This is why UM freshman Kyshawn George is projected as a first-round NBA Draft pick

Kyshawn George was not a highly coveted recruit when he arrived at the University of Miami from Switzerland last spring. He went on to start just 16 games and averaged 7.6 points for the Hurricanes his freshman season. Yet, the 6-8 swingman is projected by many experts to be a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on Wednesday.

In fact, George’s draft stock is so high that he is one of 24 players invited by the NBA to the draft green room at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. That is typically a good indicator that the player is a legitimate first-round prospect.

UM coach Jim Larranaga is flying to New York with two assistant coaches and several school officials to be with George and his family for the big occasion.

If he is chosen in the first round, he will be the first UM first-round pick since 2018, when Lonnie Walker IV was selected by the San Antonio Spurs 18th overall. The Hurricanes have had five first-round picks in program history.

Larranaga is hearing there are lottery pick teams thinking about trading down for George and teams with second-round picks looking to move up to get him, “someplace in the middle of the first round, No. 15 to 22, in that range.”

Larranaga is not surprised that George, a 20-year-old with a forward’s frame and a guard’s skill, is drawing so much interest from the NBA. He averaged 41 percent shooting from three-point range, has good instincts and is a good passer.

“The NBA has always been enamored with youth,” Larranaga said. “They focus much more on the one-and-dones than the senior class, and the numbers reflect that. So, when you look at Kyshawn’s upside at 6-8, a guard with three-point range, he’s going to get stronger and faster. He’s just scratching. His main development will be in the next year or two; and then in three years, you’ll say, `Man, this guy is really good.’’’

From the moment scouts saw him at UM practice, he passed the eye test. “They fell in love with him and would say to me, `Of all your guys, he’s got the best chance to play in the NBA’.’’ Larranaga added. “We obviously would have been happy if he had stayed for another year and developed in our program a little further, but it’s hard for a young man to turn down the NBA when there was that much interest.”

The key now is for George to get stronger. Larranaga said the NBA does a bench press test called 185. Prospects are asked to bench 185 pounds as many reps as possible. When George got to UM, he couldn’t do a single rep. By the end of the season, he was doing 12. Walker did 14, Larranaga recalled, and Bruce Brown, who was a UM sophomore when he was drafted, did 22 reps.

“Kyshawn still has several months until the NBA season starts, so he will be up to 16 or 18 reps, and that allows him to be more physical,” Larranaga said.

It was a phone call from ESPN draft guru Jonathan Givony in September 2022 that put George on Larranaga’s radar. Givony alerted the Miami coach that there was a tall, smart, skillful Swiss guard playing in France that he might want to check out.

“We had no idea if he was any good; you watch guys on tape and you don’t know how good the competition is, you don’t really know how tall he is,” Larranaga said early last season. “They say he’s 6-5 or 6-6, well, maybe he’s 6-3. We basically took a shot, and it worked out.”

After getting the call from Givony, Larranaga reached out to George, who had recently moved up to the first team of French team Elan Chalon after averaging 17.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.4 steals with the U21 team.

Despite playing for a pro club, he maintained his amateur status because he was interested in playing college basketball, following in the footsteps of his father, Deon George, a Canada native who played forward for Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) and went on to play professionally in Switzerland, where Kyshawn was born.