St. John's Oziyah Sellers ready to prove he can play in NBA with Knicks' Summer League squad
St. John's guard Oziyah Sellers at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6, 2026. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Opportunity has come knocking and Oziyah Sellers is ready to answer.
St. John’s entered an epic stretch in March by repeating as Big East regular-season and tournament champion and reaching its first NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 since 1999. And the big moments kept coming in June at the NBA Draft with Zuby Ejiofor going in the first round to Atlanta and Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins picked in the second round by Boston and Denver, respectively.
But it didn’t end there. Two days after the draft concluded Sellers was signed by the Knicks to play for them in the NBA Summer League. He will don the uniform of the NBA champions when they play the Nets Friday night in Las Vegas.
“It was great to see my three guys getting picked in the draft and to see them get the opportunity they’ve been dreaming of since they were little,” Sellers told Newsday in a phone interview.
When his agent called two days later with the news about the Knicks, Sellers said, “it was an amazing feeling to hear about the Knicks and know I’m getting an opportunity. I’m very grateful for it and I’m going to try to take full advantage of this . . . and prove that I could play at this level.”
Sellers was invited to work out for several franchises including Golden State, the Pistons and Rockets. The one with the Knicks was his last and came right before the draft.
“There’s a lot of fans who root for both the Johnnies and the Knicks, which is very cool,” Sellers said. “The New York basketball fans are great. They really rally and it’ll be fun that they’ll still be pulling for me in a Knicks uniform.”
Sellers, had a great reputation as an outside shooter when St. John’s coach Rick Pitino brought him from Stanford to play his senior season. He ended up the third leading scorer for the Red Storm with a 10.3-point average in 28.6 minutes and he shot 35.1% on three-point attempts.
“[St. John’s] prepared me well [for this] in a lot of different ways,” Sellers said. “Coach Pitino, he prepares you for whatever else is out there. He taught me so much that I am going to take into this, no matter where it leads. . . . I feel ready for the opportunity I’m getting.”
Playing in the NBA Summer League presents possibilities. The Knicks’ roster is largely set, but Sellers’ play could make an impression with them or with executives with other organizations that see him.
Sellers trained after the Storm’s season in Los Angeles with the same group as Mitchell.
“I'm very confident in my shooting, even more since the season ended,” Sellers said. “I’ve gotten thousands upon thousands of reps in and feel like I am a lot better shooter and a better overall player now. I’m excited to go out there and show it.”
As he watched the Knicks run through the playoffs and to the NBA championship, Sellers thought he was looking at something very familiar.
He said, “just the toughness they play with, how fast they play, how locked in they were on offense and defense. It kind of reminds me of our Johnnies team a little bit. They use some of the same principles, like the focus on defense, that we did.”
Of the mindset he’s going to bring in to Las Vegas, Sellers said, “I’m going to play with a chip on my shoulder and use everything I’ve got to prove I can play at this level. I’ll be playing super hard on every single play and giving it my all. . . . Those are the same things coach Pitino expected every day.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
