Syracuse, N.Y. ― The NBA will hold its annual draft tonight and Thursday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
And for the fifth straight year, no Syracuse player will be selected.
The last Syracuse player taken in the NBA draft was Elijah Hughes. The former Orange star was the No. 39 overall pick in the 2020 draft, going to the Utah Jazz.
The five-year gap between draft picks is the longest for Syracuse since the NBA began.
Prior to the current run, the longest period between Syracuse draft picks was from 1961 to 1966. Pete Chudy was a 10th-round pick of the Syracuse Nationals in 1961. Syracuse star Dave Bing was the No. 2 pick in the 1966 draft.
Syracuse’s draft dry spell is one of the longest among the 18 schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Only four ACC schools have had longer runs without a player taken in the NBA draft.
North Carolina State and Virginia Tech last had players selected in the draft back in 2019. Georgia Tech’s last draft pick was in 2018, the same year of ACC newcomer SMU’s last draft pick.
Syracuse has had an even longer stretch since its last first-round pick in the NBA draft.
The last Orange player taken in the first round of the draft was Tyler Lydon, who went to Utah with the No. 24 pick in the 2017 draft. Utah traded Lydon to the Denver Nuggets.
That’s the longest gap between first-rounders out of Syracuse since Bing in 1966 and Marty Byrnes in 1978.
Clemson and SMU are the only two ACC schools that have gone longer without a player taken in the first round of the NBA draft. Clemson’s Trevor Booker was a first-round pick in 2010. SMU’s Jeryl Sasser was taken in the first round of the NBA’s 2001 draft.
Syracuse’s lack of recent draft picks has left the Orange with very little presence in the NBA. Jerami Grant, a second-round pick in the 2014 draft, just finished his 11th season in the NBA. Grant averaged 14.4 points for Portland last season.
Oshae Brissett was on the Boston Celtics’ championship team in 2024, but he opted out of the last year of his contract with the Celtics and sat out most of the 2024-25 season. He finished the year with Philadelphia, appearing in six games.
Other players such as Buddy Boeheim and Cole Swider have spent most of their time in the G League over the last two years, putting them on the fringe of the NBA.
Other ACC schools have NBA draft droughts of their own.
North Carolina hasn’t had a top-five pick in the NBA draft in the last 20 years. That’s a stunning length of time for one of college basketball’s traditional blue bloods.
Syracuse has two top-five picks in the last 20 years ― Wes Johnson (No. 4 in 2010) and Dion Waiters (No. 4 in 2012).
There’s a good chance that Syracuse will end its NBA draft drought next year.
Donnie Freeman, SU’s 6-foot-10 sophomore forward, is projected as a potential first-round pick in the 2026 draft. The website NBADraftRoom.com has Freeman at No. 23 in its early mock for the ‘26 draft.
In addition, Syracuse freshmen Sadiq White and Kiyan Anthony have high school pedigrees that would suggest both as likely NBA draft picks in the future with the potential of going in the first round.
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