UM guard Nijel Pack among 242 early entrants in NBA Draft, keeping college option open
Add Nijel Pack to the list of 242 players who filed as early entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft.
The sophomore University of Miami guard, who transferred from Kansas State last spring, helped lead the Hurricanes to their first Final Four in school history. Pack is not hiring an agent and will maintain his collegiate eligibility, the same plan as his teammate Norchad Omier, who announced Monday that he was entering his name for consideration in the NBA Draft.
They join Jordan Miller, who graduated, and Isaiah Wong, who opted to forego a fifth year of eligibility, in the pursuit of NBA dreams.
Pack, the 6-foot Indianapolis native, averaged 13.6 points, 2.3 assists and 44 percent shooting for Miami this season. He scored 26 points against top seed Houston in the Sweet 16. He made headlines last April when Miami businessman and Hurricanes benefactor John Ruiz announced he signed Pack to a two-year $800,000 NIL deal with his Life Wallet company.
Players had until 11:59 p.m. April 23 to file as early entrants and 242 did, including 48 international players. Only 60 will be drafted.
The early entry prospects can now test the pre-draft process and get feedback from teams during workouts and interviews on their potential stock. They have until May 31 to withdraw from the draft and return to school.
The G League Elite Camp is May 13-14, the Draft Combine is May 15-21 in Chicago, Illinois, and the NBA Draft is June 22.
In the meantime, while Pack and Omier explore their NBA chances, Miami coach Jim Larranaga and his staff continue to recruit high school prospects and the transfer portal to fill open spots. Larranaga said in his post-season review that he expected to add two transfers to the roster.
Robbie Beran, a 6-9 Northwestern transfer, strongly considered UM and had the school in his top three, but on Tuesday announced he was signing with Virginia Tech. Beran is a native of Richmond, Virginia, his sister goes to Virginia Tech and the Hokies recruited him heavily coming out of high school.
Florida State transfer Matthew Cleveland has UM as a finalist, along with Auburn and Missouri. The 6-7 guard visited Miami two weeks ago. He averaged 13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and shot 44 percent for the Seminoles this season.
Larranaga said a few weeks ago that the current trend of player turnover made it impossible for any coach to make predictions for next season. “I had to laugh, surfing through Instagram and I saw a post that has us ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll, No. 3, 8, 11. I’m like, `Holy Christmas. I don’t even know who we’re going to have, and these guys think they can pick us top 10 in the country?’’
This story was originally published April 25, 2023 at 11:34 PM.