Guard Dink Pate of the G League’s Westchester Knicks has committed to Providence, his agent, Sam Permut of Roc Nation Sports, told ESPN on Thursday.
Pate was a top-30 recruit in the high school class of 2023 who opted to go the G League Ignite route before playing for the Mexico City Capitanes and Westchester.
The 6-foot-8 Pate averaged 16.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 36 games for Westchester this season. He has dramatically improved his 3-point shooting, going from 26.1% last season with the Capitanes to 36.8% this season for the Knicks on nearly eight attempts per game.
He became the second significant commitment for Providence and new coach Bryan Hodgson on Thursday. Earlier, San Diego State transfer Miles Byrd, 6-6 wing who is the reigning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and is considered one of the most versatile defenders in college basketball, picked the Friars.
Pate and Byrd are the first two statement recruits for Hodgson, who took over at Providence last month after one season at South Florida.
During his time as an assistant coach at Alabama under Nate Oats, Hodgson developed a reputation as one of the premier recruiters in the country. Beating out a long list of suitors for Byrd and Pate — including Kentucky — will further that narrative.
Pate, who entered the 2025 NBA draft but wasn’t selected, is the latest G League player to go the college route. Thierry Darlan started the trend last September when he committed to Santa Clara, with London Johnson (Louisville) and Abdullah Ahmed (BYU) following in the weeks after. James Nnaji was drafted but didn’t play any NBA games and was therefore eligible to play at Baylor.
The NCAA drew the line at Charles Bediako, who played two seasons at Alabama and three seasons in the G League before attempting to return to college basketball. He was ruled ineligible but sued the NCAA and was granted a temporary restraining order that allowed him to play five games for the Crimson Tide. A judge then denied his motion for a preliminary injunction, ending his college career.
