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Undrafted two-way rookie Graham Ike is starting for the Warriors, and his road there is one of the best stories of the NBA season: my take

Opinion The author's own takes, written in his voice. The facts behind them are cited and linked.

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent · Former certified NBA agent

Published October 25, 2026. Last updated October 25, 2026.

This post is opinion. The facts each take rests on are cited and linked, and the takes are mine. The contract rules behind the story are in the Exhibit 10 guide and the two-way deal guide.

What has Graham Ike done in his first NBA games?

Ike was set to start on October 23 against Memphis, per RotoWire, and started on October 24 at Phoenix, when he had 12 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in 26 minutes in a 131-122 Warriors loss, per the same page. In his first game, on October 21 at the Lakers, he scored 8 points with 2 rebounds in 12 minutes, per NBA.com. Against Memphis he scored 10 points with 2 rebounds in 12 minutes, per the same page.

That is 30 points and 14 rebounds in three games, about 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds a game, per the NBA.com game log. The numbers are small. What stands out to me is that a two-way player is in the starting lineup at all.

How did an undrafted player get here?

Ike went undrafted in the 2026 NBA draft after finishing at Gonzaga, per Wikipedia. He signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Warriors in late June, per NBC Sports. Then he played Summer League, where Golden State beat Memphis 94-90 in the Las Vegas final on July 19, per Wikipedia and the Spokane SWX report.

The steps came fast, as this timeline shows:

Sources differ on the exact September signing date, so I use the month. Reports of his Summer League averages also differ, from about 10.0 points and 7.2 rebounds to 10.5 points and 8.0 rebounds, per NBC Sports Bay Area.

What did Ike do before the NBA?

He played five college seasons at Wyoming and Gonzaga and averaged 17.6 points and 7.8 rebounds in 146 games, per NBC Sports Bay Area. In 2025-26 he led the West Coast Conference in field-goal percentage at 56.3 percent and earned AP third-team All-America honors, per the same report. He was the WCC Player of the Year that season, per Wikipedia.

It was not a straight line. He missed part of his freshman year at Wyoming with a knee injury, later took a medical redshirt in 2022-23 and then transferred to Gonzaga, per Wikipedia. My take is that this is why the story reads as earned: he kept a long college career moving after a setback, and the NBA noticed it in a different way than the draft did.

Why does a two-way start matter?

A two-way deal splits a player between the NBA team and its G League affiliate and pays $678,882 in 2026-27, per the two-way deal guide. It also limits the player to 50 active regular-season games, and two-way players cannot play in the play-in or playoffs unless converted, per the same guide. A two-way player who keeps starting is a candidate for a standard contract.

I cannot give a count of how often an undrafted two-way rookie has started in his first week, so I will not call this unique in a statistical sense. I will say it is the exact path players and parents are told about and rarely see finished.

What can other players take from Ike's road?

Three things stand out to me. He used the free routes: an Exhibit 10 deal, then Summer League. He produced where teams could see it, including in Summer League. And he treated a two-way deal as a starting point, not a finish line.

For players who want the same road, the first steps are in the guide to playing professional basketball and the G League guide. The roster limits that make these spots scarce are covered in the post on the 2026 roster deadline.