Five years ago, Tre' McLean was an NCAA Division II signee out of West Ashley High School in Charleston, S.C.
Then he came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in fall 2013 as a preferred walk-on. He was following his college coach, Wes Long, from Queens University of Charlotte to UTC after Long was hired as an assistant by coach Will Wade entering his first season leading the Mocs.
Expectations weren't very high for McLean at that point, though he was initially labeled as a good fit for Wade's "Chaos" system. But that never really got off the ground at UTC due to a lack of depth, a problem not fully addressed for the Mocs until after Wade - who's now preparing for his first year at LSU - left to take over as coach at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015.
In his first season at UTC, McLean averaged 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds, and the Mocs were 11-4 in games he started despite McLean going two months without making a 3-point field goal. Both Wade and the Mocs' most recent former coach, Matt McCall - who left after last season to take over at Massachusetts - said McLean "impacts winning" by defending so well, which is what caused Wade to continue to start McLean despite his shooting struggles.
In his final two years with the Mocs, McLean took off to the tune of consecutive All-Southern Conference selections.
Now it's like déjà vu all over again.
The 6-foot-5 guard/forward will play for the Phoenix Suns' summer league team, joining players such as 2017 NBA draft first-round pick Josh Jackson, second-round pick Davon Reed and 2016 picks Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss and Derrick Jones Jr. The league begins next Wednesday and runs through July 17 in Las Vegas.
"I'm excited, man," McLean said. "I'm grateful, but I can only give it all to God. There were guys out of high school that were in better position, but right now I have a chance they don't have. It's amazing; if you had told me that, I wouldn't believe it. I'm just grateful to see the hard work pay off.
"It's been a real journey - from Queens to Chatt, redshirting, preferred walk-on, to be where I'm at now, it's unbelievable. Some people may not see this as a big deal from the outside looking in, and I may not be the first or the second name you think of, but from where I started from, it's a blessing."
He averaged 12.8 points and 5.9 rebounds while hitting 87 3-pointers at a success rate of 38 percent over his final two seasons at UTC. After that sub-par sophomore campaign on the offensive end of the court, the lanky, 6-foot-5 guard exploded as a junior, averaging 12.1 points and 6.3 rebounds while helping the Mocs to a 29-6 record and a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Despite the team not living up to lofty expectations his final season - one filled with turmoil, both internally and externally - McLean raised his scoring average to 13.6 points and his 3-point success rate to 39 percent.
McLean had been in Phoenix training with some players who share the same agency before returning to Charleston. His trip home won't be a long one, though, because he heads back out to Phoenix on Friday to start practicing with the team.
"I'm going to go out and give it my all," McLean said of his expectations. "I know I'm not the biggest name coming out of college basketball - I'm under the radar - but I'm going to go in, play my game, be Tre' McLean, be the best I can be and be a good teammate.
"I'm going to give it my all any chance I get, because chances like this don't come along very often."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.