Dawson Garcia's NBA Draft outlook: Potential second-round pick? Undrafted?

How do the experts view Garcia as a prospect at the next level?

Mar 5, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Dawson Garcia (3) works around Wisconsin Badgers guard John Blackwell (25) during the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Gophers men's basketball program hasn't produced an NBA Draft pick in back-to-back years since 2003-04. Dawson Garcia has a chance to break that streak this year, after Cam Christie heard his name called last summer.

Garcia came out of Prior Lake High School as a heralded four-star prospect. He was named a 2020 McDonald's All-American and he had all the traits of a future NBA Draft pick. Five years and three schools later, he looks ready to play at the next level.

On paper, Garcia is 6-foot-11 and he averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game on 47.4/37.3/78.3 shooting splits in one of the best conferences in the country. On the other side, he will turn 24 in September, so many NBA scouts will question how much potential he has left to improve.

ESPN's latest mock draft did not have Garcia listed among the 59 selections and he was notably omitted from their top 100 prospects all together. NBADraft.net disagrees and has Garcia projected to go No. 52 overall to the Washington Wizards in their latest mock draft. He is listed 57th in their top 100 big board.

There are just under 100 days until this year's NBA Draft on June 25, so it still seems a bit premature to project how the league views a player like Garcia, but the current consensus seems to be that he'll be a late second-round pick or go undrafted. Even if he isn't picked, he'll almost certainly get an opportunity to play in summer league for a team this year.

Garcia is a lot more NBA-ready than some other underclassmen or teenage prospects in this year's draft, and the fact that he shot a career-best 37.3% from three this year on a career-high 4.2 attempts per game could help his projections at the next level.

The last time Minnesota produced a draft pick in consecutive years was with Rick Rickert going 55th overall to the Timberwolves in 2003 and then Kris Humphries going 14th overall to the Wizards the following year.

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