Covering Carolina athletics beyond men’s basketball and football, with dedicated reporting on women’s basketball and baseball, in addition to covering other sports that rarely draw media attention
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.
Caleb Wilson is headed from Chapel Hill to Chicago, joining one of the NBA’s most iconic franchises and following the path of the most famous Tar Heel in Michael Jordan. The moment Tuesday night in Brooklyn, when the Chicago Bulls made Wilson the No. 4 overall pick in the NBA draft, carried added meaning because former Carolina coach Hubert Davis was at the Barclays Center to share it with him.
Caleb Wilson said going through the injuries that ended his Carolina career early were rough, but added on Tuesday at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago that he’s learned from it.
The departures of Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson mark only the second time in UNC program history that two players with remaining eligibility have left for the NBA after only one season in Chapel Hill. Although there haven’t been nearly as many UNC players who turned pro after only one season as there have been at Duke, the first such Tar Heel did so 54 years ago.
Two months away from the NBA draft, Caleb Wilson is projected as high as No. 2 on mock drafts, while Henri Veesaar is a consensus second-round pick who three project to go in the first round.
Cormac Ryan’s NBA career-high of 25 points last week has only made him “hungry as ever” to prove he deserves to stick at the NBA level. On a night that RJ Davis’ G League season ended with a flourish and frustration, Ryan showed again Sunday why he should stay in the NBA, with 21 points, three 3-pointers, four rebounds and three assists in the Bucks’ 131–115 home win over Memphis.
Cormac Ryan and Pete Nance both set career NBA highs for Milwaukee on Wednesday night in the Bucks’ 119–113 loss at Houston, as RJ Davis’ South Bay Lakers advanced in the G League playoffs and Harrison Ingram produced his G League-best 29th double-double.
Four Marches after teaming up on a run to the Final Four for UNC, RJ Davis and Caleb Love battled for two games in the G League, with Love putting on an overtime show on Tuesday.
In his fourth NBA start, Leaky Black had the best game of his career. Playing alongside Trae Young in the Washington Wizards’ backcourt, Black played 39 minutes, scoring 16 points and four 3-pointers, all career-highs, in their 122–112 home loss Thursday to the Utah Jazz.
With Roy Williams watching on Saturday, Coby White scored 20 points in his home debut with the Charlotte Hornets during a week when Harrison Barnes’ consecutive games streak ended, Cameron Johnson got hurt, Drake Powell headed to the G League and Cormac Ryan got a two-way contract.
The first week after the All-Star break has been a period of transition for a few former UNC players, with some positive and some negative outcomes. Coby White’s long wait to make his Charlotte Hornets debut finally ended; Leaky Black’s contract was converted to a two-way deal; Portland sent Caleb Love to the G League; Cole Anthony remains in limbo; and Harrison Barnes has settled into a reserve role.
It was a week of transition for former UNC players in the NBA, with Coby White and Cole Anthony dealt before Thursday’s trade deadline, Cameron Johnson finally returning from a knee injury. Meanwhile, Portland has a decision later this month to make on Caleb Love.
Coby White is coming home to North Carolina. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday afternoon that the Chicago Bulls have traded White and Mike Conley Jr. to the Charlotte Hornets for Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng and three second-round draft picks.
Caleb Love keeps stacking good games in his rookie season in Portland, including one of his most efficient nights of the season on Sunday.
It might be time for the Los Angeles Lakers to call up RJ Davis to the NBA. Davis followed up scoring 30 points in a triple-double on Thursday with a career-high 45 points in only 35 minutes on Saturday in the South Bay Lakers’ dominant 146–104 home victory over the Salt Lake City Stars at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, Calif.
