Kylor Kelley’s G League journey to the NBA

With the expansion of the G League over time, NBA teams have used it as talent pool for two-way contracts and 10-day contracts. Last year, Kylor Kelley got his first taste of the NBA regular season after turning a strong stint in the G League with the South Bay Lakers into a two-way deal with the Dallas Mavericks.

The Mavericks kept Kylor Kelley on the roster for a little less than two months before cutting him, upon which he returned to the G League on South Bay’s roster. It wasn’t long after that, that the New Orleans Pelicans came calling with a 10-day contract. Given that Kelley’s 10-day expired right at the end of the regular season, the Pelicans kept him on the roster for the final game of the 2024-25 season.

This year, Kelley signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, but was cut before the start of training camp. He’s been playing with their South Bay G League affiliate in hopes of earning another NBA call-up at some point. He was able to gain valuable insight during his call-ups last season.

“When I first got there to the Mavericks, it was a great experience,” Kelley said after a recent South Bay game. “I had a lot of veterans to give me pointers. Just stay in the gym and do more than the other guy.”

What drew NBA teams to Kelley was his defensive and rebounding ability. Since he’s played with South Bay, he’s been the team’s defensive anchor in the paint, and is a double-double threat on a nightly basis. In only his third career NBA game, he finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds albeit in a Mavericks’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In the three games he played with the Pelicans, he had games of seven, six and five rebounds, respectively. He played 2024 summer league with the Oklahoma City Thunder and 2025 summer league with the Orlando Magic where he also showed an affinity for defense and rebounding. Kelley is a capable scorer around the basket as well as an efficient rim-running big.

For Kelley, it’s playing the role that will make him stand out and help the team.

“Since last year, I already knew my role coming back was being an anchor defensively, and then the offensive role is sprint the floor, set hard screens, get our guys open and just roll hard,” Kelley said. “My role doesn’t change much.”

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