Ex-TCU star, Memphis guard Desmond Bane won’t put last season on Ja Morant

Of all of the great basketball players who have come from Indiana, the native Hoosier who signed the biggest NBA contract is the one working on his game in the middle of summer at his alma mater in Fort Worth, Texas.

Former TCU guard Desmond Bane has been in the NBA since 2020, and there are still moments he has a hard time believing where he is in 2024.

He played at a private high school that has an enrollment of 150 kids, in eastern Indiana. Was basically ignored by every Division I college basketball program until coach Jamie Dixon, in his first recruiting class with TCU, took a flyer on Bane. Now look at him.

“No, I couldn’t have imagined this,” Bane said in a recent interview after a private workout at TCU. “It’s a dream come true. All of it is a pinch-me moment. It feels too good to be true.”

Desmond Bane is one of the rare instances when “if it’s too good to be true it probably isn’t,” is incorrect.

In a résumé loaded with, “Wait, that can’t right?” achievements, when Bane signed his five-year, $197 million contract extension with the Memphis Grizzlies in July 2023, he became the highest-paid NBA player from Indiana.

There are a million tiny reasons why Bane “made it.” Tops among them, he is only too sure he hasn’t actually made it. Whenever he hit a ceiling, he took a hammer and crowbar and removed it.

He recently bought a house on Possum Kingdom Lake where he and his young son and his fiancee live. Since driving to Fort Worth to work out on a nice basketball court isn’t so easy, he is often seen working on his game at Graham High School. Graham is about 45 minutes from Possum Kingdom, and it ensures not invisibility but a lot of privacy.

With a population of 8,700, one is not apt to find too many NBA players working on their game at the home of the Steers.

He’s out there alone in a tiny Texas town’s gym because, although he has plenty of money, at his core Desmond Bane may be the most secure insecure starter in the NBA.

“The second you feel secure is the second someone takes your spot,” he said.

Bane was doing this interview immediately after he concluded a private, 40-minute workout on the Schollmaier Arena floor. It consisted of a personal trainer and a few other players, including new New York Knicks forward Mikal Bridges.

All of this is consistent with Bane since he came to TCU in 2016 as an obscure kid who stood out because of some baby fat.

Since he was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2020 and immediately traded to the Grizzlies, he routinely reaches out to Dixon. Every offseason, the student asks the teacher what he should work on next.

After his freshman year, Dixon was brutally honest with Bane and all of his players.

“He was always preaching body fat; that NBA guys are in ‘elite shape,’” Bane said. “So, I knew that was something I had to do and still continue to get better at.”

In his first season, Bane looked like a player who arrived at TCU having gained the “Freshman 15.”

After his first season, Bane changed his diet and dropped the weight. He came back as a sophomore looking like a different human being. He wasn’t a skinny kid, but a cut athlete. He looked the part.

After his rookie year in Memphis, Bane asked Dixon for something else to add. Dribble was tops on the list. Bane worked on his dribbling, and he’s become something more than a 3-point shooter.

Now, “I’m trying to work on creating space and being able to do more for myself and others,” he said.

The only bump in this trajectory has been the team he plays for. Memphis was a mess last season. The Grizzlies made the playoffs in each of Bane’s first three years, and were one of the better “young” teams in the league.

All-Star guard Ja Morant’s NBA suspension followed by an arm injury wrecked a team that finished 27-55 last season. Morant was recently cleared by doctors and should be fine by the start of the regular season.

Bane made a point to say he didn’t think the Morant situation is the reason the team had such a dud year.

Bane himself was limited to 42 games, primarily because of an ankle injury. Watching him workout in this private session at TCU, he’s fine.

“We’re in a great spot now. Everybody’s coming back healthy,” he said. “With the right mindset, the sky is limit. I want to win a championship.”

Speaking of championships, the team that drafted him just won the title.

“I love where I’m at. I’m thankful to be here,” Bane said. “I can’t wait to do this in Memphis.”

If you look where he came from and where he is today, don’t be surprised when he does.

It’s Desmond Bane.