5 SEC players among ESPN’s list of best NBA Draft prospects for top 25 teams
By SDS Staff
Published:
If it’s not too early to talk about the 2019 NFL Draft, apparently it’s not too early to talk about the 2019 NBA Draft, either.
That’s a good thing for a handful of SEC players, some of whom entered the NBA Draft but then decided to return to school.
ESPN’s Myron Medcalf broke down the best draft prospect on every team that appeared in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25. That meant Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn, LSU and Mississippi State were all represented on the list.
Here’s who Medcalf chose as the best prospect from each SEC top 25 team:
- No. 1 Kentucky — Keldon Johnson, SF (Fr.)
- No. 5 Tennessee — Admiral Schofield, SF (Sr.)
- No. 11 Auburn — Austin Wiley, C (Jr.)
- No. 21 LSU — Nazreon Reid, PF (Fr.)
- No. 22 MSU — Aric Holman, PF (Sr.)
That’s an interesting group considering Johnson and Reid are both 5-star freshmen who could easily wind up in the lottery. Schofield, Wiley and Holman, on the other hand, are veteran big men who held off on leaving school early.
That list doesn’t include returning players like Jontay Porter, nor it does include any of Vanderbilt’s talented incoming freshmen.
This past year, the SEC had 7 players drafted, 4 of whom were selected in the first 14 picks.
It’s early, but the SEC might surpass both of those marks in 2019.
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
