A three-hour car ride from Indianapolis to Chicago recently gave Gonzaga assistant Stephen Gentry and Claude Nembhard time to catch up, converse and reflect on all that’s transpired for the Nembhard family the past handful of weeks and months.
Gentry and both Nembhard parents, Claude and Mary, were at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 9 to watch Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series between Andrew Nembhard’s Indiana Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Gentry and Claude Nembhard tacked on another leg to the trip, carpooling to Chicago the following day to catch younger brother Ryan in the first of two games at the G League Elite Camp, where 44 NBA prospects gathered for a week of tests, drills and scrimmages at Wintrust Arena.
“I told Claude, ‘Wow, you couldn’t ask for a better basketball weekend for your boys,’ ” Gentry said. “… I said something along the lines of, ‘Claude, your boys are doing just fine. You’ve got one that’s a big, big role, leading his team to the Eastern Conference Finals and one’s well on his way to replicating his brother’s path.’ ”
Gentry, knowing the Zags are set to enter their first extended stretch without a Nembhard at the point guard spot since 2019-20, made one last recruiting pitch to the siblings’ father.
“I joked around with him,” Gentry said. “Are we sure there’s not a third Nembhard brother out here somewhere?”
The Nembhards, and by extension every member of Gonzaga’s coaching staff, have savored May, watching Andrew and the Pacers clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive season while simultaneously following Ryan through various stages of the pre-NBA draft process.
While Andrew was averaging 14.2 points, 7.2 assists and 3.4 rebounds, helping Indiana make short work of top-seeded Cleveland in a five-game series, Ryan was handling job interviews in Chicago, playing well enough at the G League Elite Camp to earn a call-up to the NBA draft combine, where he continued to showcase his passing ability and court sense to NBA decision-makers.
“It was also kind of my personal Nembhard fix,” Gentry said. “I worked with both Andrew and Ryan here. I texted Ryan my thoughts after every single game, like, ‘Hey, maybe think about this or try this.’ So for me maybe personally, it’s my way to maybe hold onto them for a little bit longer and continue to coach them a little bit.”
Ryan shattered his Gonzaga single-season assist record by dishing out 344 assists in 2024-25 and tied Blake Stepp’s school single-game record with 16 assists on March 1 against San Francisco. Despite also leading the NCAA in assists, Ryan wasn’t initially invited to the draft combine with NBA scouts and executives often giving first priority to what Gentry called “mystery element players,” rather than well-known college standouts who’ve played three or four years on the national stage.
“Both the Nembhard brothers, you tip that ball and they’re going to shine because they know how to play the game and they’re super competitive,” said Gentry, who was accompanied by fellow GU assistant Zach Norvell Jr. at the G League Camp. “I was just sitting there with Claude watching all the testing and the shooting drills and I’m like, ‘OK,let’s just tip this ball because Ryan’s going to shine.’ ”
Nembhard had solid scoring and assist numbers at both events in Chicago, but his impact and presence were felt in a variety of other ways. Players at the G League Elite Camp were divided into four teams for the two scrimmages. Two of the other four called up to the draft combine were on Nembhard’s team, undoubtedly benefiting from the point guard’s distribution and command in scrimmage scenarios.
“I think that’s just a classic example of, Ryan makes everyone around him better, he lets everyone shine and I think that’s just a classic example,” Gentry said. “Even on the fly, new teammates and new systems that Ryan elevates the play of everyone around him.
“… He was in great spirits, has a great attitude about it and again that’s kind of the Nembhards for you. They’re such basketball purists.”
Nembhard is slated to work out with roughly 15 NBA teams over the next few weeks, according to Libaan Osman of the Toronto Star.
It’s entirely conceivable one of those will be with Andrew’s Pacers, who enter another crucial set of playoff games, opening the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden . Former GU teammate Anton Watson played in nine games for the Knicks down the stretch of the regular season, but didn’t make the team’s playoff roster.
“Obviously, we all expected it with Andrew, how good he was as a Zag, but still so surreal to walk into Gainbridge and seeing people wear Nembhard jerseys and see his picture up there on the sign as you walk into Gainbridge,” Gentry said. “It’s still kind of a surreal moment.”
The GU assistant complimented Nembhard’s parents for “raising them to be tough competitors who play with so much passion and love for the game.”
Gentry flew to Indiana to watch Nembhard and the Pacers play the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of last year’s ECF. Now entering year five as a full-time assistant on Mark Few’s staff, Gentry, a former Gonzaga guard , likes to jot down ideas, thoughts and concepts in his iPhone Notes app while watching Nembhard and the Pacers, who follow many of the same offensive strategies as the Zags.
“He’s guarding the other team’s best player, he’s drawing the toughest assignment, he’s picking up full court and dogging the ball, then he’s such a perfect sidekick to Haliburton because a lot of teams deny Tyrese, so then Andrew’s initiating the offense,” Gentry said. “But the Pacers play like us, they play super, super fast. I think it’s a terrific basketball fit because they play fast like us, they play through flow and move the ball like us, so it’s a terrific basketball fit and obviously Andrew’s smart enough to realize that.”
The viewing schedule has been full, with only a handful of nights off for Gonzaga’s coaching staff since the NBA’s postseason started.
Rui Hachimura’s Los Angeles Lakers lost an opening-round series to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but GU’s coaches were glued to a Western Conference semifinal showdown between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, pitting former college teammates Chet Holmgren and Julian Strawther against one another.
Holmgren was one of OKC’s top performers in a 4-3 series win, averaging 14.1 points and 10.9 rebounds while frequently guarding Denver center and MVP candidate Nikola Jokic, but the Thunder couldn’t clinch the series without resistance from the Nuggets and Strawther, who came off the bench to score 15 points in a Game 6 victory.
“It’s funny, you’re texting Julian good luck and then five minutes later you’re texting Chet good luck,” Gentry said. “You’re a little torn here, you’re a little split. You obviously both want them to do individually well, which they both did.”
Before he swung through the Midwest, Gentry traveled to Los Angeles to check in on Ryan Nembhard and fellow GU guard Khalif Battle, who were going through a predraft training camp at Loyola Marymount. Gentry and Nembhard had a chance to pop over to the Intuit Dome to watch Strawther’s Nuggets square off with the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 of an opening-round series.
There could be one final meeting of ex-Zags teammates should Holmgren’s Thunder and Nembhard’s Pacers both advance to the NBA Finals, leaving GU’s staff in another potential bind.
“At this point, you’re cheering for the Zags,” Gentry said. “Hopefully, (they) do individually well and pull for them. It’s kind of funny how sometimes you’ve got to pick one.”
