(Credit and Caption for Photo: Meleek Thomas poses for a photo with NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum after being selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday in New York. (AP))

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Brooklyn, NY) Former Lincoln Park standout basketball player and University of Arkansas freshman guard Meleek Thomas was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the 2026 NBA draft as the 34th overall pick last night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Sacramento Kings originally owned the 34th pick, but Thomas went to the Cavaliers because of a trade between the two teams. Thomas averaged 15.6 points per game, while shooting 43% from the field and 41% from the three-point line for his first season with the Razorbacks. Thomas is the second former Beaver County high school basketball player to be drafted into the NBA in two years because Los Angeles Lakers forward and Quaker Valley alum Adou Thiero was selected in the second round of the 2025 NBA draft as the 35th overall pick by the Brooklyn Nets before he was subsequently traded to the Lakers. Both Thomas and Thiero were coached at the University of Arkansas by its head coach, Moon Township native John Calipari.