His journey began at Liberty High School in KC. Now he’s an NBA Draft pick
On Tuesday night, Bennett Stirtz completed one of the most improbable journeys from Division II point guard to NBA first-round pick.
Stirtz is headed to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who swapped picks with the Memphis Grizzlies to take Stirtz at 16th overall.
OKC held pick No. 17 before the trade.
He is the second Kansas City native to be selected in the draft. Shawnee Mission Northwest and Illinois product Keaton Wagler went to the Los Angeles Clippers with the fifth overall pick.
They are the first KC-area duo to be first round picks since University of Kansas guards Ochai Agbaji (Oak Park HS) and Christian Braun (Blue Valley NW) in 2022.
He took the stage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, in a custom cream-colored suit. Inside the blazer were patches for each part of his journey: Liberty High, Northwest Missouri State, Drake and Iowa.
Stirtz was an all-state guard at Liberty and led his high school to the 2021 Missouri Class 6 state championship as a senior under his head coach father. He earned two Division II offers from NWMSU and William Jewell before shutting down his recruitment and picking the Bearcats.
After two record-setting seasons, he followed head coach Ben McCollum and transferred to Drake for the 2024-25 season. He broke more records with the Bulldogs, leading them to their first Round of 64 NCAA Tournament win since 1971 as the conference player of the year.
He then followed McCollum to Iowa, becoming an all-Big Ten guard and leading the Hawkeyes on a historic tournament run. They reached the program’s first Elite Eight since 1987.
As a senior, Stirtz averaged 19.7 points, 4.4 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 47.7% from the field and 35.8% from 3. He was a first-team All-Big Ten selection and AP All-America honorable mention.
