The 2023 NBA Draft is officially three days away and there are four Arkansas basketball players who are hoping to hear their names called Thursday evening.
Freshmen Anthony Black and Nick Smith Jr. are both basically locks to be selected in the first round, while freshman Jordan Walsh and junior Ricky Council IV are looking at being potential second round picks.
The closer the draft gets, the more clear the picture seems for some NBA teams as players have been visiting and working out with select franchises over the past month or so.
For Black, his stock has slowly risen since the end of the Arkansas' season in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-7 point guard filled up the stat column all season, averaging 12.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game.
Black received an invite to the NBA Draft green room, where he won't have to wait long as he's commonly projected as a top-10 pick. The teams commonly paired with Black in mock drafts are the Washington Wizards at No. 8 and the Orlando Magic at No. 6. NBA's consensus mock draft has Black going at No. 8 to the Wizards.
Smith also received an invite to the NBA Draft green room. His stock has seen a drop after he entered his freshman year being projected as a top-5 pick. Following a season derailed by a right knee injury, Smith is being projected outside of the lottery (top 14 picks) more often than not.
The 6-foot-5, 185 pound North Little Rock High School product played 17 total games for the Razorbacks this past season. He averaged 12.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game as a Hog.
Of the four mock drafts used by HawgBeat, all four have Smith being selected outside of the lottery and two have him dropping into the 20s.
Walsh took a while to make his decision, but he ultimately chose to forgo his remaining college eligibility and stay in the draft. That was probably a good choice for the 6-foot-7 Desoto, Texas, native.
As a freshman, Walsh played in 36 games and started 22 of them during his only season in Fayetteville. The McDonald's All-American averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds while having 40 steals and shooting 34.4% from three over his final 19 games.
At one point, Walsh was not a guarantee to show up in some two-round mock drafts, but he has since climbed into the top part of the second round following a strong combine showing and good workouts with teams.
A transfer from Wichita State, Council led Arkansas in scoring this season with an average of 16.1 points per game. He improved on that number in the postseason, averaging a team-best 18.7 points per game for the Razorbacks.
Council earned Coaches and AP Second Team All-SEC honors after he ranked fifth in the league in scoring this year. He scored in double figures in 31 of 36 games for Arkansas this season, and he scored at least 20 points on 11 occasions.
It seems Council's stock has done the opposite of Walsh's, as he was once a high-second round pick. All four of the mock drafts used by HawgBeat have Council being selected near the end of the second round and one even has him and Black both being selected by the Wizards, the team that former Hog Daniel Gafford plays for.
Below is a look at where the four future Pro Hogs were selected in recent mock drafts from ESPN, The Ringer, The Athletic and CBS.
The NBA Draft will be held at 7 p.m. CT Thursday at the Barclays Center in New York. It will be broadcast on ABC and ESPN.
