With no less than his future on the line, former GW guard Danilo (J.R.) Pinnock sat in front a television screen in his hometown of McDonough, Ga., with his family and agent and watched the NBA Draft Wednesday night. All the work, traveling, ups and downs of the month since he announced that he was leaving Foggy Bottom came down to one night and he was understandably nervous.

And then the phone rang. Then it rang again.

Pinnock was picked with the 58th overall selection in the draft, made by the Dallas Mavericks. His agent, Daniel Servick, received a call about five minutes before the selection was announced in order to tell Pinnock that he was about to be drafted. When he finally saw his name pop up on ESPN’s scroll, he broke into tears.

“It was just a dream come true,” Pinnock said. “I was nervous before because I didn’t know whether I was going to be drafted or not or where I was going to be. It’s a nerve-racking process but it strengthens you to go through it.”

About 15 minutes later, Servick received another phone call, this time informing him that his client had been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, a team he had recently worked out for. After hearing the news, Pinnock talked to Lakers Assistant General Manager Ronnie Lester, who congratulated him and welcomed him to the Lakers.

“I feel like the Lakers have a lot of guys I can learn from and obviously being part of that organization is such a plus,” Pinnock said. “When you think about all the history that they have, nothing against the Mavericks, but the Lakers are one of, if not the elite organization in the NBA. I think L.A. pretty much sets the standard for organizations in the NBA.”

Because second round picks are not guaranteed contracts or roster spots, Pinnock will now set his sights on making the Lakers’ 12 man roster. He is encouraged by the fact that the Lakers traded for him but will still have to perform well in the summer league, where rookies often either make a name for themselves or fizzle out.

“I don’t think they would waste their time if I didn’t have a chance to make the team,” Pinnock said. “My thing is playing hard and playing a team game, that’s what got me to this point. I’m going to have to continue to improve and work hard and I’ll be all right. I don’t have to go out and score 100 points or anything like that; I just have to continue what I’ve been doing and play a solid game, do a little bit of everything and play great defense.”

One of the reasons the Lakers are considered to be a great franchise is due to Kobe Bryant. Bryant, like Pinnock, is a shooting guard.

With Bryant and coach Phil Jackson, whose nine NBA championships as coach tie GW alum Red Auerbach to learn from, Pinnock thinks the guard-anemic Lakers were a good fit.

“The fact that Kobe is on the team can in no way hurt me,” he said. “I look forward to meeting Kobe. I’m going into a situation where I’m going to be playing with the best player in the game right now and pretty much just learning from him. I’m going to be a sponge, absorbing everything he says and does and being under his wing.”

He added, “I’ve been a Phil Jackson fan for a long time, so having a chance to be around him and be part of his team is overwhelming to me.”

Whereas the distance of Los Angeles from his native Georgia and adopted Washington would worry some players, Pinnock is not worried, as his friends and family provide him with more than enough support – no matter how far away he is.

Despite being one of the greatest nights of Pinnock’s life, it was not perfect, as Pinnock’s former teammates Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Mike Hall and Omar Williams went undrafted.

Hall said that he will play for the Denver Nuggets’ summer league team, although he is not allowed to discuss the monetary figures or sign a contact until July 1st. Mensah-Bonsu, who was the Colonial most-listed on pre-draft boards, and Williams are likely to pursue a similar route.

“To a certain extent I might have wanted to see Pops or Mike drafted a little more than I even wanted to see myself drafted,” Pinnock said. “It’s bittersweet. It’s a dream feeling to be drafted but I look at it and Mike Hall, Pops and Omar Williams pretty much laid the foundation for me. Them not getting their names called doesn’t mean that that’s it, they still have a good chance of making the NBA, but they deserve to feel the same way I felt last night.”

But in the NBA and across the country, Pinnock pledged not to forget his collegiate mentors.

“If I’m blessed enough to make the Lakers, every time I put on that uniform I’ll be representing them because they paved the way for me at GW,” Pinnock said. “If there was no Mike Hall, Pops Mensah-Bonsu or Omar Williams, there would be no J.R. at GW.”