8. De’Andre Hunter, Virginia
Age: 21
Height, Weight: 6-foot-8, 222 pounds
Slash Line: .530/.457/.784
Season Averages: 15.1 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 1.2 3PM
Once again, Virginia has a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They have a better all-around team this time around and part of that attributes to De’Andre Hunter, who might be one of this draft class’s best wings.
The smooth Hunter is solid from all parts of the court. He’s not flashy, but the statistics back it up, with an efficient season from the floor and behind the arc for 15.1 points per game. The three-point percentage is also up by 75 points.
Aside from this, Hunter is a threat defensively. Only upside is shown by his steals and blocks per game, but a seven-foot wingspan gives him the ideal length of a wing for NBA teams to plug in the middle of the lineup. Think Trevor Ariza.
Hunter won’t be the most athletic player on the court, but he’s good enough to be a playoff team’s fourth or fifth-best starter. That may not happen imminently as a lottery pick, so it will be interesting to see what he could do with a role on a potentially slumping team.
A New York Knicks team that needs anything resembling defense makes sense for Hunter. Maybe, if they land sixth or seventh, he’s the guy, but they stand to choose no later than fifth, as of this writing.