Former Ohio State basketballs star Duane Washington, Jr. will be a very interested observer on Thursday when all the hubbub of 2021 NBA draft tips off. He went through the process of asking for feedback while keeping his options open to return to the Buckeye program, but ultimately decided to stay in the draft.
In some circles, it was a curious move for a guy who had not really shown up on too many big boards or mock drafts, but there was a glimmer of hope for him when he was invited — and excelled — at the NBA G League Elite camp. That success seemed to at least put him on the radar and swayed him to stay the course and roll the dice in the draft. He even got an invite to the NBA draft combine.
And now, Washington is starting to appear at the tail end of some mock drafts. In fact, in the latest stack ranking of available prospects by Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype, Washington checks in at No. 64 out of 77. It’s the first time he’s even appeared in the period rankings by our sister site, and it might be indicative of him potentially being taken somewhere extremely late in the draft.
Final aggregate mock draft of the season.
Among those peaking in terms of draft stock right now:
Jalen Green
Scottie Barnes
James Bouknight
Josh Giddey
Chris Duarte— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) July 29, 2021
Even if he doesn’t, there’s little doubt that Washington will get an invite somewhere to try and impress an NBA team as an undrafted free agent or summer league participant.
Stay tuned. We’ll let you know when and where we know where Washington ends up when all the dust settles.
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