South Carolina basketball star projected in NBA Draft lottery
South Carolina basketball picked up a big win on Tuesday night over the rival Clemson Tigers. The overtime triumph was the Gamecocks’ first Quad 1 win of the 2024-2025 season. As usual, sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles was one of the primary reasons for the victory. The Columbia native scored 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting, pulled down nine rebounds, dished out four assists, blocked two shots, and stole the ball once.
Efficient and well-rounded performances like CMB’s showing against Clemson play a big role in his NBA Draft projections. As things stand, he is mocked as a 1st round pick by most NBA Draft analysts. He’s even starting to pop up in some mocks’ NBA Draft Lottery selections.
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In Tankathon’s latest update, the draft outlet has Murray-Boyles going No. 13 to the Atlanta Hawks. The outlet believes he is the second-best power forward in the 2025 NBA Draft, behind only Georgia’s Asa Newell.
Sports Illustrated NBA Draft analyst Derek Parker also sees Murray-Boyles being a lottery pick. According to Parker, the South Carolina sophomore will go 14th to the Utah Jazz. No power forwards are ahead of CMB in the SI mock other than Duke combo forward Cooper Flagg (sometimes ranked as a wing/small forward).
Similarly, ESPN’s preseason NBA Draft mock (a combined effort from Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo) slots the Gamecock star into the final lottery spot, as well. According to Givony and Woo, the Houston Rockets will take Murray-Boyles 14th next summer. He is the highest-ranked power forward in the draft other than Cooper Flagg.
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CBS Sports’ Kyle Boone projects Murray-Boyles to the Brooklyn Nets at No. 18 overall. In Boone’s mock, CMB is the third power forward off the board behind just Cooper Flagg and Texas Tech’s JT Toppin.
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As of now, Murray-Boyles hasn’t made any official public statements about his South Carolina basketball/NBA Draft future. However, with such high projections, he seems destined for the professional game after this season. If he is taken in next June’s draft, Murray-Boyles will be the first Gamecock star selected since GG Jackson in 2023. Jackson went 45th (15th pick of 2nd round) to the Memphis Grizzlies. He also could become the program’s first 1st-round NBA Draft pick since Renaldo Balkman in 2006.
For now, though, CMB and the Gamecocks have two more games ahead of the start of SEC conference play. With home games against non-power conference opponents on the docket before the New Year, the USC star could be in line to post some more impressive stat lines this holiday season.
Carolina’s next time on the floor will come on Sunday against Radford. The Gamecocks and Highlanders will tip off at 2:00 p.m. SEC Network+ will make the game available for streaming.
