NC State basketball star DJ Burns slimming down, preparing for 2024 NBA Draft

With the 2024 NBA draft approaching, D.J. Burns Jr. is slimming down.

Slimming down, in Burns’ case, means losing 45 pounds, not four or five pounds.

Burns’ weight was always something of a moving target in his two years at N.C. State. It was believed to be in excess of 300 pounds this past season for the 6-foot-9 big man, who played his best basketball in March, leading the Wolfpack to the ACC championship and then the Final Four.

Burns, who was listed at 275 pounds, delighted basketball fans of all ages with his soft hands and spinning moves, and also with his outsized personality. The Pack won five games in five days to claim the ACC title, then four victories in the NCAA Tournament in winning the South Regional — nine straight elimination games — before the loss to Purdue in the national semifinals.

The postseason run burned calories off Burns with so much basketball packed into a short period. But that apparently was just a start as he now readies for a shot at pro basketball.

Burns posted Tuesday on his Instagram account: “DJ Burns has been GRINDING since March Madness. In the last six and half weeks he’s lost 45 pounds.”

NBA reporter Shams Charania of The Athletic, appearing on “Run It Back”on FanDuel TV, said he attended a pro day and Burns told him about the 45-pound loss. He said Burns said he had been doing cardio workouts four days a week, beginning at 5 a.m.

“I saw him, he looked totally different,” Charania said on the FanDuel TV show.

Burns, on his X account, was asked Tuesday about “tips” for losing weight. He posted: “Work out more, eat less, stay at home lol.”

One story line that began during the NCAA Final Four was that Burns might draw interest from NFL types because of his good hands and mobility while carrying 300-plus pounds. Pack coach Kevin Keatts dismissed that line of thinking, and Burns in interviews has said his goal is the NBA and preparing for the June 27 draft.

“No way he’s going to play football,” Keatts said during the NCAAs. “Listen, he’s got a great touch. But he’s not the bully you think. He’s a teddy bear off the court.”

And now a much smaller teddy bear.