‘Beginning of more’: Former Wichita State star Tyson Etienne poised to make NBA debut
Tyson Etienne will treat Thursday like every other game day of his basketball career.
Dating back to his days as a star player at Wichita State, he is a creature of habit who loves nothing more than following a routine. He will eat the same, stretch the same and get shots up the same as always before the game.
The only difference is that Etienne will be wearing an NBA uniform, as the former Shocker will suit up for the Brooklyn Nets for a game against Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors at Barclays Center — a subway ride away from his hometown of Englewood, N.J.
“Man, this is what you dream about,” Etienne told The Eagle after signing a 2-way contract with the Nets on Tuesday. “There’s so many emotions. You think about the late nights, the early mornings, the times when you didn’t know what was going to happen next. I just continued to have faith and continued to put work in. This isn’t the end of anything. This is the beginning of more. I’m just super grateful for the Nets to give me this opportunity.”
Since leaving WSU following the 2021-22 season, Etienne, 25, has spent the past three seasons grinding away in the G League. After going undrafted, Etienne caught on with the College Park Skyhawks, the Hawks’ affiliate, but never received enough playing time to showcase his abilities.
Behind the scenes, Etienne remained dedicated to improving as a player and was prepared to capitalize on his opportunity when it came this season with the Long Island Nets. He leads the G League in 3-pointers made (84) this season and is averaging 20 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 steals with 50.6% shooting from the floor and 47.5% accuracy beyond the arc.
“This is what I feel like I’ve been called to do, to play the game at this level,” Etienne said. “I’ve put in a lot of work for a long time, even when I was back in Wichita. We didn’t have the same type of results my last year there, but I never stopped working. Every day I would wake up and try to find a way to get better in different areas. When I came to Long Island, they gave me an opportunity to really show my work, my leadership, my intangibles and put them on full display. I had the confidence and I just trusted my work and my abilities.”
Etienne takes a great deal of pride in potentially being the 12th former Shocker to play in the NBA since 2013, joining Gal Mekel, Cleanthony Early, Toure Murry, Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker, Landry Shamet, Austin Reaves, Jaime Echenique, Craig Porter Jr., Ricky Council IV and Dexter Dennis. He could also be the fourth player alone from WSU’s historic 2021 American Athletic Conference championship team to see NBA minutes, following Porter, Council and Dennis.
Although his final season with the Shockers did not end the way he hoped with a 15-13 record and no postseason, Etienne is still proud of what he and his teammates accomplished at WSU. He was a freshman on the final team Gregg Marshall coached that was poised to make the NCAA Tournament with a 23-8 record before the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the postseason, then excelled for coach Isaac Brown and was named Co-Player of the Year in the AAC while leading the Shockers to their first and only AAC title and a March Madness berth.
Several prominent programs pushed for him to enter the transfer portal following his 2020-21 season at WSU, but Etienne never wavered in his faith in the program and the coaching staff who first believed in him.
“I always knew Wichita was the place where I wanted to spend my young adult life with those people and that community,” Etienne said. “I learned a lot about myself as a person there. I learned a lot through my experiences and relationships there in Wichita and I just knew my heart was still with the city and the community. I wanted us to try to do even better that last year and help out IB, and even though it didn’t work out, I gave everything I could. Those were the people who stood by me, so I wanted to stay loyal to them.”
An example of his commitment to WSU was finishing his degree while also pursuing his professional basketball career. After leaving WSU early, he still had to work to do. Etienne would spend time before and after G League games completing homework assignments until he officially graduated this past December.
He hopes to return to Wichita soon, not only to pick up his degree, but also to perhaps take in an AfterShocks game at Koch Arena.
“I’m just a strong believer in finishing things that you start,” Etienne said. “In order for me to feel like I was moving up in life and making new strides, I felt like it was important for me to finish that chapter. Not only do it for myself, but do it for my family, for the kids that I’ll have someday and just be an example to the young hoopers coming up behind me that think basketball is super important. It is, but it also provides a lot of access to resources that everybody doesn’t have, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t take that for granted. I wanted to finish what I started.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 6:02 AM.
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