'Make them believe': Toronto Raptors reward Terence Davis' gamble

LAS VEGAS — There was no better place for a gamble this big.

Terence Davis was entering the NBA Summer League coming off a disappointing month of June. The Second Team All-SEC guard out of Ole Miss went undrafted, forcing him to make a decision.

Should he take a two-way contract, or put his faith in his game during the Las Vegas Summer League as a glorified tryout in front of numerous team general managers, executives and scouts?

After Davis played one summer league game for the Denver Nuggets, he was sitting in the SkyBar in the Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel when he got the news he worked for. The Toronto Raptors were offering him a two-year contract, with guaranteed money in the first year, making Davis the best success story from this year's Summer League.

"I couldn't believe it at first," Davis said Thursday, after his first summer league game with the Raptors. "After one game I was kind of shocked. It took some time to really come in."

It was easy to see why the Raptors offered Davis guaranteed money after only one game. Not only was he the best player on the floor, he was efficient as well. Davis scored a team-high 22 points, but did so on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, and 5-of-7 from 3-point range. He also nabbed five rebounds and dished three assists.

The next day, the Raptors had Davis on a flight to Toronto and completed the deal, which was first reported byThe Athletic's Shams Charania.

"I turned down a lot of two-ways," Davis said. "I just told myself there are other ways to get through this process."

During that process, Davis said he's had two sayings that have helped him push forward: "If I don't go through the front door, I'll go through the back door" and "Make them believe."

Finding a back door into the NBA isn't easy, but the Raptors have had a penchant for finding players that are able to do that. Fred VanVleet, a star at Wichita State, went undrafted, and became one of the Raptors better players during their championship run this past June.

While Davis hasn't spoken to VanVleet, he can share solidarity with him in the disappointment in going undrafted. Not only did he have to face the undrafted label, he had to face his family and tell them the news as well.

VanVleet had to do the same after the 2016 NBA Draft, and the Raptors took him and developed him into a key role player. Already, Raptors coaches are seeing the multitude of talents that Davis can bring to the organization.

"The thing that impressed me the most was that I don't think there was one thing that impressed me the most," Raptors summer league coach Jon Goodwillie said. "He guarded, he was volunteering to guard some of the better players on the team."

"He's probably a bit better ball handler than I was expecting. That was a nice surprise."

Those multitude of talents, Davis said, are part of the energy he brings to the table as an athlete. But he's not done, either. This falls into his second saying of "make them believe."

"There's just a whole bunch more to prove," he said. "I'm just going to put in whole lot of hard work."

For now, it means the world that Toronto has put its faith in Davis, who said he got to see a bit of Toronto when he flew to the city earlier this week. Although he didn't see much, he say enough to put his heart in the city.

"I'm a people's person, I can talk to anybody and I'm not a stranger at all," Davis said. "I definitely think I'm going to fall in love with Toronto."

Heading to Toronto technically means Davis has become an international athlete, a title that shows how far he's come since he was playing basketball in the state of Mississippi.

Starting from Southaven High School and continuing to Ole Miss, Davis has since moved onto the biggest stage basketball has to offer. Yet, he still keeps home close to his heart.

"That's my town," Davis said of Southaven. "I always got to keep Mississippi close to me."

Follow Chris Kwiecinski on Twitter @OchoK_. You can contact him at CKwiecinsk@gannett.com, or (435) 414-3261.