Chaz Lanier, the shooting guard for Tennessee, created some buzz during the NBA Combine, which only improved his draft prospects. The Nashville shooter placed in the top five in every three-point shooting drill, supporting his impressive shooting performances in Chicago.
His athletic testing, which attracted attention, was maybe even more unexpected. Here, Jeff Borzello discussed his NBA Combine performance on ESPN.
On Tuesday, we were confident that Lanier would appear to be among the top shooters going into the combine. Over the past two seasons, he has emerged as one of college basketball’s top perimeter shooters, making 39.5% of his 3-point attempts at Tennessee and 44% of his in 2023–24 at North Florida.
In all three 3-point shooting drills, he placed in the top five, and scouts were impressed by his touch and mobility. He recorded the third-highest no-step vertical leap, the fourth-highest maximum vertical leap, and the fifth-fastest time in the pro lane agility exercise.
Lanier should therefore hear his name called next month as he now appears to be in the top 60.
Lanier will be selected by the Washington Wizards at No. 40 overall, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.
Lanier is selected 38th overall by the San Antonio Spurs, according to NBA.com’s Jonathan Wasserman.
According to Sports Illustrated, Lanier will be selected by the Sacramento Kings at number 42.
Lanier didn’t exactly play Dalton Knecht’s part, but it was never going to be easy to do that. Lanier made more than 39 percent of his long-range tries, allowing him to be a top shooter for Tennessee. Last season, the 6-4 guard placed a wager on himself to make it to the SEC, and he succeeded by averaging 18 points per contest.
Coming from North Florida, where he barely saw the floor for three seasons, his narrative is somewhat unusual. He went from not playing to scoring 19.7 points per game in his fourth season with the school, transforming himself into an exceptional scorer. He used that to get offers from BYU, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and he is now a possible draft pick next month.
ABC and ESPN will broadcast the NBA Draft on June 25 and 26.
