College Basketball: Eight Sleeper NBA Draft Picks That are Underclassmen
The 2024 NBA Draft continues to be a fun one to track. The tiers of players for this year’s draft are robust, and the excitement lies in the fact that when draft night comes, the order of the names we hear will have no consensus. This will be a beauty is in the eye of the beholder type of draft. And with every team in the NBA having different needs and outlooks on players, the range of variance for players will be wide.
This year, more than ever, NBA scouting departments will need to trust their eyes. What are your core values, who are you building around, and what needs do you have? And they will need to cast a wide net and narrow down accordingly.
This season of games has been used as a try-out of sorts. More than I can remember in recent history, draft boards entered this year wide-open with a clear opportunity for players to perform their way on or off, up or down.
We are about at the halfway point of the college basketball season. The NBA Draft is not until June 27, five months away. On Monday, I discussed the top ten NBA Draft prospects in college basketball. Today, I want to talk about eight college basketball underclassmen who have used this season to play their way into the NBA Draft conversation. For the purposes of this writing, underclassmen are second and third-year college players.
READ | Top 10 NBA Draft Prospects in College Basketball
G Devin Carter, Providence
The Buzz: Kim English is Devin Carter’s third head coach in three college seasons. However, this year, it appears that things have clicked in a major way for Carter. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound wing has a unique production profile as he averages 8.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists. An opportunity arose for Carter when Bryce Hopkins went down recently with a season-ending injury. Carter has stepped up his production, averaging 22.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.0 steals in Big East play. The son of long-time NBA guard Anthony Carter is also shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 37.7 percent from three through seven Big East games.
G Desmond Claude, Xavier
The Buzz: After a bumpy first year, Desmond Claude came back for a much more smooth second season. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound guard has followed in the footsteps of what big guard Jalen Hood-Schifino did with Indiana last year, and stepped his game up to 16.0 points and 4.0 assists as a sophomore. Claude is comfortable on the ball or off the ball, as the primary initiator or the go-to scorer at this level. Projecting ahead, he most likely settles in as a connecting guard. The swing skill here, much like with Hood-Schifino, is the shooting. Through his first seven Big East games, Claude is shooting 30.4 percent from three and 84.2 percent from the free-throw line, showing intriguing upside with the touch. He is also playing aggressively, attempting 10.3 two-point shots and taking 5.4 free throws per game.
F Harrison Ingram, UNC
The Buzz: What a difference a year makes. Harrison Ingram left Stanford where he was asked to be a top option, for a UNC team where he was asked to be a connecting piece, and his game took off. At 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, Ingram has no problem filling in the gaps. He is an excellent area rebounder and a quick processor with the ball. He has also shot 39.2 percent from three this season. Ingram can guard both forward spots, as he is a good team defender with length and aggression. His 1.3 steals this season is a career-high, as are his 12.3 points and 8.2 rebounds. His minutes are up, his usage is down, and his production has sky-rocketed.
F Kobe Johnson, USC
The Buzz: The younger brother of Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, Kobe Johnson is a 6-foot-6, 200-pound wing at USC. Johnson has progressively gotten better each season, easing into his role as an off-ball player. The first piece of Johnson’s game that sticks out is his defense. He is a good athlete with a lengthy and strong frame. He plays an aggressive style of defense where he can switch between the two, three, and four. In seasons past, he has shown upside as a spot three-point shooter. This year, he is asked to create a little more with his using rate jumping from 16 to 23, and with that, his shooting metrics have dropped. Last season, he shot 36.0 percent from three and 84.1 percent from the line. Figuring out which season, last year or this year, is the outlier would be big here. With the defense being the skill he hangs his hat on, the shooting has to be in place for his archetype to work.
G Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest
The Buzz: Hunter Sallis entered college with heavy accolades. He was a McDonald’s All-American, a Jordan Brand All-Star, and Nebraska’s State Gatorade Player of the Year. The transfer to Wake Forest from Gonzaga also came out during COVID-19. It took him a couple of years in college to get acclimated, but he has shown why he had so much buzz around him in high school this season. Sallis is an explosive guard who is wired to score. While his usage is up, over 24, so is his offensive efficiency. Sallis is averaging 17.7 points this season on 39.3 percent shooting from three. There is a defensive upside, and the work Steve Forbes has done with transfers speaks for itself. Sallis’s three-point numbers are up to 42.2 percent on 5.6 attempts per game through eight ACC games.
G KJ Simpson, Colorado
The Buzz: KJ Simpson has proven to be one of the best guards in college basketball this season. With two intriguing secondary players, Cody Williams and Tristan da Silva, by his side, Simpson has looked every part of an alpha creator. Through 19 games this season, the 6-foot-2 guard is averaging 19.1 points, and he is doing it on 51.0 percent from the field and 47.2 percent from three. Simpson is also moving the ball around, averaging 4.3 assists with a better than 2-to-1 assists-to-turnover ratio. On a Colorado team that has Williams and da Silva getting significant NBA Drat buzz, it has been Simpson who has stepped up to be the alpha of the group.
F Adou Thiero, Kentucky
The Buzz: Even in today’s basketball, versatile tough guys have a place on the floor. Adou Thiero is a versatile and physical defender who cleans up on the boards. While this Kentucky will rotate in ten players every night, Thiero has carved out his niche to get a lot of minutes. Listed at 6-foot-8, 220 pounds, Theier has long arms, natural anticipation, and good athleticism. Through his two seasons at Kentucky 31.6 percent from three and 72.4 percent from the free-throw line. He will need to show he can be at least a threat from deep. He has recently struggled with back spasms which has kept him out a handful of games, which will be something NBA teams pay attention to. But there is a lot of value in the low-maintenance guys who compete and make winning plays.
F Jaylon Tyson, Cal
The Buzz: In three collegiate seasons, Jaylon Tyson has played for three different teams. Last season, at Texas Tech – before their head coach was dismissed – Tyson got comfortable in his game. He averaged 10 and 6 while shooting 40.7 from three, which opened some eyes. At 6-foot-7, 215 pounds, this season Tyson has simply taken his game to a different level. Despite Cal having a below .500 record, Tyson is averaging 21.0 points, scoring twenty or more in 13 of his 18 games. With the increased volume, he is also dishing out 3.1 assists while shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from three.