NCAA Basketball: 4 biggest losers from 2019 NBA Draft early entrant deadline

Georgia Bulldogs

Tom Crean is in the process of rebuilding the Georgia program and has the kind of recruiting class that shows everything is going in the right direction. They landed a superstar in Anthony Edwards, the nation’s No. 2 overall recruit, and four more top-100 prospects to round out what is the No. 8 recruiting class in the country, according to 247sports.

That momentum is nice – but it would be better with a star upperclassman that could help guide the way like Nicolas Claxton.

Though Georgia only won 11 games last year, Claxton showed the kind of versatility that NBA teams are looking for from their big men. At 6-10, he’s supremely athletic with three-point range, rebounding skills, and is a rim protector (2.5 per game). Claxton was inconsistent but showed so much skill that it was obvious to everyone that it would only be a matter of time until he put it all together and became a star.

NBA teams saw that, too. And, rather than letting him develop into a star at Georgia next season and risk missing out on him early in the 2020 draft, they want him to develop into that star in their organization as soon as possible.

Claxton is far from a finished product but his upside is so obvious and enticing that his draft stock continues to rise. A spectacular performance at the NBA Combine, which included seven blocks in his first 10 minutes, appeared to seal his status as a late first-round pick.