add us as a preferred source on Google