Getty Image / Michael Reaves
The NCAA Tournament always has breakout stars that see their draft stock soar as they put on great performances for the nation at large to see. The biggest winner in that category this year is UConn center Donovan Clingan.
It’s not as if the 7-foot-2 sophomore came out of nowhere. Clingan was considered a mid-first round pick by most all season long after a promising freshman campaign in a reserved role and a good year this year as a starter. But, now, there’s talk of him being the top-overall pick in the draft.
Clingan stole the show over the weekend as UConn advanced to the Final Four. That was especially true in Saturday’s Elite Eight demolition of Illinois. In just 22 minutes, he had 22 points, 10 rebounds, blocks and three steals. UConn went on a 30-0 run in the middle of that game that bridged the last two minutes of the first half and a chunk of the second half, and Clingan was the catalyst. The stat-line doesn’t even begin to show his impact on the game on both ends during that stretch.
That’s resulted in a significant boost in draft hype for Clingan in a 48-hour span. In Monday’s updated mock draft by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, the analyst has Clingan going third-overall, very much in contention for the first-overall pick in June’s 2024 NBA Draft.
First off, congratulations to Donovan Clingan. As Givony noted in the piece, Clingan appears to be a pretty safe bet as a productive NBA starter for a long time. That’s no small feat, and that’s a level that in today’s NBA will make that player very rich.
However, that just goes to show how weak this NBA Draft class is. If we’re talking about the potential number-one overall pick as someone who we think will likely just be a a decent starting center in the league, that means we are lacking serious star power. That’s absolutely the case.
Many who follow the NBA Draft year-round have been sounding the alarm that this was not going to be a strong draft class at the top for a while. But, I think many held out hope that someone would emerge as a potential franchise player this season, whether that be overseas, for the G League Ignite, or in college basketball. That hasn’t happened. Some players have definitely improved their stock, but the narrative that there is not a franchise-changing player in the crop has not changed.
That’s not super rare in the NBA. Unlike in the NFL, it seems that the overall talent level of a draft class has a lot of variation in the NBA. Whereas football always seems to have guys who will be All-Pro, even if, say, quarterbacks are weak that year.
The last NBA Draft class that was like this was 2013, when there were a bunch of players in contention to be the top-overall pick. It eventually became one of the biggest busts in NBA history, as the Cavaliers picked Anthony Bennett at the top of a top ten that produced just one NBA All Star (Victor Oladipo) in the top ten picks.
If you’re a team looking for a true difference-maker, there is reason for optimism if you look at the 2013 class. Two future Hall of Famers, Giannis Antetokounmpo (pick 15) and Rudy Gobert (Pick 27), went outside the lottery that year.
In the meantime, you may end up with a guy like Donovan Clingan, who figures to be a solid, if not spectacular, defensive anchor for years to come.
On the year, Clingan is averaging 12.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game for the Huskies. They will look for a back-to-back national championship this upcoming weekend at the Final Four in the Phoenix area.