UCLA Point Guard Tyger Campbell Declares For 2023 NBA Draft
As expected, the Bruins are losing one of their most battle-tested veterans to the pros.
UCLA men's basketball point guard Tyger Campbell has declared for the 2023 NBA Draft, he announced Wednesday night on Instagram. The 5-foot-11 floor general from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had one year of collegiate eligibility remaining.
Campbell becomes the third Bruin to declare for this year's draft, joining guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and guard Jaylen Clark. Guard David Singleton will also try to turn pro, although he did not have any eligibility remaining like the other three.
While Campbell could technically still return to UCLA or enter the transfer portal – rumors of interest from Oregon and Illinois had popped up in recent days – the point guard appears set on tipping off his professional career this year.
“Tyger Campbell has been a huge part of our success,” coach Mick Cronin said in a statement. “He’s had an unbelievable career at UCLA and will go down as one of this program’s most accomplished point guards.”
Campbell arrived in Westwood all the way back in 2018 as a four-star recruit, but he tore his ACL the fall of his freshman year and missed the entire season. The point guard bounced back and stepped up when coach Mick Cronin took over, appearing in and starting 133 games over the past four years.
UCLA finished Campbell's redshirt freshman year on an 11-3 tear, and he helped lead the way by averaging 8.3 points and 5.0 assists per game. The next season, Campbell averaged 10.4 points and 5.4 assists per game for a team that made it all the way to the Final Four.
Campbell returned with an improved shooting stroke the following year, averaging 11.9 points and 4.3 assists per game while improving his 3-point shooting percentage from 25.9% to 41.0%. Although his perimeter game and efficiency dipped his redshirt senior year, Campbell still averaged a career-high 13.4 points per game to go along with his 5.0 assists per game.
For his career, Campbell averaged 11.1 points and 4.9 assists per game. Campbell was able to move all the way up to No. 2 on UCLA's all-time assists list, also finishing his career ranked No. 10 in program history in games played and No. 23 in points scored.
Campbell made the All-Pac-12 First Team in each of the past three seasons, and he led the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio in three of his four campaigns.
Height is expected to be a limiting factor in terms of Campbell's professional potential, although there are nine active NBA players who are shorter than 6 feet. The NBA G League is another potential path for Campbell, as are the overseas leagues in Europe, Australia and elsewhere.
“We know that Tyger has a long future in pro basketball, and I hope that I’m coaching long enough to hire him on my staff someday, as well,” Cronin said.
Campbell was not listed on The Athletic's 2023 NBA Draft Top 100 Big Board back on March 9.
Campbell and Singleton are currently in Portsmouth, Virginia, for The Portsmouth Invitational Tournament – a pre-draft camp that features 64 players on eight teams playing 12 games in four days. Campbell appeared in the opening game of the event Thursday, dropping 18 points and 10 assists across 29 minutes in a 96-84 loss.
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