UNC Basketball Product Coby White Setting Sights on All-Star Nod, More

After coming up just short for NBA Most Improved Player, the UNC basketball one-and-done has a few clear goals for next season.

UNC basketball guard Coby White / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

This past season, 2018-19 UNC basketball standout Coby White put himself in the discussion for the best player among active NBA Tar Heels. And the fifth-year Chicago Bulls guard, a former No. 7 overall draft pick, ended up second in the voting for the NBA Most Improved Player Award by posting career-high averages of 19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.1 assists across 79 appearances in the regular season.

A career year, indeed. For now, anyway.

Of course, by boosting his stats to that level, the 24-year-old from Goldsboro, N.C., essentially gave himself zero shot at taking home the Most Improved Player trophy next year.

No worries, for White has other honors and hardware in mind. As highlighted during his recent conversation with SLAM's Curtis Rowser III, all of those 2024-25 sights relate to helping the Bulls take the next step from sustained mediocrity — winning percentages just below the .500 mark the past two campaigns — to contender.

"I think winning truly takes care of everything," Coby White noted to Rowser. "But for me, individually, I think that next step is just becoming an All-Star. This past summer, I had one goal, and that was to prove to everyone that I deserve to be a lead guard in the NBA and that I can be a starting guard in the NBA.

"The one thing I want to do going into next year is just prove that I can sustain this level of play and also take a leap and become that All-Star. I feel like if I continue to work and be on the trajectory that I’m on, I think winning would make it an easy choice. For me, winning always comes before anything."

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