UNLV sophomore shooting guard Patrick McCaw will enter this year’s NBA draft, according to Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). McCaw won’t be back with the school, Rothstein says, so presumably that means he’ll hire an agent and forfeit his remaining college eligibility. The 6’7″ 20-year-old stands a decent chance to get drafted, as he’s 49th in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and No. 62 with Chad Ford of ESPN.com. Still, it appears his stock would have improved if he’d waited a year, as Givony has him 21st in his 2017 mock draft.
The St. Louis native moved to the Washington, D.C. area and attended the same high school as Kevin Durant did, but despite that, and his presence on a well-regarded AAU team, McCaw wasn’t a highly regarded recruit as he entered his college career, Givony notes. He was outside the top 100 in the 2014 Recruiting Services Consensus Index but appears to have made a strong impression on NBA types since then, particularly over the past year.
McCaw’s production took a leap this season even though he saw about the same amount of playing time he did as a freshman. He averaged 14.7 points per game, up from last season’s 9.6, and he upped his rebounding to 5.1 per contest from 3.3, helping fill the void left by the departure of three perimeter starters from last season’s Runnin’ Rebels, including Rashad Vaughn, last year’s 17th overall pick. McCaw’s 3-point shooting remained steady at 36.6%, so he’s a passable but not fearsome outside threat.