While the game has revolutionized in the NBA, the center position is still fairly important, and the top bigs can still go in the lottery. We saw that in this year’s NBA Draft, with the consensus top three centers from college basketball (Khaman Maluach, Derik Queen, and Thomas Sorber) all being selected in the top 15 overall.
There were still other center prospects projected to be taken in the draft. One of them was Ryan Kalkbrenner, a 5th-year senior from Creighton. He’s one of the most accomplished veterans in the sport, having won the historic 4-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year award.
The 7’0 big man also showed his developing offensive game. This past season, Kalkbrenner averaged career-highs of 19.2 ppg and 8.7 rpg, shooting 65% from the field and 34% from deep, including a career-high 49-point effort in the season-opener against Texas-Rio Grande Valley.
Ryan is headed to Charlotte!
— Creighton Men’s Basketball (@BluejayMBB) June 27, 2025
The @hornets select @RyanKalkbrenner with the 34th pick.
📰: https://t.co/ZXVMpu4pBo#GoJays x @NBADraft pic.twitter.com/If85c12pZZ
While Kalkbrenner didn’t get picked on the first day of the draft, he did ultimately find a good landing spot in the NBA Draft.
The Charlotte Hornets have struggled at the center position, including missing out on former lottery picks. One of them was Mark Williams, whom they opted to trade to the Phoenix Suns this week for another pick. That opened up room for them to take someone like Kalkbrenner, who, on paper, has a chance to carve out a role.
The other centers on the roster include Nick Richards and Jusuf Nurkic, who was traded to them by Phoenix in a salary cap move. This is a nice opportunity for Kalkbrenner to have an impact and potentially be a starter for the Hornets. He joins first-round picks Kon Knueppel (No. 4) and Liam McNeeley (No. 29) as draft picks to this point. We'll see if they add another else to end Thursday night.