Mason Walters signing with One Motive Sports agency

Mar. 27—JAMESTOWN — After a decorated five-year college basketball career, Jamestown native Mason Walters has taken the next step in his basketball journey by signing with sports agency One Motive Sports.

The former University of Jamestown and University of Wyoming star announced the move in a joint Instagram post with One Motive Sports on March 21.

"I felt comfortable with them, they made me feel like family and I know they have the best interest for me," Walters said.

Walters is the second former Jimmie to sign with the agency after Oberweiser. While the agency has three FIBA-licensed agents on staff, Walters said he signed with the company's founder, Drew Kelso.

Kelso said Walters is the first of their rookie class to sign with the agency.

"I really started paying attention to him his junior year at Jamestown and his senior year I actually flew to Jamestown to see him play a couple games in December of '22," Kelso said. "We came up there, evaluated him, met with him, met with the family. There was the possibility of him going to the transfer portal and going Division I for his senior year and going pro. We wound up actually signing him on a name, image and likeness deal with our partner company, the NIL deal, and helped facilitate the move to Wyoming and then when he got done, he's obviously free to choose whoever he wanted to sign with but we built a relationship up that it was easy and seamless transition to sign with us."

Oberweiser introduced Walters to Kelso when he was deciding whether to play his fifth year or play professionally. Walters said former Jimmies head coach Danny Neville also played a part in him signing with the agency.

Walters' collegiate career came to an end on March 13. Since then, Walters said he has returned home to Jamestown and is taking about two weeks off before preparing for a showcase that the agency is putting on May 5 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He said he will be in Arkansas for five to six weeks showcasing his skills.

Kelso said the workouts will help the players prepare for NBA workouts.

"Mason's gonna be interesting just to see, he averaged 12 points and five rebounds a game in the Mountain West," Kelso said. "I think he'll get a couple NBA workouts, what they call pre-draft workouts just so teams can look at him and then from there we'll evaluate what the best option is for him. Obviously, overseas will be there. He can play in a really solid entry level in Europe for sure probably better than most guys coming in or he can have a chance to stay here and play in the NBA G League next year. But, we're gonna wait and feel it out and see what happens."

Walters said the workouts will include skills and strength weight training. He said the workouts also will include pickup basketball games.

Kelso said the workouts will be used to help Walters improve on all aspects of his game.

" ... I'm just excited to get there and get to work out with some other really good players, be able to show my skills in front of different scouts is exciting and just making the most of my opportunity," Walters said. "I'm really blessed to have that and I'm lucky to have that."

During his collegiate career, Walters played in a combined 141 games scoring 2,931 points, grabbing 1,358 rebounds and collecting 310 assists. During his season as a Cowboy, Walters played in 22 games, averaging 12.2 points, 5.4 rebounds per game and 45 total assists. Walters missed the first 11 games of the season due to a thumb injury.

"I think it went really well," Walters said. "I obviously didn't plan on getting hurt, I didn't want to get hurt by any means but it happens and I thought I did a good job of being ready when I was able to come back and be healthy to play. So I think I made the most of the opportunity. I was able to prove myself at a higher level and I thought that went well. So I met a lot of really good people. I think it was, overall, a great opportunity and experience and something that I'm glad that I did and will cherish forever."

Walters said he has spoken to multiple connections about what it is like to play overseas as he goes through this process.

"I met a couple people down at Wyoming and I've known people like Kevin who have played," Walters said. "Kevin ... I've talked to him a little bit. I've just known some people who have done it and to be able to learn stuff from them about what it takes and some things that are good to know before going over there I think are important."

The agency lists 56 players as current clients. The players are on teams around the world.

As of Monday, March 25, Walters said he has not started to look into playing overseas. Walters said he will be waiting until the summer to see where he will play. He said he is excited to start his professional career and he will be working to stay in basketball shape while he waits for an opportunity.

"I'm lucky to be able to say I can continue my basketball career, not a lot of people can say they could be a professional basketball player," Walters said. "So just figuring out where I'm gonna end up and try and enjoy it and hopefully have a good career but just taking it one year at a time and just getting to play the game I love is something that I'm very blessed to say I can do after college."

Kelso said Walters will be in Arkansas through the NBA Draft in June and they are hoping to have Walters make an NBA Summer League roster.

"NBA Summer League is in July, we would love to get him in that," Kelso said. "That's the goal, obviously it's not easy to get into. But, we had six guys in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. That would be a goal of mine to get Mason in that just so he can play in front of the rest of the NBA and other teams from around the world that come to Vegas to see it. We plan to know where he's gonna be by the end of July. Whether that's in the States or overseas. We've already had a couple teams from overseas reach out."

As far as some of the advice that he has gotten from his corner, Walters said it's all about the work.

"The advice that I have received from coaches and people in my circle is to go in with a mindset of looking to continuously improve, be ready to work and compete, take care of my body in terms of recovery and maintenance and enjoy the process," Walters said.