UNC basketball forward Drake Powell Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

One-Year UNC Basketball Wing Now 'On the Rise' as NBA Draft Prospect

Originally posted on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI
By Matt Giles | Last updated May 19, 2025 9:40 AM ET

UNC basketball is likely to see only one of its 2024-25 players come off the board at the 2025 NBA Draft in Brooklyn's Barclays Center on June 25-26. But that lone projected pick of the Tar Heel variety is promising one-and-done forward Drake Powell, who now pops up in position to potentially end the three-year drought in Chapel Hill when it comes to the blueblood producing a first-rounder.

As the official UNC basketball account noted in the following post to help promote Powell's "on the rise" tag as an intriguing early NBA Draft entrant, the mere 19-year-old from Pittsboro, N.C., finished among the top 10 across five leaderboards at last week's NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.

His marks included both the No. 1 max vertical leap at 43 inches and standing vertical leap at 37.5 inches.

On the rise pic.twitter.com/XctFk9SXzk
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) May 16, 2025

And ESPN's first post-combine mock draft released on Monday seems to be in support of a Drake Powell stock bump, even if only to a small degree, as the site's experts, Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, moved him up one notch from last week.

They now project him to hear his name at No. 31 overall — the first pick of the second round — to the Minnesota Timberwolves (via the Utah Jazz).

What the 6-foot-5, 200-pound Powell lacks in height, he makes up for with his explosive hops. His momentum-changing athleticism and budding skillset were on display at times as a Tar Heel, albeit not consistently enough to average more than just 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per game.

All in all, given his undisputed potential to eventually soar as a lockdown perimeter defender and foul-drawing slasher on the NBA stage, it wouldn't be a surprise if the former five-star recruit and McDonald's All-American climbs as high as the low 20s on mock drafts and big boards over the next five weeks.

This article first appeared on North Carolina Tar Heels on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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