Seth Lundy wants you to know that he’s different. He’s so different that he has the word “different” tattooed on his right forearm, done in his own design partially so no one else will have that tattoo. He’s different, and his tattoo of the word different is … different.
Hawks general manager Landry Fields agrees. That’s why, with the 46th overall pick in the NBA draft’s second round, he picked the 6-foot-6 forward out of Penn State.
“When you watch him, there’s a difference between a guy that shoots them (just) because they can and there’s a guy that knows that they’re a shooter and they have the identity of that,” Fields said. “And that’s what Seth does.”
Under Quin Snyder, the Hawks went from one of the NBA’s least three-point reliant teams in the first half of the season to one of the most late in the season. They’ll double down on that next year. Lundy fits the bill, ranking in the top 20 nationally with 40 percent accuracy (on 230 attempts) last season with the Nittany Lions.
Second round picks aren’t guaranteed to make an impact, but Lundy can fill a need. His different was what the Hawks are looking for.
His definition of the word is simple.
“The word different: just be yourself,” Lundy said. “Stand out. Never try to fit into the crowd. I feel like I’m custom-made. I’m myself. My family built me. I’m just me, never trying to be anybody else.”
Lundy is the youngest of seven children, but he only grew up with three siblings, as the oldest three were already out of the house. He grew up in Paulsboro, N.J., 25 minutes outside of Philadelphia, and he’s comfortable in Philly but proud to be raised in Jersey.
Through childhood he tagged along with his older siblings, especially his brother Xavier, who is five years older. He competed with Xavier and his friends at everything, playing basketball, football, or Call of Duty with and against them.
“It’s weird because Seth has always been around me,” Xavier said. “Not like those annoying little brothers where your parents force them to go with you. It would always be like, I’m gonna go hang out with my friends, Seth would ask to tag along, and before I could even answer, my friends would be like, ‘Yes, Seth, come with us.’ … He didn’t really seem like a little brother most of the time, he was just part of the crew.”
Xavier went on to play four years of college basketball at Rider, and Seth, after years of playing against a D1 brother and his friends, dominated high school competition, starring at Philadelphia powerhouse Roman Catholic. The younger Lundy played four seasons at Penn State, helping the Nittany Lions crack the AP Top 10 as a freshman before the Covid shutdown. In his final year, Penn State made the NCAA tournament for just the second time since 2001.
Through all of this, he’s fit his definition of different, standing out at every step. Lundy stood out on Michigan’s scouting report, too, something Kobe Bufkin, the Hawks’ first round pick out of Michigan, remembered well.
“When we played Penn State at their crib, it wasn’t too pretty for Michigan,” Bufkin said. “He showed on full display what he can do defensively, and then also on the offensive end, the three point shot, the versatility, getting to the rim. He was definitely a staple on our scouting report.”
Lundy took 15 workouts in the pre-draft process, finishing with the Hawks two days before the draft. The Hawks brass was impressed with what they saw, but Lundy may have been just as impressed with the Hawks.
“It was crazy to see how he felt about it when he got here and after the workout,” his agent Paolo Zamorano said. “He was like, ‘This one just feels different. I can’t explain it.’”
Fields felt the same way, noting his NBA ready frame and his shooting. He drafted Lundy on Thursday, a moment that Lundy counted as one of the best in his life.
“In a moment, I just had so many flashbacks in my head,” Lundy said. “I saw this stuff on social media, people talked about, saying ‘He didn’t smile, he doesn’t want to be in Atlanta.’ That’s nonsense. I was so excited to get drafted.
“I honestly had a little recap in my head about the struggle that I had growing up,” Lundy said. “After the cameras (turned) off, I got super emotional, I was crying and sharing that moment with my loved ones. It was special. I will never forget that moment. That’s something I could tell my kids about.”
The Hawks rookie class got to Atlanta on Friday. Lundy’s enjoyed the city so far, going to Chops Lobster Bar, Top Golf, and a Dream game. He said the Dream game felt like a party, and then went further.
“I could tell the culture here in Atlanta is different,” Lundy said, “but like, this is a good different.”
The Hawks hope he’ll be a good different, too.
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