Royce White’s basketball team wins Canada championship

Royce White is the toast of London.

That's London, Ontario, where White's London Lightning team won the National Basketball League of Canada championship Monday night with a 129-116 victory over the Halifax Hurricanes for a 4-2 win in the best-of-7 championship series.

White was a first-team All-Big 12 player for Iowa State in 2012 and was a first-round draft choice of the Houston Rockets that year. But he never played for the Rockets, and his only NBA regular-season experience was three games with the Sacramento Kings during the 2013-14 season.

It wasn't any lack of basketball skill that kept White from playing for Houston or anyone else in the NBA. For a fuller picture, I urge you to read this excellent story published last month by Mary Pilon for Esquire.

White signed with the Lightning last year. He played well enough to be the NBL's Most Valuable Player, averaging 19.7 points and 10 rebounds.

He was the man Monday, with 34 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists. Here's the story from the London Free Press on the clinching game.

Where White goes from here will be interesting to see.