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PROVO — Eric Mika spent two years at BYU, but the former Lone Peak standout felt ready for the NBA.
After going unclaimed in Thursday's NBA draft, he'll get a shot at a roster via the NBA Summer League.
Mika will join the Miami Heat summer league team, which opens summer-league play July 1 in Orlando and plays July 7-17 in Las Vegas.
The 6-foot-10, 230-pound Mika elected to forego his final two seasons of eligibility at BYU this spring, opting instead for the NBA draft after spending four years away from high school that included two years on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy.
When Mika returned, following a phenomenal freshman year, he picked up right where he left off. A full-time starter, first-team all-West Coast Conference center and finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award given to the top center in college basketball, Mika averaged 20.3 points and 9.2 rebounds while helping the Cougars to a 22-12 record as a sophomore.
He expectedly put his name into the NBA draft to attend several pre-draft workouts that included the annual NBA Combine, but announced he would not be coming back to Provo after receiving positive feedback from several teams, including his hometown Utah Jazz.
Prior to his BYU career, Mika (along with current BYU hoopsters Nick Emery and T.J. Haws) led Lone Peak to three Class 5A state championships and the mythical MaxPreps national championship in 2012-13. The No. 3-rated center in his class by ESPN and Scout, Mika averaged 16.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game while helping the Knights to a 26-1 record under then-head coach (and current BYU assistant) Quincy Lewis.
