Hlas: The road from Iowa to NBA is so steep

How good must you be to play in the NBA?

The answer is obvious. At least 10 players who finished their college careers at an Iowa state university will play in an NBA summer league over the next two weeks. Few will have NBA jobs come autumn.

Only two active players from our state's schools have played in the NBA, and they have yet to play much. Georges Niang of Iowa State and Jarrod Uthoff of Iowa were in a combined 32 NBA games this season. Both presently have unguaranteed contracts for the season ahead.

Just three — Niang, Abdel Nader, and their former ISU teammate, Monte Morris, were drafted, all in the second round.

Six are fresh out of college. Most of them will be playing overseas or in the NBA G League (formerly the D-League) by November.

Meanwhile, the NBA window appears to have closed for second-round picks Devyn Marble (2014) and Aaron White (2015) of Iowa. Marble was in 44 NBA games over two seasons with the Orlando Magic before playing in Greece and Italy. White went to two Washington Wizards training camps, but has played in Germany and Russia, and now is headed to a team in Lithuania.

It looked like Uthoff found a home with the Dallas Mavericks when the Mavs signed him to a deal for next season after he played for them in the final month of the 2016-17 season. But last week the Houston Rockets made six trades to take on players with non-guaranteed salaries to use them to match salaries in their acquisition of Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers. Houston sent cash considerations to Dallas for Uthoff.

Here is what has been stated as fact by people who seem to know such things: Uthoff can be traded by the Rockets right now, but can't be traded in a deal with other players for the next two months.

Like Uthoff, Niang would earn $1,312,631 in the coming season if he is on an NBA roster. The Pacers will decide this month if they're going to keep him. He currently is with Indiana's Summer League team in Orlando.

Accentuating the fragility of it all, Niang suffered a sprained knee in the first few minutes of the Pacers' first Summer League game Saturday afternoon. Former Cyclone Naz Mitrou-Long had 16 points for Indiana in that contest.

We're talking All-America players here, folks. Niang was a second-team Associated Press All-America and Uthoff was a third-teamer in 2016.

Morris is no slouch, either, having been second-team or third-team All-America according to Basketball Times, CBSsports.com, NBCSports.com and USA TODAY. He was a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 player, and was the Most Outstanding Player in the Big 12 tournament.

Yet, he has proving to do to secure a roster spot with the Denver Nuggets.

Then there's Peter Jok of Iowa, the Big Ten's leading scorer in 2016-17. Like Uthoff, Jok was a first-team All-Big Ten player who didn't get drafted. He will play on the New Orleans Pelicans' summer league squad in Las Vegas.

I watched Jok in game after game last winter and said to myself 'NBA player.' I thought the same about Marble, White and Uthoff.

But the climb from the college game to the NBA is steep. Of the 60 players taken in last month's NBA draft, only four were from the Big Ten. The first was Michigan's D.J. Wilson, who got exactly zero votes for the coaches' and media's all-league teams.

The second was Indiana's OG Anunoby, who suffered a season-ending knee injury midway through the season.

At least Big Ten Player of the Year Caleb Swanigan of Purdue went in the first round with the 26th pick. National Player of the Year Frank Mason of Kansas didn't go until No. 34.

Does Player A fit in Position B on Team C. If so, how does he affect the team's salary structure?

Basketball can be a complex game.