Liam McNeeley makes obvious 2025 NBA Draft decision
04/01/2025 02:39 PM
As expected, UConn men’s basketball freshman Liam McNeeley is headed to the NBA Draft, he told ESPN.
McNeeley is the second Husky in as many years to enter the draft as a one-and-done player and only the third to do it in program history. He follows NBA Rookie of the Year betting favorite Stephon Castle, now of the San Antonio Spurs.
In his lone season in Storrs, McNeeley averaged 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He was also the easy pick for Big East Freshman of the Year despite missing eight games at the beginning of the conference season due to injury.
Despite only playing one year for UConn, he endeared himself to Huskies fans thanks to his on-court intensity and, let’s be honest, undeniable talent.
Though the year didn’t go exactly how the two-time defending national champions hoped, McNeeley played a major role in getting UConn back to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth year in a row. He also scored 22 points in the Huskies’ Second Round loss to Final Four-bound Florida as UConn came close to pulling off the major upset.
McNeeley is projected as a mid-to-late lottery pick in this year’s draft.
UConn men’s basketball now awaits NBA Draft decisions from Alex Karaban and Solo Ball
UConn coach Dan Hurley and his staff are already hard at work assembling the team’s 2025-26 roster. Three players have already entered the transfer portal, but the Huskies are set to enroll three McDonald’s All-Americans and Australian talent Jacob Furphy to replace them.
While UConn is hosting potential transfers, the team is still waiting on decisions from junior Alex Karaban and sophomore Solo Ball. Karaban flirted with the NBA Draft last year but ultimately decided to come back to school and pursue a threepeat.
The upside is that Karaban is beloved on campus and spent the season as the face of the UConn men’s basketball team. But he also struggled for long stretches of the season, going ice cold from three in the heart of conference play and missing two free throws at the end of a game at Villanova that would have given the Huskies a massive road win. He is not projected to be a first-round pick but it is fair to wonder how significantly he can improve his draft stock by returning for his senior season.
Then there’s Ball, the Huskies’ three-point marksman. His 2025 draft projections range from mid-first round to not on the board at all. He will almost certainly declare for the draft and test the waters, but if he returns, could be a preseason All-American next year.
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