Now that the order of the 2024 NBA Draft is set, we can better predict where players like UConn’s Donovan Clingan will play next season.
After winning back-to-back NCAA men’s basketball national championships, the big man is one of the most intriguing prospects in this class. He is likely to be one of the first players to hear his name called at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next month. At the 2024 NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, Clingan measured just shy of 7-foot-2 in socks with a wingspan nearly 7-foot-7, both ranking as the top measurements among all participants except Purdue’s Zach Edey, whom Clingan defeated in the NCAA title game.
Although Clingan is potentially a candidate for the No. 1 overall pick to the Hawks, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, he ranked No. 5 overall in our first consensus mock draft after the lottery.
While that is fairly high for Clingan, he could go even higher. FOX’s John Fanta projects the big man at No. 3 overall to the Rockets in his latest mock draft.
This would position Clingan as the big man of the future, alongside forward Alperen Sengun, for Houston. He would provide a solid young option for the Rockets, who recently acquired veteran Steven Adams. Our latest mock here at For The Win has Clingan potentially falling a bit and landing with the Grizzlies, though there are a wide range of outcomes for the UConn star on draft night.
Either way, Clingan is a promising big man with major upside on the defensive end of the floor.