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UNC basketball star amongst Top 30 prospects of ESPN's latest NBA Draft Big Board
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- UNC basketball star amongst Top 30 prospects of ESPN's latest NBA Draft Big Board
Though the UNC basketball team fell extremely short of expectations during its 2024-2025 campaign, one of its greatest surprises came in the form of Drake Powell.
Initially starting his freshman season at North Carolina as a top bench option, Powell quickly cracked the starting lineup with his lockdown defense. The Tar Heels struggled to consistently drain perimeter shots, but Powell was one of his team's top 3-point shooters, recording a 37.9 percent mark from deep.
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Powell declared for the NBA Draft – and should be a late, first-round pick according to the latest Mock Draft . Powell is also ranked fairly high on ESPN's latest NBA Draft Big Board , landing 29th amongst a list of the Top 100 prospects.
Just ahead of Powell is Walter Clayton Jr. , the superstar guard who led Florida to its third national championship in April. Right behind Powell is German prospect Ben Saraf, whom ESPN lists as a point/shooting guard.
Outside of lottery picks, it's rare for players to be chosen at their predicted spots. If Powell goes 29th overall, though, he'll be a member of the Phoenix Suns . Phoenix likely enters a hard reset this offseason, with its star-studded Kevin Durant , Devin Booker and Bradley Beal trio falling extremely short of high expectations, so the desert could present a perfect scenario for Powell.
If Powell decided for a return to Chapel Hill, he'd easily be one of the top players in college basketball this coming season. Powell's defense is NBA-ready, but he only averaged 7.4 points per game during his lone year at UNC, a scoring average that would certainly improve in Year Two.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC's Drake Powell ranked 29th on ESPN's NBA Draft Big Board
