The South Dakota State men’s basketball program has had a steady flow of former players make their way into the professional ranks the last few years. That will be evident this fall as several Jackrabbits get set to begin the 2024-25 season overseas.

The two most recent Jackrabbits that are set to begin their professional careers are Luke Appel and Charlie Easley. Appel and Easley both signed their first contracts with teams in Belgium and Spain, respectively.

Easley will be competing for Palmer Basket Mallorca, a Spanish club based out of the city of Palma on the island of Mallorca. The team plays in the third basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. The league features 28 teams, which begin competition in early October.

Appel signed with Okapi Aalst this July which is located out of Aalst, Belgium. The club is part of the BNXT League, which consists of teams from both Belgium and the Netherlands. The league is in the first tier of basketball in both the Dutch and Belgian system.

Another former Jackrabbit will be on a rival team competing in the BNXT League. Douglas Wilson signed this summer with House of Talents Kortrijk Spurs. The club is based in Kortrijk, Belgium. Wilson will be a member of his third team overseas. The 2020 Summit League Player of the Year and 2022 Summit League Tournament MVP spent the 2023-24 season with UMF Alftanes in Reykjavik, Iceland. Wilson averaged 18.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and nearly two assists in 23 games for the Icelandic Subway League side.

The BNXT League begins its season officially on Saturday.

Recent graduate Matt Dentlinger enters his second season of professional basketball. Dentlinger will play a second year in the Swiss Basketball League, though he will be switching clubs. The 2023 SDSU graduate played in 35 games last season for the Geneva Lions. He averaged 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds for the club that finished fourth. This season, Dentlinger will suit up for Union Neuchatel Basket. The club took sixth in the preliminary phase of the league schedule, but like the Lions had its season end in the SBL semifinals.

Dentlinger and Neuchatel begin their schedule in late September.

Three-time Summit League Player of the Year Mike Daum will be playing his sixth season of professional basketball during the 2024-25 slate. Daum will compete for a new side in KK Crvena Zvezda for his first season with the club in Belgrade, Serbia. KK Crvena Zvezda competes in the Serbian League, ABA League and continental top-tier EuroLeague. The squad is regarded as one of the most successful clubs in Serbian history as Zvezda has won nine consecutive Serbian championships and seven Adriatic titles over the past decade. Daum begins his campaign this month.

Kai Williams is a former Jackrabbit that will be suiting up for the Milton Keynes Breakers Basketball Club in England’s National Basketball League. Williams was a four-year standout for the Jackrabbits and closed out his college career in 2010. He played over a decade professionally, with a majority of his time spent in the United Kingdom. He served as a coach for the Milton Keynes club the last three seasons, but will make his first appearance on the hardwood competitively since 2020.

The club won the league’s second division title a season ago and was promoted and will play in the NBL1 during the 2024-25 season.

Several other Jackrabbits that completed their college careers at SDSU recently competed overseas as well. Skyler Flatten wrapped up a fifth season playing in Greece in the spring of 2024. A.J. Hess, who spent his final season of college with the Jackrabbits during the 2016-17 academic year, spent parts of six years competing overseas, most recently in the French ProB League for Sharks Antibes.

Nate Wolters, SDSU’s lone Associated Press All-American during the Jackrabbits’ Division I era, announced his retirement from professional basketball last February. A three-time All-Summit League performer and 2013 Summit League Player of the Year, Wolters was a second round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards. He played two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, along with a stint with the New Orleans Pelicans, and appeared in five games for the Utah Jazz in 2017.

Most of his professional career from 2015-2023 was spent overseas. Wolters earned multiple championships with Daum’s current club, Crvena Zvezda, including being named the Serbian Cup MVP in 2022. He also earned a Lithuanian League championship in 2019 with Zalgiris Kaunas and was a Greek League Alll-Star in 2022 with Panathinaikos.

Wolters is the last player in the program to complete his college career and be chosen in the NBA Draft. Baylor Scheierman, who spent three seasons in Yellow and Blue and earned the 2022 Summit League Player of the Year award, was a first-round selection by the Boston Celtics during this summer’s NBA Draft.