Is Rob Dillingham going to the NBA? Kentucky star's 2024 NBA Draft decision explored
Rob Dillingham announced that he will forgo his remaining years of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2024 NBA draft during an appearance on "NBA Today" on Tuesday. A four-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, he had a strong true freshman season with the Kentucky Wildcats.
"With the help of my team, my longtime manager Rico Grier, I've decided to sign with Klutch and enter my name in the 2024 NBA draft," Dillingham said.
He also made his case to teams near the top of the draft:
"I feel like teams are just getting an overall complete person and a good player who can uplift others because I feel like at Kentucky coaches taught me it's not about me and it's about winning and helping your teammates, learning each other. So, really just an all-around player and whatever the coach needs me to do, I feel like I can do."
Dillingham said that he models his game after Steve Nash, Kyrie Irving, Darius Garland, Tony Parker and others. He said that his parents, brother, sister and manager Rico Grier will accompany him at the Barclays Center on draft day.
Where does Rob Dillingham project to land in the 2024 NBA draft?
While he started just one of the 32 games he appeared in and played just 23.3 minutes per game, Rob Dilingham showed plenty of flashes in his true freshman season with the Kentucky Wildcats. Despite limited playing time, he averaged 15.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 47.5% from the field, 44.4% from 3-point range and 79.6% from the free-throw line.
He was named to the second-team All-Southeastern and the SEC All-Freshman team while also being named SEC Sixth Man of the Year. While he may have been the consensus top pick in a weak draft class if he had more time on the court, Dillingham is still viewed as a top five pick in the 2024 draft.
ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony said that the Wildcats guard has the most star power of any prospect in this year's draft, tweeting:
"Rob Dillingham's explosiveness, jittery handle, live-dribble passing and ability to hit pull-up, stepback and sidestep 3s made him one of college basketball's most difficult covers, giving him arguably the most star power of any prospect in this draft class."
Check out Jonathan Givony's tweet and highlights of Rob Dillingham below.