UNC’s Drake Powell selected with NBA Draft’s No. 22 pick, traded to Brooklyn
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- Atlanta Hawks picked UNC's Drake Powell at No. 22, then traded to Brooklyn.
- Powell became UNC's first first-round NBA pick since Day’Ron Sharpe in 2021.
- At the NBA Combine, Powell led all players with a 43-inch max vertical leap.
UNC’s Drake Powell found a new home with the Brooklyn Nets after a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, who selected him in the first round with the No. 22 overall pick Wednesday night at the 2025 NBA Draft.
Powell is the first North Carolina player to be drafted in the first round since 2021, when the Phoenix Suns drafted former power forward Day’Ron Sharpe. UNC has now produced 55 first-round draft picks.
“The Carolina basketball family is so happy and thrilled for Drake and his family,” UNC head coach Hubert Davis said in a statement. “Drake was a dream to coach, and this is just the start of a long and successful NBA career. The Brooklyn Nets are getting an elite player, who makes winning plays consistently on both ends of the floor, in addition to being a wonderful young man.”
Last season, Harrison Ingram was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in the second round with the 48th overall pick, ending a three-year draft pick drought for UNC.
ESPN projected Powell, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard/small forward, would land with the Boston Celtics at the No. 28 overall pick, late in the first round.
The freshman averaged 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in the 2024-25 season, shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 37.9 percent from three.
After falling in and out of the UNC starting rotation through most of the season, Powell emerged as a key starter in the later half of the year, thanks to his defensive intensity, averaging 25.5 minutes a game.
He scored in double figures 10 times with a notable career-high of 18 points coming in North Carolina’s 94-91 overtime loss versus to Michigan State.
In the eventual season-ending loss to Ole Miss in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Powell played for 37 minutes, scoring eight points and going 3 for 11 from the floor.
The Pittsboro native came to UNC as a five-star recruit and the No. 2 player out of North Carolina —the nation’s third-best small forward. After his freshman season, he declared for the 2025 draft in April. The following month, while attending the NBA Draft combine in Chicago, Powell announced his decision to stay in the draft and not return to college basketball.
At the combine, Powell grabbed attention for his length and athleticism, leading all participants in the standing vertical leap at 37.5 inches and max vertical leap at 43 inches.
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 10:54 PM with the headline "UNC’s Drake Powell selected with NBA Draft’s No. 22 pick, traded to Brooklyn."