Trajan Langdon Lives

Seriously, doesn't the title say it all? Well you probably did think Trajan Langdon was dead. But maybe because he was the "Alaskan Assassin" you could've thought that he was in jail or something. But he's not. In fact he plays for CSKA Moscow in the Euroleague. And they won the Euroleague finals this year. And Langdon was the Finals MVP. Not to shabby eh? Check out his stats if you like.

For those who don't know, Langdon starred at Duke in college. He had a typical Duke career including a traveling violation with seconds left in the national final trailing UConn by a point. He was drafted 11th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1999. He lasted 3 season before heading for Europe. Like I said, a typical Duke career. Imagine if he and Dajuan Wagner had panned out. The Cavaliers would not have LeBron right now. Maybe it was for the best.

I'm really impressed by how Langdon has handled himself and how honest he is. He could come back and catch on with an NBA team, if for no other reason, he can shoot the 3. But he'd be a situational player, buried on a bench somewhere. In Europe, he's a star. Big fish in a little pond and all that jazz. The thing is, he's cool with that. He's expressed no desire to return to the NBA. Although if he gets enough attention Mark Cuban will probably give him a call.

Did you know that Langdon was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 6th round in 1994? Did anybody? Well he was. Not sure what that really means but it's somehow impressive. Remember the baseball draft has just short of a thousand rounds. Well, almost. I've never been a Duke guy but I've always ended up following their players in the NBA. Just to watch the flameouts I guess. Who knows if anybody besides myself finds this interesting but I've always wondered what happens to professional athletes when they drop off of the radar. It seems that Langdon is doing much better than Nate Newton and a bunch of others.