KU basketball’s Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson and Kevin McCullar Jr. invited to NBA combine
LAWRENCE — The Kansas men’s basketball program is set to be represented by three players at this year’s NBA draft combine, according to an announcement this week from the league.
Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson and Kevin McCullar Jr. are all coming off a season at the college level in which they helped the Jayhawks to a Big 12 Conference regular season title and No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They’re all poised to be drafted this year and start their professional careers. And they’ve all received invites to the combine, which will be held later this month in Chicago.
“We knew Gradey was going to be good,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said in April during the team’s end-of-season banquet. “I’ll be honest, we didn’t know he was going to be this good this fast. … We had all thought Gradey would be here for more than one year, until we played Duke.”
Dick was a freshman guard this past season at Kansas, while Wilson was a redshirt junior forward and McCullar a redshirt senior guard. Dick and Wilson have been training together ahead of the draft out in California, with both of them being represented by the same agency in WME Sports. McCullar said last month he’d train in New Jersey.
RELATED: KU men’s basketball alumni team Mass Street enters The Basketball Tournament
Dick will likely be selected first among the trio when the draft is held June 22, potentially even in the lottery in the first round. Wilson and McCullar would then come off the board later on, potentially both in the second round, although it’s unclear when. Performing well during the pre-draft process could do a lot to help their draft stock, and at the combine they’ll have the opportunity to interview with NBA teams, play in five-on-five games and participate in drills that focus on shooting and strength and agility.
Dick is one of the best, if not the best, shot-makers in this year’s class. Wilson is coming off of an All-America effort this past season. McCullar, a transfer from Texas Tech, showcased more of his offensive potential in his lone season with the Jayhawks and remained one of the nation’s top defenders.
“We took one youngster out of the portal last year, and when (McCullar) got in the portal I told my staff, and we all agreed, ‘He fits us perfectly,’ and he did,” Self said during the banquet in April. “And when you look at those highlights, you look at guys making shots. But when it came to Kevin — he made a couple of shots in the highlights, and of course he did that — but you looked at winning basketball plays across the board.”
RELATED: KJ Adams Jr.’s NIL partnership with Priority Sports showcases his vision for his future
Self, also during the banquet last month, said about Wilson: “There was one person that thought Jalen Wilson could score 20 a game; we all know who that was … Derale, his dad. When Jalen had a little incident last year before the season, that’s when we found out who Jalen Wilson really was. Stud. And the sacrifices he made on a national championship team, for the betterment of everybody else, didn’t go unnoticed.
"And I don’t know if I told (Wilson) this, or if I told mom or dad this, but for us to be really good, their son had to play at an All-American level this year.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: 2023 NBA draft combine: Gradey Dick, Jalen Wilson, Kevin McCullar Jr.
