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LSU Tigers freshman Naz Reid has seen his minutes steadily increase over the span of the 2018-19 college basketball season. In turn, it’s helped his overall outlook for the 2019 NBA Draft improve as well. The 6-foot-10 forward has already showcased talent which could help him come off the board in the first round.
Through LSU’s first 26 games, he’s helped lead the Tigers to a 21-5 record and a No. 13 ranking. Over that stretch, Reid has averaged 13.8 points and 6.6 rebounds while playing just 25.5 minutes per game. His playing time has jumped since the end of January, though, as he’s played 27 or more minutes in eight of nine games recently. In six games during the month of February, Reid has logged 33-plus minutes while scoring in double figures in all.
We’re going to take a look at the latest NBA draft projections and mock drafts to evaluate where most believe Reid will come off the board.
Naz Reid NBA Draft Projections & Mock Draft
Hoops Hype’s Bryan Kalbrosky has put together an interesting aggregate mock draft which takes projections from five sites and gives out a ranking based off that. He has Reid projected around No. 37 based on the five sites, making him an early second-round selection. This is from February 15 and pulls drafts from The Athletic, ESPN, SI.com, ESPN, NBADraft.net and Bleacher Report.
The highest of the bunch was NBADraft.net, and we evaluated their mock a bit further as they have him coming off the board at No. 26 overall to the Indiana Pacers. A few notable names who jump out as prospects to come off the board around that same time include UNC guard Coby White (No. 22), Maryland’s Jalen Smith (No. 23), Duke’s Tre Jones (No. 27), USC’s Kevin Porter (No. 28) and Kentucky’s Ashton Hagans (No. 29).
Naz Reid NBA Draft Big Board Rankings
The LSU freshman has jumped around a bit on various big boards, coming in at a decent spot on some while other analysts have voiced concerns. Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman offered a No. 36 overall ranking for Reid but cited question marks about his defense in the current projection.
ESPN’s NBA Draft “best available” rankings have Reid as No. 46 overall currently, which would leave him near the middle of the second round. They have him ranked just after St. John’s standout Shamorie Ponds. Beyond that, the aforementioned NBADraft.net’s big board provides a No. 34 ranking from roughly the start of February, and at that point had his stock trending down, with him falling three spots.
It’s tough to argue that Reid’s stock won’t improve in updated mock drafts and big boards as they’re released when conference tournaments/NCAA tournament action ramps up. In the six games this month so far (prior to Saturday’s date with Tennessee), Reid has averaged 17.0 points and 9.5 rebounds while shooting 50.4 percent from the field.
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