LSU forward Tari Eason receives green room invite to 2022 NBA Draft

Former LSU forward Tari Eason has received a green room invite for the 2022 NBA Draft, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. He joins a list of players that includes fellow SEC stars Jabari Smith (Auburn) and TyTy Washington (Kentucky).

Every year, the NBA invites some of the top prospects and those expected to be picked in the lottery to the NBA Draft green room. This allows them to be at the draft with their family and friends when their name is called by commissioner Adam Silver in the first-round.

Eason transferred to LSU from Cincinnati this past offseason, and put together a breakout campaign with the Tigers. Despite coming off of the bench the majority of the time, the 6-foot-8 forward averaged 16.9 points and 6.6 rebounds across 24.4 minutes per game. He was named the SEC Sixth Man of the Year as LSU finished with a 22-12 record to earn a six seed in the NCAA Tournament.

According to the latest NBA mock draft from ESPN, Eason is expected to be taken just outside the lottery. Givony has him slated to go 17th overall to the Houston Rockets.

“Eason is one of the most explosive and productive players in the draft, putting consistent pressure on opposing defenses with his quick first step, physicality and insatiable intensity, characteristics that allow him to live at the free throw line,” Givony wrote. “These same traits helped make him one of the most versatile defenders in the college game, a magnet for steals, blocks and rebounds who flew all over the floor in LSU’s suffocating press while rotating from guarding point guards to big men.”

The 2022 NBA Draft will be held on Thursday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The draft will be held in Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the ninth year.