Former Mizzou stars Caleb Grill, Tamar Bates land 2-way deals after NBA Draft
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Former Mizzou basketball stars Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates did not get to hear their names called during the 2025 NBA Draft. However, the duo is still getting a shot at the league, quickly landing 2-way contracts after the conclusion of the draft.
Late Thursday night, Mizzou confirmed on social media that Grill was landing a 2-way contract with the Chicago Bulls. Grill spent 2 seasons with the Tigers, earning the SEC basketball 6th Man of the Year Award this past season.
Tamar Bates followed a similar trajectory, spending 2 seasons at Indiana before spending 2 seasons as the 2nd-leading scorer for Mizzou and head coach Dennis Gates. Bates signed a 2-way deal with the Denver Nuggets to begin his NBA journey.
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As for Bates, he is a 6-foot-5 guard who averaged 13.4 points per game across 66 appearances (59 starts) for Mizzou. He was the SEC’s free-throw percentage leader the past 2 seasons, and Bates led all of D-I basketball with a 94.6% percentage from the charity stripe during the 2024-25 season. Another good sign for Bates is that he improved his 3-point shooting every season in college, finishing with a 39.7% percentage from deep as a senior.
When it comes to Grill, the 6-foot-3 sharpshooter saved his best for last with the Tigers, averaging a career-high 13.7 points and setting a new career-best mark with a 39.6% shooting mark from 3-point range. He also spent time at Iowa State and UNLV to go with his 2 seasons at Mizzou.
Best of luck to the former Tigers as they look to start their NBA journey!
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
