Pitt's Carrington Candidate for NBA Draft Green Room

The Pitt Panthers have a star freshman guard, who is a key candidate to earn a spot in the NBA Draft Green Room.

Mar 15, 2024; Washington, D.C., USA; Pittsburgh Panthers guard Carlton Carrington (7) drives to the basket as North Carolina Tar Heels forward Jalen Washington (13) defends in the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers star freshman guard Carlton "Bub" Carrington Jr. is less than two weeks before finding out where he'll play next season, as the NBA Draft takes place June 26-27.

Jonathan Givony, who works for DraftExpress for ESPN, added Carrington to the list of top candidates to earn a spot in the NBA Draft green room. The green room is a staging area in front of the podium at the NBA Draft, where the players have their familes and agents stay to wait for NBA commissioner Adam Silver to announce their name for selection.

21 players already received invitations to the NBA Draft green room, including France's Zaccharie Risacher, Tidjane Salaun and Alex Sarr, UConn's Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, Duke's Jared McCain and Kyle Filipowski, Kentucky's Reed Shepherd and Rob Dillingham, Matas Buzelis from Lithuania, Dalton Knecht from Tennessee, Ron Holland from NBA G League Ignite, Cody Williams from Colorado, Devin Carter from Providence, Ja’Kobe Walter from Baylor, Nikola Topic from Serbia, Johnny Furphy from Kansas, Kyshawn George from Miami, Isaiah Collier from USC and Yves Missi from Pacific.

Two-time reigining National College Player of the Year in Purdue center Zach Edey also received an invite to the green room, but chose to turn it down to spend the NBA Draft with teammates, family and friends.

Carrington will look to secure one of the last four spots for the green room amongst a few other top players. This includes Tristan Da Silva from Colorado, Kel'el Ware from Indiana, Tyler Kolek from Marquette, Baylor Scheierman from Creighton, Ryan Dunn from Virginia, Terrence Shannon from Illinois, Bobi Klintman from Wake Forest and Jaylon Tyson from Cal.

He is currently trending towards the mid-late First Round in recent mock drafts, so seeing Carrington earn a green room spot should not come as too surprising.

Carrington had an excellent performance at the NBA Draft Combine, which put him on the radar for a number of draft experts and scouts.

He ran his 3/4 court sprint in 3.28 seconds, ranking sixth best. He also finished ranked tied 12th best with a maximum veritcal jump of 36.5 inches

Carrington showed off his shooting prowess throughout those drills as well. He shot 21-for-30, 70%, off the dribble, 19-for-25, 76.0%, side-by-side and 20-for-25, 80%, on spot up shooting, all best marks at the combine. He also shot 13-for-25, 52.0%, in the 3-point star drill, tied for eighth best. 

He starred for the Panthers last season, earning All-ACC Rookie Team honors, the first Panther to do so. 

Carrington started all 33 games for Pitt, averaging 33.2 minutes, 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, respectively, while shooting 41.2% from the field, 32.2% from 3-point range and 78.5% from the foul line.

One of his best games came in the season opener, as he scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished out 10 assists in the win over North Carolina A&T, becoming to first Panther to have a triple-double in their debut in program history.

If he does go in the First Round, Carrington would serve as the first Pitt player to go that early since Steven Adams did so when the Oklahoma City Thunder selected him with the 12th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.

Carrington would also become the first Panther to earn an NBA Draft selection since the Atlanta Hawks took Lamar Patterson in the Second Round in 2014.

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