Following his freshman season at Minnesota, Cam Christie has decided to go pro, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the 6’6″ guard will remain in the 2024 NBA draft pool rather than heading back to school.
The No. 34 player on ESPN’s big board of 2024 prospects, Christie showed real promise as a shot-maker with size in his first and only college season, averaging 11.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game with a .391 FG%. NBA teams are intrigued by the youngster’s long-term upside, according to Givony, who observes (via Twitter) that Christie is still 18 years old.
Washington State forward Jaylen Wells will also keep his name in the NBA draft, forgoing his senior year at college, he tells Jamey Vinnick of CougFan.com. Wells is currently the No. 60 player on ESPN’s board, making him a candidate to be selected in the second round of next month’s draft.
Wells, who spent his first two college seasons at Sonoma State before transferring to Washington State in 2023, averaged 12.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 29.2 minutes per game across 34 appearances last season, with a .436/.417/.814 shooting line. After deciding to test the draft waters this spring, he was initially invited to the G League Elite Camp before instead receiving an invite to the combine.
While Christie and Wells are staying in the draft, a number of his fellow NCAA early entrants are withdrawing in order to return to school. Here are several of those players, per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports:
- Forward Achor Achor is transferring from Samford to Kansas State for his super-senior season (Twitter link).
- Guard Koby Brea is transferring from Dayton to Kentucky for his super-senior season (Twitter link).
- Guard Jalen Blackmon is transferring from Stetson to Miami for his senior season (Twitter link).
- Guard Dion Brown is transferring from UMBC to Boston College for his junior season (Twitter link).
- Forward Ben Humrichous is transferring from Evansville to Illinois for his super-senior season (Twitter link).
- Butler swingman Jahmyl Telfort is returning to school for his super-senior season (Twitter link).
We expect more updates on draft decisions to come in over the course of the day, since the deadline for players to withdraw and retain their college eligibility is Wednesday night at 11:59 pm Eastern time.