Projected One-And-Done Lottery Pick on UNC Basketball Roster

Despite a reserve role in recent UNC basketball exhibition games, Drake Powell is garnering more NBA hype than any other 2024-25 Tar Heel.

UNC basketball forward Drake Powell / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The latest 2025 NBA mock draft courtesy of Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman isn't the only one projecting UNC basketball wing Drake Powell as a one-and-done first-rounder.

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But Wasserman is notably high on the 6-foot-6, 195-pound freshman. He placed Powell at No. 6 overall this week, comparing the 19-year-old from Pittsboro, N.C., to current NBA players Will Barton and Herb Jones.

And Powell isn't the only Tar Heel rookie appearing on Wasserman's mock draft, as 19-year-old Bronx product and slick bucket-getter Ian Jackson pops up in the second round at No. 35 overall. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound guard, a natural showman on the court, draws the NBA comparison of Lonnie Walker IV.

Interestingly, neither Drake Powell nor Ian Jackson received a starting nod in the 2024-25 Tar Heels' two exhibition outings, yet those two five-star talents are the only members of the UNC basketball roster consistently showing up on 2025 mock drafts.

That said, the explosiveness and versatility that both have exhibited in preseason action should equate to considerable minutes, whether as starters or top weapons off the bench.

Hubert Davis' fourth UNC basketball squad, featuring the defending ACC Player of the Year in graduate guard RJ Davis, tips off its regular season against the visiting Elon Phoenix in the Dean E. Smith Center at 9 p.m. ET Monday (ACC Network).

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Stay tuned to North Carolina Tar Heels On SI for more UNC basketball news.