Before the start of the season, the NBA's Development League holds open tryouts in hope of finding the next Jeremy Lin, Rafer Alston or J.J. Barea -- players who've found NBA success despite their humble D-League beginnings.
This year, Golden State's affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors, have seen an interesting group of hopefuls, including a former Harlem Globetrotter, a Bay Area rapper and a 76-year-old professor who hadn't played basketball in more than 20 years, Yahoo! Sports notes.
"I can't say that I can run, jump or shoot, because I can't," Don Wiberg, a computer and electrical engineering professor at UC Santa Cruz, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
In a video interview with KSBW, Kirk Lacob, Santa Cruz Warriors general manager, emphasized that tryouts are all about giving everyone a chance.
"You never know. Everybody's got a dream, and there are a lot of really talented basketball players out there who haven't been given an opportunity for one reason or another," Lacob told the station.
But Wiberg has no delusions of future NBA stardom.
He told the Santa Cruz Sentinel that though he failed to make his high school basketball team and quit college ball after a year to play water polo instead, he simply couldn't resist the idea that anyone over 18 could try out for a nominal fee.
"It's on my bucket list," he said. "You know, what the hell."
The final open tryouts were held Sunday at Aptos High School in Aptos, Calif., where 68 players came to show off their skills, KION reports.