Tamar Bates is 23 and has never played in a regular-season NBA game, but his story is already a full one. He's a Kansas City, Kan., kid who went to Indiana and barely played, became a father as a college freshman, transferred home to be near his daughter, and turned into the best free-throw shooter in the country. He scored 29 to beat No. 1 Kansas. Then his first pro season ended with a broken foot and a waiver. Utah is his second chance, and he's on a two-way contract, so it comes with an asterisk.
Kansas City, then IMG
Bates was born in Kansas City, Kan., on Feb. 21, 2003, and started high school at Piper. As a junior there he averaged 22.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists and made 44.1% of his threes, per the Grand Rapids Gold. He was a two-time all-state pick and 247Sports ranked him the No. 23 player in the country.
For his senior year he left for IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., to play tougher competition, and averaged 11.4 points there. He first committed to Texas in 2020, then switched and signed with Indiana, where he was one of Mike Woodson's first recruits.
He's also a Kansas City sports kid through and through. When Denver signed him in 2025, he told the Denver Gazette he wasn't changing football teams:
"I'm not no fake Chiefs fan. I'm in Broncos country, but when the Chiefs come to town, y'all know what colors I'm going to have on."
His credentials go back a while, too: "I've been with the Chiefs since Matt Cassel, you know what I'm saying?"
Indiana, and a daughter
Indiana didn't go the way anyone hoped. Bates averaged 3.9 points as a freshman and 6.1 as a sophomore, and his Hoosiers career ended with a combined 0-for-13 from the field in two NCAA Tournament games in 2023, per Sports Illustrated.
The bigger news of those years was off the court. He became a father during his freshman year, and when he committed to Missouri in April 2023, his daughter was in the announcement in a Missouri Tiger costume, per SI's Indiana site. He transferred to Missouri to be closer to her and his family in Kansas City.
He left Bloomington on good terms. Two years later, he told SI:
"It honestly fills my heart with gratitude that the Indiana people still see me as a Hoosier."
Missouri: 36 in a losing season, 29 against No. 1
Missouri was a different player's story. In his first season in Columbia, 2023-24, Bates averaged 13.5 points on a bad team that didn't win a single SEC game (0-18 in conference). His best night came in a loss: a career-high 36 points on 13-of-21 shooting and 9-of-9 at the line against Florida in January. His coach, Dennis Gates, told the Jefferson City News Tribune: "Individual performance wise, that was probably one of the best I've seen in a long time."
As a senior he was part of a complete turnaround. On Dec. 8, 2024, the Kansas City, Kan., native scored 29 points with five steals as Missouri beat No. 1 Kansas 76-67, per the AP. It was Missouri's first win over Kansas since 2012, and Bates scored 18 of his points in the first half and hit the layup that made it 72-63 with 1:16 left. That December he was named SEC Player of the Week and NCAA March Madness national player of the week, per the Gold.
Missouri went 22-12 and got a No. 6 seed before losing to Drake in the first round. Bates averaged 13.3 points that season and shot 94.6% from the free-throw line, which led the nation and set a Missouri record, per the Gold. He also shot 51% from the field and 40% from three (NBA.com).
Undrafted, then a broken foot
Bates went through the full pre-draft circuit in 2025: a college all-star game, Portsmouth, the G League Elite Camp, the NBA combine, and 13 team workouts, per the Denver Gazette. NBA.com's draft profile compared him to Norman Powell and Isaiah Joe. He wasn't drafted, and Denver signed him to a two-way contract right after. His own scouting report, to the Gazette:
"I would describe myself as a 3-and-D guy that has the skillset to score at all three levels."
He was very good in the G League. In 13 games with the Grand Rapids Gold he averaged 19.5 points, per the Jazz, and shot over 40% from three, per SI. Then, in December 2025, the Nuggets announced he'd had surgery on a fractured left foot and would be re-evaluated in 12 weeks. He never got into a game for Denver. In early March 2026, the Nuggets waived him to make room for David Roddy on a two-way deal, per the Nuggets' release.
Why Utah
Utah already knew him. He'd interviewed with the Jazz before the 2025 draft and knew people in the organization, per ABC 17. On June 26, NBA insider Michael Scotto reported that the Jazz planned to sign him, per the Columbia Missourian, and the team made it official on July 3: a two-way contract, terms not disclosed, per the Jazz.
That contract matters. A two-way player splits time between the Jazz and their G League team, the Salt Lake City Stars, and can appear in up to 50 NBA games, per the Deseret News. Utah's three two-way spots went to Bates, Blake Hinson, and Trey Alexander.
The Jazz were careful with the foot in Summer League. He sat some games with soreness in it, but in three games he averaged 10 points, shot 50% from three, threw down a contested dunk against Washington, and led the team with 16 points against San Antonio, per the Deseret News. He was also mentoring an old Missouri teammate, Mark Mitchell, who was going through his own first pro summer with another organization, per ABC 17. He sees the G League as part of the plan, he told ABC 17:
"Obviously in the G League, you get a lot more reps and a lot more time to develop, so you get really comfortable with the basketball in your hands."
Preseason: a quiet start
The preseason hasn't given him much. He's played late minutes in all three games, and he's 1-of-8 from the field for 3 points in about 34 minutes (box scores via NBA.com):
| Game | Min | Pts | FG | 3PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 4 at Denver | 14:47 | 0 | 0-3 | 0-2 |
| Oct. 6 vs. Denver | 12:00 | 0 | 0-1 | 0-1 |
| Oct. 12 vs. San Antonio | 7:02 | 3 | 1-4 | 1-1 |
Against the Spurs, the end-of-bench group he was part of got outscored by 13 over the last seven minutes (our recap). He wears No. 0 for the Jazz.
Our take: three garbage-time stints in October don't tell us much about a guy who averaged nearly 20 a game in the G League before his foot broke. He hasn't had a long healthy stretch of games since December. The shot is the reason he's here, and we'd like to see him get Stars minutes to find it again.
Role
Bates is a 6-4 shooting guard whose calling card is shooting: 94.6% from the line and 40% from three as a college senior. He calls himself a 3-and-D guard, and his steal numbers back up the defensive part. On a two-way deal behind George, Peterson, Collier, Green and Okogie, his job is with the Salt Lake City Stars, with call-ups when injuries thin out the backcourt.
2026-27 prediction
He spends most of the season with the Stars and gets 10 to 15 Jazz appearances, most of them late in blowouts. If the foot holds up and he shoots like he did in Grand Rapids, he's a real candidate for a standard contract somewhere next summer, maybe here. If not, he's still 23 and has plenty of time.
Sources: Grand Rapids Gold, Sports Illustrated, SI (Indiana), Denver Gazette, Jefferson City News Tribune, AP via KPRC, Wikipedia, NBA.com draft profile, SI (Nuggets), Denver Nuggets via OurSports Central, Utah Jazz, Columbia Missourian via KOMU, ABC 17, Deseret News, and NBA.com box scores.