Texas Legends select Bobby Ray Parks, Jr. as 25th overall pick

MANILA, Philippines -- Fil-am guard Bobby Ray Parks, Jr. got another shot at his NBA dream after he was made by the Texas Legends, the Dallas Mavericks' affiliate team, as the D-League's 25th overall pick. 

Parks, Jr. will join his NBA Summer League teammate and the NBA Draft's 52nd overall pick Satnam Singh of India to form the core the Legends, who finished fourth in the Southwestern Division with 22-28 win-loss record last season. 

The Legends, who did not have a first round pick, made Parks, Jr. their first selection in this year's Draft after he impressed the Mavericks' coaching staff in the recent NBA Summer League. 

Welcome to the Legends @ray15parks pic.twitter.com/7IIGX5yLaD

— Texas Legends (@TexasLegends) October 31, 2015

The son of the PBA Hall of Famer import Bobby Ray Parks, Sr. just became the second Filipino to be drafted in the D-League after Japeth Aguilar was selected by the Santa Cruz Warriors in the seventh round in 2012 Draft. 

Aguilar never made it to the D-League's regular season when he was the last to be cut by the Golden State Warriors' affiliate team.

Parks, Jr., got the distinction as the first Filipino homegrown talent to showcase his skills in the NBA Summer League.  He averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 10.5 minutes of play with the Mavericks. 

Even the Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban is rooting for Parks, Jr. to make it to the big league. 

"Absolutely, we're excited to have him," Cuban told NBA Philippines correspondent Rex Alba in an interview a couple of weeks before the NBA season opened. 

"He's just got to keep on working, I mean, you know there's a lot of great players that didn't make it through the very first time, but look, everybody knows that the Philippines is probably the biggest basketball country in the world," Cuban added. 

With the Legends using their first pick on Parks, Jr., he is expected to make it and become the first Filipino to play in the NBA D-League. 

Quick look at the newest @texaslegends - @ray15parks Bobby played for the @dallasmavs in @NBASummerLeague pic.twitter.com/LEzSyUB3JZ

— Texas Legends (@TexasLegends) October 31, 2015

The Legends used their next picks on Justin Reynolds from Island Campus in the fourth round, Jonathan Octeus (79th pick) from Purdue, Thomas Bropleh (82nd pick) from Boise State, Quadrell Young (95th pick) from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. 

Former NBA second round pick Jeff Ayres, 10th overall pick Jimmer Fredette, and former Oklahoma City Thunder Perry Jones went 1-3 in this year's D-League Draft.

Ayres went to Idaho Stampede while Fredette, the 2011 College Player of the Year, got another lease of life in his basketball career with the Westchester Knicks.  Jones, meanwhile, who once dropped a career-high 32 points against the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014, got selected by Iowa Energy.  

Parks, Jr., who was hyped by the NBA D-League website as one of the players to watch along with Fredette, Jones and Dominican Republic's Rodney Carney in Draft, will have NBA legend Nick Van Exel as his head coach at Texas Legends. 

The former two-time UAAP MVP had his best game in the recent NBA Summer League against the NBA D-League select as he exploded for 10 points, five rebounds, four steals and one assist without a turnover in 21 minutes. 

Watch his NBA Summer League Highlights: