With back-to-back picks in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft, the Brooklyn Nets selected a pair of one-and-done collegians: Alabama forward Noah Clowney at No. 21, and Duke guard Dariq Whitehead at No. 22.
Clowney was selected to the SEC All-Freshman Team after averaging 9.8 points and 7.9 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per game over 36 games, starting all 36 for the SEC Champion Crimson Tide. The 6-foot-210, 210-pounder was a four-star recruit who was the consensus No. 1 prospect in the state of South Carolina in the Class of 2022.
“I was always overlooked, so when I finally got an opportunity, I always worked hard, and it got me somewhere,” Clowney told ESPN’s Monica McNutt after being selected.
Whitehead, who was born in Newark, was the 2022 Naismith High School Player of the Year and USA Mr. Basketball out of Montverde Academy in Florida, and was the MVP of the 2022 McDonald’s All-American Game. He played in 26 games for the Blue Devils, starting six, and averaged 8.3 points and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc.
He also has quite the pro pedigree, although his family’s focus has been football; his older brother, Tahir, was a fifth-round NFL Draft pick in 2012 and spent nine years in the league as a linebacker, and their uncle, Willie, was a defensive end who played nine seasons in the NFL and three in the CFL from 1995-2006.
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