Nate Sestina, EJ Montgomery sign free agent contracts

LEXINGTON, KY (WTVQ) – Former Cats EJ Montgomery and Nate Sestina didn’t have their name called in the NBA Draft, but now they will get their shot at the NBA.

On Twitter, Coach Cal announced both had been signed. Montgomery to the Bucks and Sestina to the Brooklyn Nets.

Sestina has been signed to an Exhibit-10 contract. This means Sestina will be invited to Nets camp and they will have the option to turn his contract into a two-way contract. This would allow Sestina to play in the G-League and possibly be called up to the Nets professional team. They are one-year deals.

The Bucknell transfer was brought in to give instant leadership and veteran play to a young Cal team. Sestina played an important leadership role on a young team and provided key minutes off the bench. He started seven of 28 games played.

While playing for Kentucky, he surpassed 1,000 career points late in the season at LSU. He finished his college career with 1,037 points, 621 rebounds and 86 blocks. Last season, he averaged 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in his lone season at UK with four double-figure scoring games. He made one of his biggest impact from deep. He made 40.7% from 3-point range, the second-best mark on the team.

EJ Montgomery signed a two-way contract with the Bucks. This will allow him a shot to make the team in camp or play for their G-League affiliate.

Montgomery’s time at Kentucky will always be looked at as a “what if” scenario. Most Solid Blue fans will say Montgomery never reached his full potential at Kentucky. As a freshman, Montgomery came in as the top-ranked recruit in Kentucky’s class. He struggled as a freshman, but improved in his sophomore season and evolved into a full-time starter.

He posted career highs in points (6.1 per game), rebounding (5.4 per game), blocks (1.1 per game), field-goal percentage (51.8%) and free-throw percentage (66.7%). Montgomery carved a role late in the season with key hustle plays, coming up with important rebounds and 50-50 balls as UK won 17 of 20 down the stretch. His most memorable moment came in what would end up being Kentucky’s final game of the season. He had the game-winning tip-in with 11 seconds to play to help UK overcome an 18-point deficit at Florida.