Santa Cruz Warriors Travis Leslie received a great Valentines day surprise as he was invited to participate in Saturday evening's NBA D-League All-star game. He also provided a surprise of his own as he took home the game's Most Valuable Player award.
After receiving a late invitation, Lelsie scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds as he lead the Prospects to the 139-125 win over the Futures. He also had the crowd at the edge of their seats with several high-flying dunks.
The performance was nothing new from Warriors fans as Leslie has been this efficient and electrifying all season long. He has lead the team in both points and rebounds per game with 16.2 and 7.1 respectively. He has also shot above 50 percent from the field all season long.
All Santa Cruz Warriors were initially shunned by the league when the voting was released. It was only until Cory Joseph from the Austin Toros and Andrew Goudelock from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers were both ruled out because of injury that Leslie received word that he would participate in the All-Star game.
"Guess I'll be going to Houston," said Leslie over Twitter on Valentines day.
Last year Gerald Green won the NBA D-league All-Star game MVP and hasn't looked back since. Green received a 10-day contract last season with the New Jersey Nets and then signed a contract to stay with the team through the end of the season. Now Green is with the Indiana Pacers on a three year deal and is still considered as one of the best dunkers in the NBA.
Leslie could follow in his footsteps and be the second Warrior(center Chris Johnson earlier this year was called up by the Minnesota Timberwolves) to receive the Gatorade Call-up.
