Local Products Selected in NBA Draft

Sunday, August 1st, 2021

The NBA Draft took place Thursday night, with 60 players from around the world officially realizing their dream of making it to the NBA. 

Of those 60, a handful have New England roots. 

James Bouknight, who starred at the MacDuffie School and with the PSA Cardinals, before playing two years at UConn was a lottery pick. He was chosene 11th overall by the Charlotte Hornets, where he'll join LaMelo Ball to form one of the most exciting young backcourts in the league. 

Later in the first round, the Hornets acquired the rights to Kai Jones, who was also part of New England's 2019 class when he attended Brewster Academy. He spent two years at Texas playing under Shaka Smart and really began to put his undeniable talent together this past year. Now, he and Bouknight are NBA teammates. 

The final pick in the lottery was Chris Duarte, who played at Redemption Christian Academy when they still had a campus in Massachusetts. Duarte then went the junior college route for two years before arriving at Oregon, where he emerged as one of the best players in college basketball this year. Now, he'll join the Indiana Pacers. 

The highlight of the second round was hearing Marcus Zegarowski's name called by the Brooklyn Nets. The Massachusetts native starred for both Tilton and Expressions Elite before becoming an immediate star at Creighton and putting together a phenomenal three year career in the Big East. Now, he'll join a team that includes another New England alum, Bruce Brown, and is one of the favorites to win next year's NBA championship. 

One pick later, the Toronto Raptors chose Dalano Banton with the 46th pick. Banton began his career at MacDuffie before finishing it at Redemption Christian. Similarly., Banton originally began his college career at Western Kentucky, where he only averaged three points per game as a freshman, but transferred to Nebraska and showed significant potential this year, averaging just under 10 points per game. 

Of course, one other local name was called Thursday night and that was Terrence Clarke, who tragically passed away this spring in an automobile accident. The NBA honored the Massachusetts native by calling his name and having his family walk to the podium. Clarke was one of the most decorated young basketball players to come through New England in recent years. He graduated from Brewster Academy, played for Expressions Elite, and spent one year at Kentucky before declaring for the draft.