Baylor center Yves Missi declares for 2024 NBA Draft
Baylor center Yves Missi officially declared for the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday evening, according to Jonathan Givony an NBA Draft analyst at ESPN. The 6-foot-11, 235 pound center is projected to be a Top 20 overall pick in the draft. This year he averaged 10.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, while shooting 61.4% from the field. He also averaged 1.5 blocks per game.
Once he made the announcement, Givony wrote a brief scouting report on Missi on his Twitter profile. “Yves Missi is one of the draft’s most physically gifted prospects, standing 6’11 with outstanding mobility, reach and explosiveness, leading the Big 12 with 63 dunks. He’s been playing organized basketball for less than 3 years, giving him significant upside to grow into.”
One of the more highly decorated prospects in the country coming out of high school, Missi was rated as the No. 29 overall player in the country and a four-star prospect, according to the On3 Industry Rankings for the 2023 cycle. He grew up in Cameroon, but played for Prolific Prep in California in high school. He averaged 9.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game. In December of 2022, Missi also guided Prolific Prep to the 2022 John Wall Holiday Invitational.
Baylor advanced all the way to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, where they were defeated by the No. 6 seed Clemson Tigers. Missi had two points and four rebounds in 19 minutes of their Round of 32 matchup. Baylor lost in the Big 12 Semifinals to the Iowa State Cyclones 76-62. Missi delivered a dominant performance in that game, stuffing the stat sheet with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Baylor finished with a 24-11 overall record this year, including an 11-7 record in the Big 12 Conference. The Bears head coach, Scott Drew, has been one of the top candidates for the Kentucky head coaching position. Things have been heating up lately between the Wildcats and Drew lately, but there has been no official decision made as of early Thursday morning.
Baylor had one of the nation’s premiere three-point shooting teams in 2023-2024, hitting 39.5% of their shots from beyond-the-arc. In their first-round game in the 2024 NCAA Tournament against Colgate, they certainly showed it, whipping them 92-67. Baylor hit 16 of their 30 shots from beyond-the-arc, connecting on 53.3%. The Bears had a balanced scoring effort in that one, getting double digits from four players (Bridges, Walter, Nunn, Dennis).