Long Island Nets acquire point guard Kiefer Sykes from Motor City Cruise

The Long Island Nets have themselves a point guard.

Long Island announced Monday that they acquired point guard Keifer Sykes from the Motor City Cruise. In return, the Nets sent G League rights to Treveon Graham and a first round pick in the 2024 NBA G League Draft.

Sykes 29, appeared in 32 NBA games — 11 starts — with the Indiana Pacers in 2021-22 , averaging 5.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 17.7 minutes per contest, just one stop on his basketball journey.

He also played for three G League teams, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, the Austin Spurs and most recently, the Motor City Cruise where last year, he averaged 15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 7.9 assists and 1.0 steals in 31.9 minutes per contest across 29 regular season games all but two of them starts. Sykes has also played five seasons internationally in Australia, China, Italy, Greece, Korea and Turkey.

It’s no surprise. J.R. Holden, the Long Island GM, told NetsDaily that the best advice he got on taking the job in 2022 was to find a point guard.

“You have to have a point guard,” Holden said, recounting what he was told his predecessors. “You need the steady point guard.”

Prior to beginning his professional career, Sykes played four collegiate seasons (2011-15) at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, averaging 16.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 26.3 minutes per game across 127 games (125 starts). He was named the Horizon League Player of the Year and earned consecutive Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention honors following his junior and senior seasons at Green Bay.