KU’s Jalen Wilson, Gradey Dick work out for pro teams as NBA Draft deadline nears

Former Kansas guard Gradey Dick and small forward Jalen Wilson participated in WME Sports’ pro day for NBA Draft prospects on Tuesday in Santa Barbara, California.

"Strong group with Gradey Dick, Cam Whitmore, Anthony Black, Leonard Miller, Jarace Walker, Brandin Podziemski, Jalen Wilson, Isaiah Wong & Grant Nelson," reporter Andrew Slater wrote on Twitter.

The draft hopefuls, as they did last week at the NBA Combine in Chicago, performed in drills for NBA scouts and front office personnel representing all 30 franchises.

The Salt Lake Tribune lists Dick, the 19-year-old one-and-done KU player, as one of several individuals the Utah Jazz could consider with the overall No. 9 pick in the June 22 NBA Draft.

The others possibly on Utah's radar: Anthony Black, Arkansas; Taylor Hendricks, Central Florida; Ausar Thompson, Overtime Elite; Amen Thompson, Overtime Elite and Cason Wallace, Kentucky.

"For years, Jazz fans have pined for wings with size, and when draft prognostications first started rolling out, many instantly turned to the Jayhawks sharpshooter (Dick) to help Utah fill that void," wrote Eric Walden of the Salt Lake Tribune.

"Turns out, he's a bit smaller than initially advertised, as he measured in at a touch over 6-6 at the Combine. That's perfectly adequate size for a switchable wing these days, but it could disappoint some who were under the impression he was a 6-8 two-guard. So that's the bad news (along with, y’know, him being so lacking in the strength and lateral movement departments that he's a straight-up bad defender at this point). The good news? He might be the best perimeter shooter in this whole draft class, having buried 40.3% of 5.7 deep attempts per game. He's also a willing playmaker with good court vision," Walden added.

ESPN's latest NBA Draft big board lists Dick at No. 10 and Wilson at No. 40.

Big 12 player of the year and consensus first-team All-America forward Jalen Wilson, by the way, threw out the first pitch at Saturday's Chicago White Sox-KC Royals game at Guaranteed Rate Field on the South Side of Chicago.

"Appreciate the love White Sox ... 102 fastball for the first pitch!," Wilson wrote on Twitter.

NBA Draft prospects have a week from Wednesday, May 24, to remove their name from the draft pool if they want to retain college eligibility for 2023-24.

No team figures to be affected by that deadline as much as Creighton.

Creighton, which has lost guard Ryan Nembhard to transfer and Arthur Kaluma to the transfer portal, could be a preseason top 15 team or conceivably unranked following the decisions of Trey Alexander and Ryan Kalkbrenner.

Both players attended the combine in Chicago. They are three of the top players in the Big East Conference.

It remains possible KU could recruit power forward Kaluma if he exits the draft.