Brooklyn Nets forward Jalen Wilson has accumulated numerous achievements and accolades during his four seasons as a Kansas Jayhawk. Not only did he experience team success by winning the NCAA championship for the 2021-22 season, he also ended his collegiate career being named first-team All-American and winning the Julius Erving award for being the small forward in the nation.
Despite everything he accomplished at Kansas, Wilson entered the 2023 NBA Draft being underrated by the masses. He helped his team win a national title as a role player and followed that up by coming back even better by becoming one of the best players in college basketball. Yet, in most mock drafts, he was projected to be a late second-round pick.
Wilson comes into the draft with four seasons under his belt, but at 22 years old, he’s considered a prospect with a low ceiling due to his size (6-foot-8 and 215 pounds) and average athleticism. Brooklyn took Wilson with the 51st overall pick and while some draft experts use his age as a knock on his NBA potential, Wilson feels that the amount of time he spent at Kansas has prepared him for the next level:
“(I) think my time at school gave me a lot of different experiences, taught me a lot of different things. I was able to do a lot of different roles. And, I just use that to my advantage. Being able to come in and play a specific role. I was able to do that on a championship team and was able to do that last year as well in a different role with being the older guy on the team. But, I look at this as an opportunity to come in and be able to do whatever I’m asked to do. I’ve been asked to do a lot of different things in my career at Kansas so I’ll be well prepared to do that here.”
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