Dalano Banton ranks this high among former Nebraska basketball stars in part because his career is still going and looks like it might be accelerating a bit.
This year, he’s entered the second season of his career but a move to the Portland Trailblazers might have been exactly what the doctor ordered.
Banton spent two seasons with the Toronto Raptors after being a second-round pick in 2021. He had a career-high 27 points in a win at Detroit with the Raptors. As a rookie, he appeared in 64 contests for Toronto, averaging 3.2 points and 1.5 assists per game.
He started the 2023 season with the Boston Celtics and continued to come off the bench mostly, but since coming to Portland near the middle of the season, he’s gotten more playing time. In March, of 2024, Banton had back-to-back games when he scored 31 and 28 points.
Banton spent two seasons with the Nebraska basketball team after transferring from Western Kentucky. After sitting out the 2019-20 campaign, Banton played in all 27 games, including 22 starts, for the Huskers in 2020-21, averaging 9.6 points per game while leading the Huskers in both rebounding (5.9) and assists (3.9) per game.