UNC’s Luke Maye will enter the NBA Draft — Won’t hire an agent, though

North Carolina basketball has announced that All-ACC forward Luke Maye will enter the 2018 NBA Draft; Maye, however, will not hire an agent.

As sophomore in 2017-18, Luke Maye evolved into one of the best players in the ACC. As one of college basketball’s top inside-out scoring threats, Maye was named first team All-ACC, and selected to the second annual All-ACC Analytics Team. In terms of all-conference voting, only two players — Marvin Bagley and Jerome Robinson — received more votes than Maye.

After scoring only 234 points across his first two seasons in Chapel Hill (68 games), Maye become an efficient, high-usage scorer as a junior. Maye averaged a double-double — 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds — while also leading UNC in player efficiency rating (PER). Amongst Tar Heels with at least 500 minutes of game action this season, Maye was tops in usage rate; over 24 percent of North Carolina’s possessions ended with Maye shooting, drawing a shooting foul or turning the ball over while on the floor, according to KenPom.

 

Is he a real NBA prospect?

Eh, probably not — at least not yet. As basketball becomes more perimeter-oriented, Luke Maye has some appeal on the next level — a power forward that can shoot three-pointers. However, Maye is far from landing on the map as an NBA prospect, currently. You likely won’t find him in the top 60 for anyone’s mock draft.

This also isn’t the point, though. There’s absolutely no cost in Maye testing the proverbial waters; without an agent, Maye can workout, get evaluate and earn valuable feedback. Justin Jackson went through this two seasons ago; he came back a new player in 2016-17, when he was named ACC Player of the Year.

Barring something unforeseen, Maye can use this as a wonderful player development opportunity, then return back to UNC for his senior season. There’s opportunity cost in not pursuing this path, which can be a once-in-a-lifetime option for some.

(In fact, last week I wrote about how a hip injury may have cost Cameron Johnson the opportunity to go through this process, too.)

UNC coach Roy Williams:

This is a great opportunity for Luke. This is what the system is designed to do, which is provide players with an opportunity to workout with NBA teams and get feedback from those teams. Our staff will support Luke and will do whatever we can to help him throughout this process.

 

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