Top 5 Unicorns in the 2018 NBA Draft

Syracuse v Duke
Can Marvin Bagley Jr add to the long list of Unicorns in the league today?

#3 Wendell Carter Jr.

Duke v Kansas
Wendell Carter Jr.

Height: 6-10 (2.08m)

Weight: 260lb (117kg)

Wingspan: 7-3 (2.21m)

Date of Birth: April 16, 1999

College: Duke, Fr.


Another player who comes off Coach K's production line in Duke, Carter was also a highly sought-after recruit in high school, eventually creating the powerful frontcourt duo of him and Bagley. One of his premium traits already in high school was shot-blocking, averaging 5.8 blocks per-game in his senior year.

This continued into his college career, where he averaged 2.1 blocks per-game on only 26.8 minutes of average playing time. His influence on his team is reflective on his box plus/minus rating. BPM is a stat evaluating a players' contribution to the team, relative to league average, which is set at zero. His box plus/minus of 13.5 was the teams' best and the NCAA's third best, even though he often was in the shadow of some of his teammates.

Carter had an impressive 41.3% from three this season, but tallied only 19 three-pointers in 37 games. This falls to their style of play and the fact that Duke's starting backcourt took about 75% of the teams' three-point attempts. He showed his potential from beyond the arc when he managed to shoot 4 of 7 from deep in just 18 minutes during a home win against Evansville this year.

His ability to do all of those things, while staying relatively out of the spotlight, show what a valuable player he can be on any roster. It places him between sixth and ninth among the different draft boards and he will just have to prove he is capable of producing at the highest level.

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