The first Pitt player taken in 2018 who played for Pitt coach Jeff Capel, Carlton “Bub” Carrington, is projected to go in the first round of the NBA Draft. Among the 29 Panthers selected all-time, Carrington has a shot at becoming Pitt’s ninth first-round choice. Lamar Patterson was selected in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft, marking the tenth consecutive year that a player was picked straight out of Pitt. Cam Johnson, a first-round pick in 2019, played for the Panthers in his rookie year before moving to North Carolina to continue his undergraduate career.
The Athletic and CBS Sports both estimate that the Miami Heat will select Carrington in the first round of the draft, with the Oklahoma City Thunder selecting him at number twelve or the Thunder at fifteen. To watch the draught from the comfort of the Green Room at Brooklyn, New York’s Barclays Center, he was one of twenty-four players invited.
The NBA has complimented Carrington on his basketball IQ, feel for the game, and outside shooting, adding to his reputation beyond only his genes. His ultimate statistics were 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists, making him the only rookie in the nation to achieve those lofty averages. Seven out of the last eight first-year players to meet those criteria were drafted in the top fifteen.
