These days, many top basketball players leave for the NBA after just one or two seasons. But Perry Ellis, a former Kansas Jayhawks star, became a legend by staying in college much longer. He spent all four seasons playing for the same team.
His long college career feels like a walk down memory lane for fans. But this time, the nostalgia has taken a humorous twist, as fans jokingly call for Ellis to return to Kansas as a “screw you” to Nico Harrison and the Dallas Mavericks.
Perry Ellis’ Name Resurfaces As Kansas Fans Troll Mavericks
The 2025 NBA Draft is still months away, but the lottery has already made headlines. Against all odds, the Dallas Mavericks won the No. 1 overall pick with just a 1.8% chance. Some fans see this as a lucky break for GM Nico Harrison, especially after his controversial move of trading Luka Dončić to the Lakers for Anthony Davis.
Should Perry Ellis run it back with Kansas as a “screw you” to Nico and the Mavs?
byu/AFC-Wimbledon-Stan inCollegeBasketball
Reddit users, however, are taking a lighter view. They’re having fun with the situation. One popular thread joked that Ellis should “run it back” with Kansas as a playful response to the Mavericks’ unexpected win.
Of course, Ellis is long past his college days and can’t realistically return to NCAA play. But that hasn’t stopped Jayhawks fans from enjoying the joke. Ellis played for Kansas from 2012 to 2016, scoring 1,798 points and grabbing 834 rebounds. He became one of the team’s most dependable stars.
His full four-year stay at Kansas even sparked memes about his “endless eligibility,” with fans pretending he never left.
One user joked, “Here I am, glad you used Perry Ellis for this joke instead of Hunter Dickinson.”
That hit home because Dickinson is still playing for Kansas in 2024–25 and has an unusual seventh year of eligibility. So, fans found the comparison both funny and fitting.
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Meanwhile, another Reddit user dubbed Ellis “the Udonis Haslem of college ball,” referencing Haslem’s long NBA career and leadership.
Yet another wrote, “I feel a little bad for Perry honestly, dude play exactly four years all at one school and just gets roasted constantly.”
For a player as good as the 31-year-old was, these jokes might seem unfair. But with humor in the mix, those chats about Ellis coming back to the Kansas Jayhawks feel less like criticism and more like a celebration of what makes college basketball special.
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