South Carolina basketball star earns top-10 NBA Draft grade from ESPN
South Carolina basketball star forward Collin Murray-Boyles hasn’t revealed his plans regarding the NBA Draft. The rising junior has until April 26th to declare for the draft but could pull back out–preserving his two remaining years of eligibility–as late as the middle of June. For most players like Murray-Boyles, the decision whether to go pro or stay in school will come down to where they expect to go in this summer’s draft. Second-round grades or late first-round projections often send guys back to their college teams. Higher picks, though, come with too much guaranteed money to ignore.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo released their updated 2025 NBA Draft mock. Collin Murray-Boyles featured prominently.
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Slotting in at No. 10 overall, Givony and Woo project CMB to the Houston Rockets in the lottery. Houston is a young team on the rise in the Association, and adding Murray-Boyles would help them add to an already-good defense and give them a young piece that could help the team replace aging veterans (and expiring contracts), Jeff Green and Steven Adams.
The top-10 grade from ESPN mirrors several other recent projections that include Murray-Boyles in the lottery. Still, there have been some outlets predicting a late first-round selection for the Columbia native.
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With the polarization around Murray-Boyles’ prospect status, South Carolina fans likely will be waiting a while to hear official news on his decision.
This year’s NBA Draft will take place on Friday, June 25th and Saturday, June 26th. Murray-Boyles’ final deadline to decide if he will return to school or stay in the draft will be June 15th. ABC, ESPN, and the ESPN app will broadcast and stream coverage of the festivities.
