AFTER THE DRAFT — Collin Murray-Boyles probably needed to set the record straight.
Or perhaps the Wasatch Academy alum wanted to.
Whatever the case, Murray-Boyles was caught shaking his head and dropping a “NSFW” reaction Wednesday night when the Toronto Raptors drafted him with the No. 9 pick of the first round of the NBA draft.
Was he disappointed to be going to the Raptors? Upset with having to move to Canada?
Turns out, the 20-year-old from Columbia, South Carolina, who spent his senior season in Sanpete County as a four-star recruit and ESPN top-100 player was having a clearly normal reaction to perhaps the biggest day of his young life.
“WTF, for sure. WTF, all the way, until my name got called,” Murray-Boyles told NBA TV after hearing his name called. “Man, that was crazy.”
The 6-foot-7 wing shot 58.6% from the field for 16.8 points per game to go along with 8.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game en route to second-team All-SEC honors last year as a sophomore. So there should be chances for him on a Raptors team that narrowly missed the Eastern Conference play-in tournament with a 30-52 record last year.
“With his unique skillset,” Wasatch Academy coach Paul Peterson said, “Collin can play anywhere with anyone.
“He’s the first NBA lottery pick from Wasatch Academy — but I’m hopeful we will soon have more,” added Peterson, whose former players include BYU’s Richie Saunders, Houston’s Isiah Harwell, Michigan’s Roddy Gayle Jr. and Ohio State’s John Mobley Jr.
Murray-Boyles wasn’t the only former Utah high school or college basketball player whose NBA career earned a start this week, either through the draft or immediately following. Here’s a look at others.
Egor Demin, G, BYU (Brooklyn Nets)
The 6-foot-9 point guard from Moscow, Russia was the first of the Nets’ record-setting five draft picks in the first round Wednesday night — including four guards. But the former BYU standout who averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 assists and 3.9 rebounds should be able to help Brooklyn after leading the Cougars to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2011.
Max Shulga, G, Utah State via VCU (Boston Celtics)
The 6-foot-5 guard from Kyiv, Ukraine spent three seasons with the Aggies before following former coach Ryan Odom to VCU, where Shulga was the A-10 player of the year after averaging 15.0 points, 4.0 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game as a fifth-year senior.
He’ll get a chance to start his career in Bean Town after the Orlando Magic drafted him with the Celtics’ 57th pick in a draft-night trade.
Steven Ashworth, G, Utah State via Creighton (Indiana Pacers)
The Alpine native who led the state in scoring with 16.4 points en route to a 6A state title as a senior at Lone Peak before an All-Mountain West career at Utah State. He then transferred to Creighton for his final two seasons of college basketball, when he led the Big East with 6.8 assists per game in addition to 16.4 points last year.
A second-team All-Big East selection after spending three years with the Aggies, Ashworth returns to the site of his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after signing a free-agent contract with the Indiana Pacers.
Creighton guard Steven Ashworth (1) drives to the basket against St. John’s guard Deivon Smith and forward Zuby Ejiofor (24) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025, in New York. (Photo: Noah K. Murray, Associated Press)
In addition, the Utah Jazz drafted the following players:
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.