Kansas basketball’s Johnny Furphy, Kevin McCullar Jr. are projected NBA draft picks
LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball has a pair of players who are likely to hear their names called this year in the NBA draft.
Kevin McCullar Jr., coming off his graduate senior year with the Jayhawks, proved to be one of the best players in college this past season — when healthy. His defensive acumen especially stood out, as it did the season before when he helped KU to a Big 12 Conference regular season championship. After transferring from Texas Tech ahead of the 2022-23 season, he showcased why he could be such a valuable talent in a system like coach Bill Self’s.
Johnny Furphy, coming off of his freshman year with the Jayhawks, emerged as his first season in college unfolded. After coming off the bench early on, he became an entrenched starter in one of the best starting lineups the nation had to offer — when everyone was available. It’s not just that he has size and athleticism, but he arguably became KU’s best 3-point shooter by season’s end.
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So, with the NBA combine to start up soon this month in Chicago, where might McCullar and Furphy end up? Will one go in the first round and one in the second? Will both be first-round picks?
Ahead of the start of the NBA combine, here are a couple of projections for the Kansas duo. Here are a couple more rankings of where they are on big boards. That is, as of Saturday morning.
Kevin McCullar Jr.
The Ringer: 2nd round, 32nd overall
CBS Sports: 1st round, 23rd overall
Sporting News: 16th overall prospect
ESPN: 22nd overall prospect
Johnny Furphy
The Ringer: 2nd round, 34th overall
CBS Sports: 1st round, 18th overall
Sporting News: 42nd overall prospect
ESPN: 27th overall prospect
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Could Johnny Furphy, Kevin McCullar Jr. be 1st round NBA draft picks?
