{"id":725637,"date":"2026-05-04T18:03:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/725637\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:03:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:03:48","slug":"caleb-wilson-henri-veesaar-among-unc-basketball-players-invited-to-nba-draft-combine-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/725637\/","title":{"rendered":"Caleb Wilson, Henri Veesaar among UNC basketball players invited to NBA Draft Combine 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

In just under 50 days, UNC basketball\u2019s Caleb Wilson<\/a> will likely be walking across a stage at Barclays Center in Brooklyn<\/a> as a top-five pick in the 2026 NBA Draft<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The draft lottery is May 10 in Chicago<\/a>, where the NBA<\/a> is hosting a G League Elite Camp and Combine for more than 100 players. The Washington Wizards<\/a>, Indiana Pacers<\/a> and Brooklyn Nets<\/a> each have a 14% chance to win the lottery because they had the worst regular-season records this season. The Utah Jazz<\/a> and Sacramento Kings<\/a> each have an 11.5% chance.<\/p>\n

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The 2026 NBA Draft Combine will feature 73 players from May 10-17 at Wintrust Arena and the Marriott Marquis in Chicago, with additional players earning invites via the G League Draft Combine, which features 44 participants and begins May 8. The 2026 NBA Draft is set for June 23-24 in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a breakdown of the Tar Heels competing at the combine events in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Able, who spent his freshman season at N.C. State, joined the Tar Heels via the transfer portal on April 21. The fourth Wolfpack player to transfer to UNC and first since World War II, Able averaged 8.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a 6-foot-6, 205-pound guard from Baltimore. He made 41.6% of his shots, including 35.5% of his attempts from 3-point range. Able has until May 27 at 11:59 p.m. to remove his name from the draft and remain eligible to play at UNC. As of May 4, Able isn\u2019t currently listed as a projected selection in two-round mock drafts, meaning he\u2019s likely just getting feedback from the draft process so he can be best equipped to slide in as a starter for the Tar Heels in coach Michael Malone\u2019s debut season.<\/p>\n

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A consensus top-five pick on major mock drafts, Wilson is likely to be UNC\u2019s highest draft pick since Marvin Williams<\/a> (2) and Raymond Felton<\/a> (5) in 2005. USA TODAY has the 6-foot-10 forward going No. 3 overall to the Brooklyn Nets. The Athletic\u2019s latest mock draft predicts Wilson will be selected at No. 4 overall by the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>. ESPN has Wilson heading to Utah as the No. 4 pick. One of the Tar Heels\u2019 all-time players after just 24 games, Wilson will have his No. 8 jersey hanging from the Smith Center rafters as an All-American honoree. He averaged 19.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game as the first UNC player to lead a team in those three categories. Wilson set several freshman records before a pair of hand injuries ended his lone season in Chapel Hill. Still, those setbacks haven\u2019t affected the Atlanta<\/a> native\u2019s draft stock.<\/p>\n

As a 7-footer with the ability to score on the interior and from beyond the 3-point line, Veesaar\u2019s draft stock as a late first-round pick will likely never be higher than it is after his stellar junior season at UNC. The Estonian center averaged a career-high 17 points and 8.7 rebounds per game, logging 15 double-doubles after not recording one during his two seasons at Arizona. Veesaar had 58 dunks and 40 3-pointers, making 60.8% of his shots, including 42.6% of his 3-pointers. USA TODAY and The Athletic mock drafts have Veesaar going No. 27 overall to the Boston Celtics<\/a>. ESPN has Veesaar heading to the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> as the 25th overall pick.<\/p>\n

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Trimble will have two days at the G League camp to impress scouts and earn a spot at the NBA Combine. A 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard from Wisconsin, Trimble ended his four-year career at UNC as one of the top two-way players in the ACC. He averaged 14 points and 3.8 rebounds as a senior and had a solid showing at the Portsmouth Invitational in April. At the event for college seniors, Trimble averaged 14 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2 assists across three games. He also had a standing vertical leap of 41.5 inches to lead all participants. As of May 4, Trimble isn\u2019t projected to be selected in the 2026 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

Rodd Baxley covers North Carolina Tar Heels athletics for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X\/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding UNC? Send them to rbaxley@usatodayco.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Caleb Wilson, UNC basketball players invited to 2026 NBA Draft Combine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In just under 50 days, UNC basketball\u2019s Caleb Wilson will likely be walking across a stage at Barclays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3767],"tags":[676,7264,7,75,670,247,3803,7146,919,1985,126,150,20627,177,6,3408,671,13797,477,7148,1072,427,468],"class_list":["post-725637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn-nets","tag-atlanta","tag-barclays-center","tag-basketball","tag-boston-celtics","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklynnets","tag-caleb-wilson","tag-chicago","tag-henri-veesaar","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-marvin-williams","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft-combine","tag-nets","tag-raymond-felton","tag-sacramento-kings","tag-seth-trimble","tag-tar-heels","tag-utah-jazz","tag-washington-wizards"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116517631667679836","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725637","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=725637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}