UNC basketball star amongst Top 30 prospects of ESPN's latest NBA Draft Big Board
Can Drake Powell carve himself out a successful NBA career?
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.
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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