Utah Jazz draftees Justin Wright-Foreman, Jarrell Brantley, Miye Oni enter town with chips on their shoulders as 2nd rounders

SALT LAKE CITY — Justin Wright-Foreman tried to get ahold of Jarrell Brantley on the night of June 20, but he wasn't able to answer the phone due to the excitement around him.

Moments later, Brantley returned the phone call to Wright-Foreman, but the atmosphere around him was also hectic with family and friends bombarding him with praise.

The college-rivals-turned-friends were both picked three spots apart at No. 50 and No. 53 by the Utah Jazz, during the second round of the NBA draft.

One week later, the new draftees were introduced as the newest Jazzmen, along with former Yale star Miye Oni (No. 58), as they embark on their professional journey.

"So, when I got the draft pick, Justin was the first person to call me and I couldn't answer it because everybody was surrounding me," Brantley recalled. "And then, it was vice versa as soon as he got picked, I may have been one of the first people to call him and he didn't answer it so we got to talk maybe an hour later and immediately we were excited just because of the chemistry that we've built over the last month.

"I think we checked on each other every time after every workout we've had, and we've had a good bit, so we've been keeping up with each other through the process."

All three draftees will see their first action with the Jazz starting next week during the 2019 Salt Lake City Summer League from July 1-3 at Vivint Arena. Oni spent three seasons at Yale, being named Ivy League Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons, while Brantley and Wright-Foreman battled with one another in the Colonial Athletic Association for mid-majors College of Charleston and Hofstra.

Wright-Foreman finished second in the nation in scoring this past season, averaging 27.1 points per game. In April, he was also a teammate of Brantley's during the 2019 Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they won the title.

"Our relationship, we've played in the 3-on-3 tournament together and we've just been bonding ever since after going to war for four years," Wright-Foreman said of Brantley. "So, just to be able to have somebody that's supportive and someone that you can call your friend, best friend at that, and to add (Miye) in this equation, too. It's just amazing and we're just ready to work. We're a great group of guys that just want to work, work, work and that's what we're going to do."

“We’re a great group of guys that just want to work, work, work and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Jazz rookie Justin Wright-Foreman

During their short time together in Salt Lake City, the trio has already bonded, even attending the Rookie Camp session of Jazz Youth Camps and Clinics on Wednesday together at the Provo Rec Center, where they posed for photos and signed autographs. They share the passion to prove their worth after coming from all mid-major programs.

"I think we definitely have a chip on our shoulder, a lot of us were underrecruited, maybe overlooked, and so we just try to put the most we can into every day," said Oni, who averaged 17.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists during his junior season.

Wright-Foreman agrees. Now, the work has just begun.

"Extra motivation is an understatement," said Wright-Foreman, a native of Queens, New York. "I can speak for all of us here, we just have a chip on our shoulder, and we work like it every day."