Wayne Ellington has always been somewhat of a forgotten man.
When the Newtown Square, Pa., native committed to North Carolina, he was lost in the shuffle as the No. 3 recruit of the Tar Heels' stacked class behind forward Brandon Wright and guard Ty Lawson. On consecutive Final Four teams in 2008 and 2009, Ellington was again relegated to third fiddle as teammates Tyler Hansbrough and Lawson won ACC Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons.
Even as UNC concluded a dominant 2009 season with a National Championship and Ellington was awarded the Most Outstanding Player, thanks to scoring 39 points and adding 13 rebounds in the final two games of the tournament, the spotlight of the victory focused on Hansbrough winning the NCAA title in his senior season.
In the 2009 NBA Draft, Ellington was again ignored and watched as Hansbrough and Lawson got their names called. Drafted No. 28 overall to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the likes of Byron Mullens, Austin Daye and Eric Maynor were picked ahead of Ellington, players who have long since seen their NBA careers fizzle out.
During his time with the Timberwolves from 2009-2012, his minutes never went above 19.1 per game in any season and he was overshadowed by Sebastian Telfair and other players, leading to an eventual trade after the 2012 season to the Memphis Grizzlies.
He was regarded as loose chain by the Tennessee ball club and traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers midseason on Jan. 22, 2013 as part of a package for Jon Leuer, yet another athlete who is no longer in the professional league.
It was during his time with the Cavaliers that he started to break through and averaged over 10 points per game for the first time in his career. Yet even his run with the Cavaliers did not help him establish more playing time, or find a stable home. Following his stint with Cleveland, Ellington spent the next three seasons with a trio of teams (Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets). However, he was unable to recreate the success he had with the Cavaliers, until he finally got his chance.
By the time Ellington signed with the Miami Heat, Hansbrough was already out of the league (his last season was 2016) and Lawson was about to undergo his last year in the NBA. Even with the former Tar Heels who overshadowed him gone, a new set of UNC players were grabbing headlines, mainly Harrison Barnes and Danny Green.
All Ellington has done since signing with the Heat is produce. His first season with the team he hit a career-high 149 3-pointers and followed it up with 227, the sixth most in the league. So far in the 2018-2019 campaign, the sharpshooter is hitting 2.9 3-pointers a game, tied for his career-best mark.
