Daniss Jenkins (left) and Marcus Sasser are key rotation players for Detroit this season.
DETROIT — The dreamers and believers, they think anything is possible even in the face of astronomical odds.
Detroit Pistons guards Marcus Sasser and Daniss Jenkins, they are dreamers and believers.
Growing up together in Dallas, they dreamed they’d be in the NBA. They believed they could.
And they are also doers. You have to do the work to make dreams a reality.
Sasser and Jenkins gave the required effort, and now the childhood friends/competitors are NBA teammates. They navigated different trails to the same mountaintop – Sasser’s more direct, Jenkins’ more winding through three universities and one junior college.
“It’s definitely a dream come true because we wanted to go to the same high school, but it did not end up happening,” Sasser said. “And then we wanted to go to the same college. He was going to transfer to Houston, but it couldn’t happen. Now it’s crazy that we were able to finally get it at the highest level where everyone could see it.”
This season, Sasser, a third-year guard who was the No. 25 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, averaged 5.2 points and 2 assists per game while shooting 41.5% on 3-pointers. Jenkins, undrafted coming out of St. John’s in 2024, had a breakout season at 9.3 ppg, 3.9 apg and 2.3 rpg while shooting 37.4% on 3-pointers.
Jenkins gave the Pistons a productive backup to All-Star Cade Cunningham, and when Cunningham missed games due to injuries, Jenkins started 19 games. During that stretch, he posted 17.2 ppg, 7.4 apg and 3.6 rpg on 43.9% shooting overall 35.6% on 3-pointers.
Daniss Jenkins recorded a career-high 30 points in a win over the Lakers this season.
The Pistons rewarded Jenkins in February, converting his two-way contract to a standard contract through the 2026-27 season.
“It just wasn’t an easy path for him from high school to college to junior college, back to college, college, you know what I mean?” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “At any point in time, he could have been discouraged, but he wasn’t. And he just continued to work and continued to get better.
“And also, it didn’t jade him. If you’re around him every day, he’s a beautiful spirit. A lot of times when people get told ‘no’ and ‘you’re not good enough,’ it changes your personality, but he’s a joy to be around every day.”
Jenkins started his college career at Pacific, where he played two seasons. He played one season at Odessa College (junior college), played one season at Iona for Rick Pitino. When Pitino left Iona for St. John’s, Jenkins followed him for his final season of college ball.
Looking at a tattoo on his left thigh that reads, “I JUST DIDN’T QUIT,” Jenkins reflected on his journey.
“My end goal never changed. Never changed,” Jenkins told NBA.com after a recent practice. “And I never wavered on the game. And my faith in God. I always tell people, if you put your faith and trust in God and you live your life the right way, and you put the work in, there’s some reward. Good things happen to good people. I’m a firm believer in that.
“And at the end of the day, I have this tattoo because that’s a testament to my life. I didn’t give up. I never stopped.”
Sasser, Jenkins ‘stacking moments’ as NBA teammates
Sasser and Jenkins were childhood competitors on the court for different elementary and middle school teams in Dallas. Then they began working out together. They attended different high schools but remained friends and workout partners, dreaming about playing in the NBA.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is well represented on the Pistons’ roster. Cade Cunningham is from Arlington, Texas, and Ron Holland II is from Duncanville, Texas.
Sasser’s dad, Marcus Sr., whose two brothers — Jason and Jeryl — had brief NBA careers, used to run Marcus and Jenkins through drills before and after school at a local rec center.
“He would put us through a lot of hard workouts,” Sasser said. “He was there, rebounding and motivating us.”
This is a Marcus Sasser appreciation post.
19 PTS | 5 AST | 2 STL | 4-6 3PT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/RwriNbepqF
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) December 31, 2025
But let’s be realistic. The chance of any one kid making it to the NBA is small. The chance that two friends from childhood make it to the NBA and end up on the same team is even smaller.
That didn’t stop their belief in themselves and in each other.
“I knew how his mindset was, and I knew how hard he always worked,” Sasser said of Jenkins. “I just knew he wasn’t going to let nothing hold him back. I knew he was going to find a way to make it. And just watching his last year at St. John’s, I knew he was an NBA-caliber player.”
Jenkins returned the praise.
“Watching him flourish and become a star in college basketball, he just motivated me because I knew how hard we worked,” Jenkins said. “Just to see him doing the same exact stuff that we used to work on every single day and apply it, it just gave me a sense that it can be done.”
After Jenkins’ final season at St. John’s, he began preparing for the draft and had pre-Draft workouts scheduled. The Pistons showed interest and invited him to Detroit for a workout.
Daniss Jenkins had multiple stints with Detroit’s NBA G League team before realizing his NBA dream.
Just like the old days, Sasser and Jenkins found a gym. Not a rec center like when they were kids, but the Pistons’ practice facility, where Sasser had access since he was on the team.
Sasser rebounded and Jenkins got up shots.
“I was just giving him words of encouragement, and he went out there and killed it the next day,” Sasser said. “We were just going to do what we did in high school – in the gym all day, work our tails off.”
No team drafted Jenkins, but the Pistons called after the second round and reached a deal with him on a two-way contract.
“One of the first people I called was Marcus just to let him know, ‘Man, would you believe that they signed me?’ ” Jenkins said. “It was just everything I really dreamed of. This is just playing basketball. This is me playing with one of my childhood friends.”
Two years ago today, Marcus Sasser dropped 40 points (16-25 FG | 5-9 3PT) at @NBASummerLeague pic.twitter.com/5mgaZogKBV
— Detroit Pistons (@DetroitPistons) July 16, 2025
Jenkins still had to prove he belonged in the NBA, and he did that through NBA Summer League, training camp, practices, NBA G League and regular-season opportunities with the Pistons.
“My impact was loud,” Jenkins said. “I never knew how loud it was going to be, but I knew the impact I would have on the team once I finally got an opportunity. I didn’t know how loud and how crazy and great it would be. So that’s the biggest thing for me. It’s not so much a moment. It was just stacking moments.”
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Jeff Zillgitt has covered the NBA since 2008. You can email him at jzillgitt@nba.com, find his archive here and follow him on X.
