Where GG Jackson lands in latest NBA mock drafts
It’s NBA Draft week, and the Gamecocks are gearing up for their first draft selection since 2017 and maybe the highest since 2006 with GG Jackson on the board.
An NBA team is almost assuredly going to get pluck Jackson Thursday night. But the projections on where he goes are still up in the air.
Most of the national media have Jackson as a very late first-round pick and some have him slipping into the first part of the second round as the draft approaches.
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SB Nation is the highest Jackson is mocked to go, slotting him at No. 22 overall to the Brooklyn Nets at the back end of the first round.
This is a pure upside pick. Jackson had a bizarre and uneven freshman season after reclassifying to skip his senior year of high school, but he still showed flashes of what originally made him a top recruit,” Ricky O’Donnell wrote.
“He’s a huge wing scorer with shot creation potential, but his feel for the game is very much a work in progress. The Nets feel like a perfect spot for him to grow with two first round picks and a need for high-ceiling talent.”
Most outlets have Jackson in the 30s and going within the first 10 picks of the second round.
CBS Sports has the Gamecocks’ forward as a fringe first-rounder. Kyle Boone projects him to go No. 30 overall to the Los Angeles Clippers.
There are two places–Bleacher Report and The Ringer–having Jackson slotted at No. 33 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.
Jackson will draw looks from teams in the teens who see upside in an 18-year-old forward who can create for himself, hit specialty jumpers and shoot threes,” Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman wrote.
“He’s also a candidate to slip given his lengthier NBA-ready timeline, inefficient scoring and suspect decision-making and defense.”
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Yahoo Sports projects Jackson to go No. 35 overall to the Boston Celtics while ESPN has him at No. 37 overall to the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
The Athletic has Jackson going No. 39 overall to the Charlotte Hornets. That would be a relative homecoming for Jackson. He was born and raised in South Carolina before playing his college basketball with the Gamecocks.
Most teams Jackson is projected to are teams where he wouldn’t have to be a major impact early. It’ll give him time to develop as an insanely young prospect in the draft.
He’s one of the youngest players in the draft pool. He won’t turn 19 until about two months into the NBA season. Jackson played the first month and a half of the college season with South Carolina at 17 years old.
Jackson is coming off an up-and-down 2022-23 with the Gamecocks where he averaged 15.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He shot 38.4 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from three.
The NBA Draft starts Thursday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Jackson will likely become the first South Carolina player selected since 2017 when Sindarius Thornwell went No. 48 overall.
The last Gamecocks player to go before pick No. 40 was Renaldo Balkman in 2006 (No. 20 overall).
