CWU Men’s Basketball’s guard Malik Montoya announced in a tweet on April 16 that he will enter his name into the 2019 NBA draft.

“I enjoyed my four years of college basketball and I gave it my all every time I touched the court,” Montoya said in the tweet. “Thank you to all my family and friends and coaches and teammates for everything and I’m going to give it my all because I have nothing to lose.”

Montoya averaged 17.9 points per game at Federal Way High School in Federal Way, Washington. He also helped the Eagles win the 4A State Championship his senior year.

Montoya played basketball his first two years of college at Seattle University. His freshman year, he played in 13 games before a knee injury took him off the court. In his sophomore year at Seattle University he appeared in eight games. Montoya then decided to transfer to CWU to play out the final two years of his college career.

In his junior year at CWU, Montoya was fifth on the team in points scored, third in assists, third in blocks and second in steals. In his senior year, Montoya was fourth on the team in points scored, third in three-point field goals, third in rebounds, third in assists and first in steals with 36.

“I really have nothing to lose,” Montoya said. “I’m just trying to get my name out a little more and hopefully get an opportunity to play overseas or maybe even in the NBA.”

Family has been a big part of Montoya’s career. From a young age his father put a basketball in his hand and his family always knew that whatever he did would come easy to him.

His father watched his games his freshman year at Seattle University before moving to Louisiana. During Montoya’s senior year at CWU, his mother moved closer to watch his games and his father surprised him by moving back to Washington just in time for the last two games of Montoya’s college career, including his senior night.

“My family has played a tremendous, big role in my life. They’ve always been there for me,” Montoya said. “I had a couple tough times growing up with living situations and transferring… trying to find a way to [Amatuer Athletic Union] practice and coming up with money to pay for these things. My parents did the best they could and if they could figure it out, they did their best to figure it out.”

Montoya’s grandmother Kris Hudson also watched Montoya at CWU. Hudson enjoyed the way her grandson brought life to the court.

“He mesmerized the crowd. I loved that. He’s good at what he does,” Hudson said.

When asked how high of a ceiling she thinks her grandson has in basketball, Hudson said “he can reach as far as he wants to.”

Montoya’s teammate Jackson Price enjoyed playing with Montoya on the court. Price saw the fun side of Montoya and the passion Montoya had for winning.

“He’s a character, he likes to have fun. But when it came to basketball he was a very competitive guy,” Price said. “I don’t think he liked to lose… he worked hard in practice and people looked up to him as a leader.”

In the 2018 NBA Draft, 52 out of the 4,181 draft eligible athletes were drafted out of the NCAA. According to Jim Sukup, writer for rpiratings.com, out of all 2018-19 NBA opening day rosters, two players attended non-Division I colleges.

Outside of his time playing basketball, Montoya is on track to earn his bachelor’s degree in public relations. If basketball doesn’t work out, Montoya still wants to be around athletics.

“I really want to be a P.E. teacher. I want to help kids with anything… with life and just help them out,” Montoya said.

Montoya’s main goal after college is to put himself in a good situation financially to be able to give back to his family for the support they have shown him.

“I got a lot of little cousins and family looking up to me,” Montoya said. “I know I’m trying to put myself into position so I can bring that to my family so they can be rich and well-off in my future.”