Duke big man Wendell Carter Jr. is going pro, with the school announcing today in a press release that Carter is entering his name in the 2018 NBA draft pool. While the announcement doesn’t mention Carter hiring an agent, the assumption is that he will do so, forgoing his remaining years of NCAA eligibility.
“It was such an honor to coach Wendell,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. “He and his family were a true joy to have in our program and they’ll always be in our program. He had a sensational freshman year – a double-double guy – and he has so much more potential. He’s going to keep getting better, because he’s talented and he has the best attitude. He really represented himself, his family and Duke in a first-class manner, and whoever gets him is going to be very lucky.”
In his freshman year with the Blue Devils, Carter averaged 13.5 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.0 APG, and 2.1 BPG. He also showed an ability to knock down the occasional outside shot, making 41.3% of his 46 three-point attempts.
The sixth-best prospect on Jonathan Givony’s big board at ESPN.com, Carter is the No. 7 pick in Givony’s latest mock draft. ESPN’s top draft expert describes the Duke center as “physically mature” and “polished,” praising his basketball IQ and versatility.
As our list of early entrants shows, Carter is the fourth Duke freshman to declare for the draft this spring, joining teammates Marvin Bagley III, Trevon Duval, and Gary Trent Jr..
This dude’s positioning in the post is unreal. The way he would evade bigs the ball in the post was something I see few bigs in the NBA do now. Hands down a top 7 pick in the draft, the Spurs should try and move out to get this dude.
And he has range. Any team without a stretch 5 should be targeting him outside the top 4.
He would be ideal on the Spurs. I could only imagine how Pop would use him in his system, I don’t know though Pop might retire by next season unless the Spurs get a nice return for Kawhi this summer.
Nice fit next to Markkanen in Chicago
Although watching him against Kansas really made me question his consistency
7 or 8 is about the cavs’ area but Indiana is exposing problems at G.
He’s unlikely to go top 7.
Top 15 yes, top 10 maybe.
I like him. If Denver doesn’t trade its pick and goes for a big, I would be A-OK with W. Carter or Robert Williams.