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\n University of North Carolina freshman forward Caleb Wilson has announced his intention to enter the 2026 NBA Draft. The 19-year-old standout missed the final nine games of the season due to hand and thumb injuries but is still projected as a top-five draft pick.\n <\/p>\n
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University of North Carolina freshman basketball standout Caleb Wilson has announced his decision to enter the 2026 NBA Draft, ending his college career after just one season.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old forward, standing 6-foot-10, put up impressive numbers during his abbreviated freshman campaign, posting averages of 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds across 24 contests. However, his season was cut short when he sat out the final nine games due to injuries to his hand and thumb.<\/p>\n
Wilson made his announcement through social media on Friday, sharing a series of photographs on Instagram with the caption \u201cnever take it for granted\u201d along with the hashtag \u201c8 out,\u201d a reference to the jersey number he wore for the Tar Heels.<\/p>\n
Despite missing significant time due to injury, the teenage forward earned recognition as an All-American second team selection and was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team. Draft analysts currently project him to be selected within the top five picks of this summer\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n
Wilson\u2019s injury troubles began during a February 10 matchup against Miami when he suffered a fractured left hand. His setbacks continued when he broke his right thumb during a practice dunking session on March 5, requiring surgical intervention the following day.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes during a period of upheaval for the North Carolina program, which dismissed head coach Hubert Davis on Tuesday following a disappointing season. The sixth-seeded Tar Heels were eliminated in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on March 19, falling 82-78 in overtime to 11th-seeded VCU.<\/p>\n
More from TV Delmarva Channel 33 News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"University of North Carolina freshman forward Caleb Wilson has announced his intention to enter the 2026 NBA Draft.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[80926,80927,7,80920,80928,80922,80923,80921,80924,6,12,80925],"class_list":{"0":"post-684664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-102-3","9":"tag-102-3fm","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-fine-day","12":"tag-fine-day-102-3","13":"tag-fine-day-fm","14":"tag-fine-day-media","15":"tag-fine-day-radio","16":"tag-have-a-fine-day","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-nba-draft","19":"tag-weller-radio"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116308580711774221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}