Between stops on his basketball journey, former Celtics guard Tremont Waters heads back home to play in Greater Hartford Pro-Am

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Tremont Waters grew up at the Greater Hartford Pro-Am. His dad would bring him from New Haven to Hartford, where he’d lie on the sideline with one of his best friends to watch the games.

As he got older and developed into one of the best high school players in the country while at Notre Dame in West Haven, Waters started taking the GHPA court himself.

On Saturday, with the event moved to Middletown, Waters made his return.

“It’s a dope thing to be able to come back and play,” Waters said after putting on a show in front of several Pro-Am legends he used to watch. “That’s very inspirational. I know there’s kids around that are coming to watch, and you never know who is going to grow to become the next player to be able to play in this. That’s pretty inspirational for me.”

The 24-year-old Waters, who spent part of the summer playing for the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA Summer League, has already had an interesting basketball journey.

The 2017 Gatorade Connecticut Player of the Year was named First Team All-SEC in his sophomore year at LSU, helping lead the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament. He was selected in the second round of the 2019 NBA draft, 51st overall, by the Boston Celtics, and was named the NBA G League Rookie of the Year in 2020.

Waters played in 37 games for Boston over two seasons, averaging 3.8 points and 2.1 assists in 9.6 minutes per game before signing with the Milwaukee Bucks, and then being traded to the Lakers’ G League team.

This fall, he’ll continue his journey overseas, as he signed a contract at the end of July to play the upcoming season in France’s top league. Before joining Metropolitans 92 in Paris, he’ll try to help the Puerto Rico men’s national team qualify for the Olympics. Waters’ mother is of Puerto Rican descent.

“Along my journey, playing with the Celtics, going to Puerto Rico, going from state to state playing with G League teams — I’m just literally having fun, enjoying it and just trying to give back as much as I can when it comes to helping younger guys play,” Waters said.

He scored 29 points on Saturday for the All Faith Memorial Angels after converting several dazzling layups at the rim, sinking a step-back fadeaway jumper and throwing down an alley-oop that ignited the crowd surrounding the perimeter of the court.

“The last couple years have been up and down,” Waters said. “Just enjoying the journey, not getting too high on wins, too low on losses. Just taking it day-by-day, doing what I can to control what I can control and try to be an even better person.”