UConn sophomore Donovan Clingan has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft, he introduced by way of social media Friday.
Clingan, a 7-foot-2 heart, performed a pivotal function within the Huskies back-to-back championships and is a projected first-round choose on this summer time’s draft. In The Athletic’s pre-NCAA Event mock draft, Clingan was slotted because the No. 11 choose to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder — and that was earlier than he had 22 factors, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks within the win towards Illinois within the Elite Eight. He adopted that efficiency with 18 factors, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks in a Remaining 4 victory versus Alabama.
“At first, BACK TO BACK nationwide championships is known!” Clingan mentioned on X, previously generally known as Twitter. “These previous two years have exceeded all my desires and expectations. I might be endlessly grateful for the reminiscences created with all my brothers, and I’ll cherish each second endlessly!
“With that being mentioned, I’ll be pursuing the lifelong dream of mine to play within the NBA and might be coming into my identify within the 2024 NBA Draft!!”
💙 #32 Out pic.twitter.com/tpD1stCWe5
— Donovan Clingan (@clingan_donovan) April 12, 2024
In UConn’s nationwide championship win over Purdue, Clingan — taking part in in foul hassle — completed with 11 factors, because the Connecticut native by no means contributed lower than 11 factors in the entire Huskies’ six event victories.
Clingan averaged 13.0 factors and seven.4 rebounds a sport over the 2023-24 season.
He suffered a foot damage in late December and that prompted him to overlook roughly one month and 5 video games. Upon his return, the Huskies dominated, closing out the season with 13 consecutive wins.
All through the 2024 event, Clingan surged, boasting averages of 15.3 factors, 8.3 rebounds and three.2 blocks per sport, all-surpassing his regular-season stats. Notably, he recorded a career-best eight blocks in a second-round victory towards Northwestern. His 19 blocks within the NCAA Event have been essentially the most since 2016.
The NBA Draft is June 26-27 in New York Metropolis.
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(Photograph: Christian Petersen / Getty Photos)