Alabama basketball's Davison, Ellis Invited to NBA Draft Combine While Shackelford Misses Out

The Crimson Tide is looking to make it three straight years with a player selected in the NBA Draft.

Tony Tsoukalas | May 10, 2022

Alabama basketball will be represented by two players during next week’s NBA Draft Combine. Guards J.D. Davison and Keon Ellis are listed as two of the 76 prospects expected to attend the annual scouting event which will take place inside Chicago’s Wintrust Arena from May 16-22.

Jaden Shackelford, who also declared for the NBA Draft this offseason, was not included in the list of invitees. It's the second straight year the guard missed out on the event as he was not invited last year after declaring for the draft without an agent.

Davison led Alabama with 4.3 assists per game while finishing second on the team averaging 1.0 steals during his freshman season. The former McDonald’s All-American averaged 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 46.3% from the floor and 30.1% from beyond the arc.

Ellis led Alabama in rebounds (6.1 per game), steals (1.9 per game) and 3-point shooting percentage (36.6) during his senior season. The former JUCO transfer averaged 12.1 points per game and shot 43.7% from the floor.

This year’s NBA Draft will take place on June 23 inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Alabama is looking to make it three straight years with a player selected in the draft.

Kira Lewis Jr. was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2020 draft. Last year, the San Antonio Spurs selected Joshua Primo at No. 12 overall while the Pelicans drafted Herb Jones at No. 35 overall in the second round.

In his latest NBA Draft Big Board, Sports Illustrated's Jeremy Woo rated Ellis as the No. 30 overall player in this year's class while tabbing Davison at No. 57 and Shackelford at No. 92.

Keon Ellis

J.D. Davison

Jaden Shackelford

Published May 10, 2022

TONY TSOUKALAS

Tony Tsoukalas has been covering Alabama since 2016, working for the Anniston Star and Rivals before joining BamaCentral. A native of The Woodlands, Texas, Tsoukalas attended the University of Alabama from 2008-12. He served as the sports editor of the student paper, The Crimson White, during his senior year. Before covering Alabama, Tsoukalas covered high school sports at The Meridian (Miss.) Star and the Victoria (Texas) Advocate. He also served as a copy editor for The Tuscaloosa News.