After the AfterShocks: Could Wichita go pro with an NBA G League team? | Opinion
What comes after the AfterShocks?
Who’s got next?
There’s no definitive answer, after the team created around Wichita State University basketball alumni reached the top of a mountain they began climbing six years ago, winning the $1 million championship of The Basketball Tournament on Sunday.
We owe a debt of thanks to the AfterShocks for their loyalty to Wichita, and bringing us the most entertaining basketball we’ve seen in this town for years.
The championship game put 9,029 people in the 10,000-seat Koch Arena, and it was the first time in years I’ve felt the need for hearing protection at a Wichita sporting event.
It got me wondering: why don’t we have something like this all the time?
What the outpouring of support for the TBT tells us — and what it should tell Wichita’s powers that be — is that our city is simultaneously basketball crazy and basketball starved.
For Sunday’s game, people began lining up hours early. Kyle Coffman arrived at 10:30 a.m. for the 3 p.m. tipoff “to get the best seats in the house.” He and three friends, Heather Marsh and Steven and Hayley Harris, got their seats in the front row and basically cheered their lungs out for the TV cameras all afternoon.
Later, I ran across a woman named Tammy Ojile, carrying a big double handful of confetti flakes she picked up off the court after the trophy ceremony. “I’m going to put them in a scrapbook with all the photos I’ve taken,” she explained.
The success of TBT here indicates that this city should be a prime candidate for a professional team of its own.
Now would be a great time to explore the possibility of landing a franchise from the G League, the developmental league of the NBA.
We wouldn’t even need new facilities, with Intrust Bank Arena, Park City Arena and Koch Arena, any of which could credibly host G League ball.
Yes, we still have Wichita State, but the program, once the pride of the city, has fallen on tough times (through no fault of its own). Pay-to-play “Name, Image, Likeness” schemes and a penalty-free transfer portal has ruined college athletics across the board, except for a handful of powerhouse universities with deep-pocket boosters.
A G League team could be the answer here.
The NBA would supply up-and-coming prospects and “two-way” players who can toggle back and forth between the G League and the NBA. And there are plenty of talented but undrafted players from Wichita State, KU and K-State to pull from to round out a team.
And while we cherish our local lads, this season’s AfterShocks proved we can warm up to newcomers just as well. Our TBT championship team had four former Shockers and six men who played their college ball elsewhere — and nobody minded a bit.
Marcus Keene, all 5 feet, 9 inches of him, carved himself a place in Wichita State basketball lore — an amazing feat since he played his college ball at Central Michigan University.
The AfterShocks won five games to take the championship and Keene fired the fatal shot in three of them. And the Koch Arena crowd chanted “MVP! MVP! MVP!” as they watched Keene being interviewed by Fox Sports on the arena scoreboard after Sunday’s game.
But as sweet as it’s been, indications are mounting that this could be Wichita’s final go-round for the AfterShocks and TBT.
One of the original AfterShocks, guard Conner Frankamp, was guarded in his comments when I asked what the future holds.
“That is a tough question,” he said. “Obviously, we’ll talk about it in the coming months or whatever, but I think right now, we’re just gonna enjoy this. It’s been six long years of trying to get to here, so I’m not sure if any of us have the perfect answer for you on that, but we’ll see.”
If the AfterShocks don’t come back, one could hardly blame them. They’ve got nothing left to prove in TBT. And they’ve already given a lot to this city.
Also, let’s face it, they’re getting older and have careers in overseas leagues, a grind that takes its toll.
“They’re gone for, you know, nine, 10 months of the year, and so they get, essentially, eight to 10 to 12 weeks back home,” said AfterShocks Head Coach Zach Bush, a former WSU player. “For them to choose to spend three-plus (weeks) of it here every summer shows how much this place means to them, and it shows what they mean to each other, how much they care.”
Maybe the AfterShocks will find a way to reload. Or, maybe this could be the catalyst for the next big thing in Wichita basketball.
AfterShocks forward Rashard Kelly has a suggestion: “Man, take one of these guys from this local, from this team, and make them in charge of basketball here. And help them bring the culture, the culture that Wichita really likes, and let them be in charge of the youth basketball, whatever they need to be in charge of, and they open up the doors for the future. That’s what I think. That’s the future, right there.”
Kelly could be right. I sure hope he is.
But whatever happens, we’ll long remember a glorious tournament run in the summer of 2025, and a Sunday afternoon of August Insanity that reminded us why we love basketball.
This story was originally published August 5, 2025 at 5:24 AM.
