**Deadlines and Submission Guidelines for Obituaries**

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– Accepted on Saturday, Sunday, and holidays from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. by email only: Obit@delcotimes.com
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**Other Important Information**
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– A complete name, address, and best contact phone number must be provided with your obituary request to set up an account.
– Proofs will be emailed for review but will be placed on hold until payment is received.

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### Collin Gillespie’s Journey to NBA Prominence

PHILADELPHIA — Collin Gillespie understands the value of patience.

He learned it as a high school senior at Archbishop Wood, where he entered the Catholic League with few accolades and scholarship offers mainly from Albany, Maine, and Holy Family. He learned it again as a freshman at Villanova—spending six weeks on the bench before returning to a team that captured the national championship in 2018. And he learned it once more as an NBA rookie sidelined by a broken leg that delayed the start of his professional career.

Now 26, Gillespie is comfortably embracing the path that has led him to his first NBA game in Philadelphia, nearly three and a half years after going undrafted in 2022.

“I’ve learned a lot about the NBA game since being here with Denver,” Gillespie said from the Phoenix Suns locker room before a 116-110 victory over the 76ers. “I’ve gotten valuable experience on the court as well. So I think it’s just experience—being able to learn while being off the floor, while being on the floor—just a little bit of everything, trying to continue to get better every day.”

Making the most of all that waiting, Gillespie is now making the most of his minutes on the court.

He is averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 4.8 assists for a suddenly resurgent Suns team. He has even garnered chatter in the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year race, despite starting 25 straight games and slotting in seamlessly alongside high-scoring star Devin Booker.

In Tuesday’s game, Gillespie contributed 12 points on 3-for-6 shooting, four rebounds, and four assists in 28 minutes. The night before, he had put up 22 points in a win in Brooklyn, helping the Suns go 8-3 in January.

Gillespie has translated the flashes he showed during the 2023-24 season with Denver into sustained production. While he traveled with the Nuggets for one game in Philadelphia last year but did not play, he appeared in 33 games for the Suns. At 28.1 minutes per game, he has looked every bit the NBA regular.

That adaptability should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched Gillespie seamlessly elevate his game at every level.

At Villanova, Gillespie did it all in 156 career games. He scored 1,858 points, averaging 15 or more points per game in both the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons. In his senior year, he shot an impressive 41.5 percent from three-point range.

But the NBA draft offered no takers. Gillespie signed with the Nuggets on a two-way contract, only to suffer a fractured lower left leg in a workout at Villanova after Summer League. His rookie season, coinciding with the team’s championship run, ended before it began.

He learned by watching—and like he did in college, during his six-week injury stint, he came back better.

“I think I learned a lot about the NBA game—the pace, the details, tendencies of certain guys,” he explained. “There’s a lot you can learn about the game, yourself, teammates, and other teams, especially when you’re just sitting watching. I did it when I was in college when I got hurt, so I kind of have that experience of being able to do that.”

Questions about his size and defense remain, but not about his character.

Kyle Lowry, the 76ers guard and Villanova alumnus, calls Gillespie a “winner.” Suns coach Jordan Ott echoes that sentiment: “Ultracompetitive, has won at every level, fearless.”

Gillespie maximized every opportunity—in Denver, in limited minutes, as a two-way player with the Suns, as a rotation piece, and now as a starter for a team with playoff ambitions.

His stats tell the story: 3.6 points in 9.4 minutes over 24 games with the Nuggets in 2023-24 grew into 5.9 points in 14.0 minutes over 33 games (nine starts) in Phoenix last year. When in the G League, he’s put up 20 points per game. This season, Gillespie has been a full-time member of the Suns’ big club, helping a team once thought to be rebuilding hold onto sixth place in the Western Conference.

“I always go back to his ability to shoot off the dribble, which I think is an elite skill of his and something that’s needed in today’s game with so many pick-and-rolls and drives,” Ott said. “He’s able to defend his position for his size—you cannot target him. He has become super competitive in taking those challenges, and now he just got the opportunity.”

Gillespie’s production is no fluke. Last year, he averaged 20.8 points per 100 possessions; this year, despite playing alongside higher-caliber teammates demanding the ball, he is up to 23.2 points per 100 possessions. His assist rate remains strong at 8.4 per 100 possessions. Defensively, he ranks eighth in the league with 1.4 steals per 48 minutes, right behind 76ers’ Tyrese Maxey, who leads the league with 2.1 steals per game.

He credits Villanova for instilling a professional mentality: “We treated it like it was our job in college, and now it is our job.”

With multiple Villanova alumni succeeding in the NBA, Gillespie is clearly thriving in his own right, adapting and flourishing wherever he goes.

“I think I know my role,” he said. “I play with really good players like Book, who has so much gravity on the floor, and Jalen [Green], who puts a ton of pressure on the rim. Just being able to play off those guys, I feel like I’m pretty good at finding my role—whether I need to score, find guys, get rebounds, run the offense, or just contribute to winning in any way possible.”
https://www.delcotimes.com/2026/01/21/having-waited-and-learned-collin-gillespie-making-most-of-time-with-suns/