By R.L. Bynum
Henri Veesaar bet on himself, on his development and on the idea that the best path to becoming a productive NBA player is to start his pro career next season.
In the long run, he may still be right. In the short term, though, draft night made that decision look costly financially.
The former Carolina center reportedly turned down a $5.5 million NIL package from UNC, as well as other offers worth at least $6 million elsewhere.
That decision won’t pay off in the short term since he plummeted to No. 52 overall in the second round, selected by the Atlanta Hawks.
Veesaar, who was widely viewed as a possible late first-round pick or early second-round pick, wound up waiting far longer than expected. The Los Angeles Clippers selected him at No. 52, then sent his draft rights to Atlanta for the rights to No. 57 pick Narcisse Ngoy and cash considerations.
The Hawks announced the trade Wednesday night, adding the Estonian 7-footer to a draft class that already included Houston guard Kingston Flemings at No. 8 and St. John’s forward/center Zuby Ejiofor at No. 23.
That slide carried real financial consequences. First-round picks come with a rookie-scale structure and guaranteed money in the first two years, while second-round contracts are negotiated separately and often include fewer guarantees.
The No. 23 pick, where Atlanta took Ejiofor, had a rookie-scale total value of $17.3 million, including $3.45 million in the first season. In comparison, the No. 30 pick carried a total value of $15 million. Second-rounders, by contrast, do not have a fixed scale, leaving Veesaar’s first NBA contract dependent on his negotiations with the Hawks.
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CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported that Veesaar had significant NIL opportunities if he returned to school, with UNC capable of paying in the multi-million-dollar range and other programs reportedly prepared to go higher if he entered the transfer portal. Yahoo Sports reported that Veesaar turned down more than $5 million in NIL money to remain in the draft, and Bleacher Report cited a college coach who said Veesaar could have made a “minimum” of $5.5 million by staying in college.
Veesaar understood the money was there. At the NBA Draft Combine, he called the college offers “tempting,” but explained that his decision was driven by his desire to develop and to move fully into professional basketball.
“There’s a lot of money being thrown around in college,” Veesaar said, according to CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter. “It’s another year of going to school, being able to get ready for the NBA, but honestly, getting thrown into the fire is the best way to learn.”
That answer fit the pattern of Veesaar’s career. He left Estonia for Real Madrid’s youth system as a teenager, came to the United States to play at Arizona, redshirted one season because of an elbow injury and then transferred to North Carolina, where his draft stock rose dramatically after the best season of his college career.
Veesaar told reporters during the predraft process that he was “all-in on staying in the draft” and that it was “100% my decision to stay,” adding that he believed the NBA would help him “develop more” and improve faster than another year in college.
His lone season at UNC made that confidence understandable. Veesaar started all 31 games he played for the Tar Heels and averaged 17.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 blocks in 31.4 minutes while shooting 60.8% from the field and 42.6% on 3-pointers.
He earned All-ACC second-team honors, was a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (top center), ranked eighth in the ACC in scoring, fourth in rebounding and second in field-goal percentage and became the first player in ACC history with at least 30 made 3-pointers and 30 blocks in a season while shooting 60% or better from the floor.
Veesaar gave UNC a rare offensive profile for a college center, combining touch in the paint, pick-and-pop shooting, passing ability and enough size to play inside. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor ranked him as the No. 26 prospect in the draft, praising his shooting touch, connective passing, screening, lob-catching and help defense, while noting that his 227-pound build could leave him vulnerable physically and that he had not fully defined a clear NBA calling card.
The Hawks took advantage of the slide, moving up five spots to get him before the Los Angeles Lakers picked at No. 56. Hoops Rumors cited reports that the Lakers and Knicks had interest, and that Veesaar’s representatives had spoken with Atlanta before the Hawks made the move.
The same report said teams considering Veesaar earlier in the second round were told he would not sign a two-way contract. This detail could explain why his contract situation will be one of the first questions surrounding him in Atlanta.
On the court, Atlanta offers a complicated but intriguing fit. The Hawks are reshaping their roster after trading franchise mainstay Trae Young to Washington, and their frontcourt already includes Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu and Mouhamed Gueye.
They finished 46–36 last season, sixth in the Eastern Conference, losing a first-round playoff series to the eventual champion New York Knicks in six games.
Atlanta also used a first-round pick on Ejiofor, giving the Hawks two rookie big men in the same class and creating immediate competition for frontcourt minutes.
Veesaar’s clearest path is as a floor-spacing center who can give Atlanta a different offensive look. Okongwu is established as a defensive-minded starting-caliber center, Johnson is one of the franchise’s core forwards, and Gueye remains part of the developmental frontcourt mix.
Veesaar will need to prove that his shooting translates, that he can hold up physically, and that he can be good enough defensively to stay on the floor, but his offensive skill set gives Atlanta something it has lacked.
The final accounting of his decision will not come with his rookie contract. If Veesaar earns a standard deal, develops quickly and becomes part of Atlanta’s rotation, the NIL money he passed up will become a footnote to a professional career that began on his preferred timeline.
But after turning down a reported multi-million-dollar path back to Chapel Hill, then falling nearly to the end of the second round, Veesaar’s first NBA lesson was a blunt one: betting on a faster path to the league can come with a steep short-term price.
Photo courtesy of the ACC
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