It has not been a good stretch of NBA Draft success for the St. John’s basketball program in recent memory.
Last year, the Johnnies were hoping to break a streak that dates back to 2015 with Sir’Dominic Pointer for the last time the program had a player selected in the NBA Draft but its best chance, RJ Luis, went undrafted.
Now, it will try again with three players eligible to be selected on Tuesday and Wednesday night, but the Barclays Center will not have a Red Storm presence. Zuby Ejiofor, the highest projected pick of the St. John’s trio, was not invited to the NBA Draft Green Room.
Ejiofor has been forecasted as a borderline first round pick, but the league opted to invite 24 other players. The 6-foot-9 forward has worked out for nearly half of the teams in the NBA after finishing with the most accomplished season by an individual St. John’s player since Chris Mullin.
The Garland, Texas native won the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, given to the best center in the country, as well as the Big East Player of the Year, Big East Defensive Player of the Year, and landing another First Team All-Big East selection.
If Zuby Ejiofor hears his name on Tuesday night in the first round, he will become the first St. John’s player to be picked in the first round of the NBA Draft since Maurice Harkless in 2012.
Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins are also hoping for their names to be called this week to cap a historic St. John’s season as the program has not had two players picked in the same draft since 2000 and three Johnnies haven’t been selected since 1983, when there ten rounds in the draft.
The first round of the NBA Draft will take place on Tuesday, June 23 at 8:00 p.m. while the second round begins on Wednesday, June 24 at 8:00 p.m.
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