Where Alabama's NBA Draft Prospects are Ranked

Three Crimson Tide players are represented on Sports Illustrated's NBA Draft Big Board.

The 2022 NBA Draft is less than two months away, and Alabama will be looking to continue its streak of having at least one player drafted each season under head coach Nate Oats. 

With the deadlines having officially passed for early-draft entree, Sports Illustrated's Jeremy Woo ranked the top 100 prospects available in the 2022 draft class with three players from Alabama listed. 

Keon Ellis, JD Davison and Jaden Shackelford all hope to hear their names called, joining recent Alabama players in the draft like Kira Lewis Jr., Herbert Jones and Joshua Primo. 

Ellis is the only graduating senior out of the bunch. The former JuCo product transferred to Alabama in 2020 and spent two seasons with the Crimson Tide. Davison was an in-state five-star prospect who spent just one season in Tuscaloosa. Shackelford led Alabama in scoring for the last two seasons and entered his name in the draft and transfer portal after the 2021 season before deciding to return for his junior year. He declared for the draft after three seasons at Alabama. 

Here's where SI has the Crimson Tide's 2022 draft prospects:

Keon Ellis- No. 30

Alabama Athletics

"Ellis put together an underappreciated year in a supporting role at Alabama, turning himself into a reliable 3-and-D wing who turns in heavy effort on both ends of the floor. He didn’t get to the rim a ton or dominate touches on a team that featured its guards more, but he was highly efficient, shot the ball well, and also led the team in steal rate by a wide margin. Ellis is a smart ball-mover who rarely forces things, and has the right type of skill set to fit on an NBA roster immediately. He’s not especially big for a wing, and he’s also quite slender, which will be a problem for some teams, but he’s physical in spite of that and has the type of wiry strength that should play up. He’s already 22, so the upside isn’t crazy, but Ellis clearly knows how to play and has the right type of skillset to help a team off the bench pretty quickly."

JD Davison- No. 57

Alabama Athletics

"Davison has been one of the most polarizing freshman prospects after entering the year as a projected first-rounder He’s an excellent athlete and quality passer, but his ball skills and decision-making leave something to be desired, and there’s often a lack of quality end product when he plays on the ball. Davison is a below-average jump shooter, especially off the dribble, and doesn’t add a whole lot of value playing off the ball. That places a lot of weight on how quickly he can develop into a legitimate full-time lead guard. NBA teams will simply go underneath ball screens until he proves he can make shots off the dribble, and he has a tendency to float in and out of games. There’s still some upside here, but Davison will almost certainly need G League time out of the gate, and profiles as a long-term project."

Jaden Shackelford- No. 92

Alabama Athletics

The NBA Combine is May 16-22 in Chicago with the Lottery taking place May 17. The 2022 NBA Draft is June 23 in Brooklyn.