Every NBA Draft 2024 prospect with Texas high school basketball ties (live updates)

Ron Holland surveys the floor during his junior season at Duncanville High School (Texas) in 2021-22. Holland helped the Panthers win three consecutive UIL state basketball championships — the last of which was stripped by the UIL (to no fault of Holland's).
Ron Holland surveys the floor during his junior season at Duncanville High School (Texas) in 2021-22. Holland helped the Panthers win three consecutive UIL state basketball championships — the last of which was stripped by the UIL (to no fault of Holland's). / Tommy Hays, SBLive Sports

The 2024 NBA Draft is underway and is not without Texas high school basketball ties as two products of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex heard their names called in the first round on Wednesday evening.

Former Duncanville standout Ron Holland was taken at No. 5 and former McKinney star Ja'Kobe Walter was selected at No. 19 overall.

READ: Ron Holland's rise from Texas high school star to No. 5 pick in 2024 NBA Draft

More are projected to hear their respective names called on Thursday in the second and final round, which starts at 2 p.m. Central time.

Here is every Lone Star State product selected in the 2024 NBA Draft, and those who may be picked in the remainder. This post will be updated as the picks roll in.

Ron Holland II, Detroit Pistons (No. 5)

Ron Holland slams home a dunk in the 2022 Les Schwab Invitational in Hillsboro, Oregon playing for Duncanville High School.
Ron Holland slams home a dunk in the 2022 Les Schwab Invitational in Hillsboro, Oregon playing for Duncanville High School, then the No. 1 ranked team in the country. / Naji Saker, SBLive Sports

Pick: No. 5 | Detroit Pistons
Background: G League Ignite | Duncanville (Texas)
Measurables: 6-8

Holland is heralded as an immediate-impact lock-down defender, a multi-level scorer and a dynamic above-the-rim finisher who would now look to do that for the Detroit Pistons. He was all of those things with the G League Ignite this past season, where he averaged 15.3 points, 7.0 boards and 1.3 steals in 14 games before undergoing season-ending thumb surgery. At Duncanville, he was all of that and more through three state championships (though one was stripped). As a high school senior, he was named SBLive's National Player of the Year in 2022-23. Here's what we wrote about him at the end of his prep career:

All year, Holland was, simply put, spectacular. As Duncanville dealt with sanctions — a stripped state title and its head coach being suspended for the season — Holland was the team's steadying force. The versatile 6-foot-8 forward averaged 20.3 points, 10.1 boards, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals for the No. 1 public school team in the country and helped the Panthers amass a 29-1 record and No. 3 national ranking in the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 ... Holland's stellar play continued into the postseason, where he shined among his peers atop the 2023 class in the McDonald's All-American Game and Nike Hoop Summit, where he led Team USA to a win with 15 points, nine boards, six steals and five assists.

Andy Buhler, SBLive (April 13, 2023)

Ja'Kobe Walter, Atlanta Hawks (No. 19)

Ja'Kobe Walter, McKinney (Texas) and Link Academy (Missouri) product, practices with Team USA ahead of 2023 Nike Hoop Summit.
Ja'Kobe Walter practices with Team USA ahead of the Nike Hoop Summit in April 2023 after helping lead Link Academy (Missouri) to a GEICO Nationals title and finish No. 1 in the country. / Taylor Balkom, SBLive Sports

Pick: No. 19 | Atlanta Hawks
Background: Baylor | McKinney (Texas)/Link Academy (Missouri)
Measurables: 6-4, 200

As Walter led McKinney to a UIL Class 6A state championship as a junior, he rose to one of the nation's top prospects (nation's No. 9 overall prospect, No. 2 shooting guard). Walter played his senior year at Link Academy, where he led the prep school in scoring and helped it win at GEICO Nationals. Steve Turner, Gonzaga College coach who was Walter's Team USA coach at the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland in 2023, tried his hand at a prophetic read. When Walter was a senior in high school, he saw him as an elite next-level 2 or 3-guard: "His skillset allows him to do a lot of different things," Turner said. "He can facilitate, but he can really, really score.” At Baylor, he led the team in scoring (14.2 points per game) as the Bears went 24-11, earned a 3-seed and made the round of 64.

REWIND: Ja’Kobe Walter’s next stop is coming into focus

Jamal Shead, Toronto Raptors (No. 45)

Houston's Jamal Shead (1) bends over in pain at the line for a free throw shot during the second round game between Texas A&M
Houston's Jamal Shead (1) bends over in pain at the line for a free throw shot during the second round game between Texas A&M and the University of Houston in the 2024 NCAA Tournament at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on Sunday, March 24, 2024. / Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA

Pick: No. 45 (second round)
Projected:
Second round or undrafted
Background: University of Houston | Manor (Texas)
Measurables: 6-1, 200

Shead was a four-star propsect by the end of his high school career, which he capped with a 19.3-point, 4.3-assist senior season before going on to become the second-winningest player in University of Houston history (120-18). As a senior, he averaged 12.9 points, 6.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game as a senior.

KEEP AN EYE OUT

Tyler Smith

Projected: Second round
Background: Overtime Elite | Fort Bend Bush (Texas)
Measurables: 6-10, 205

Smith is an Overtime Elite product, having left Bush High School before his junior season to be among the first to sign a pro contract with Overtime Elite, then he joined Holland on the Ignite, a now-defunct straight-to-pro option conceptualized before the proliferation of NIL in college. In 27 games, the 19-year-old averaged 13.4 points and 5.0 boards for G League Ignite. He was a 5-star prospect when he left Bush.

-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sblivetx


Published |Modified
Andy Buhler
ANDY BUHLER

Andy Buhler is a Regional Editor of Texas and the national breaking news desk. He brings more than five years of experience covering high school sports across the state of Washington and beyond, where he covered the likes of Paolo Banchero and Tari Eason served on state tournament seeding committees. He works on the SBLive/Sports Illustrated Power 25 national boys basketball rankings. He has covered everything from the Final Four, MLS in Atlanta to local velodrome before diving into the world of preps. His bylines can be found in The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), The Associated Press, The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington), The Oregonian and more. He holds a degree from Gonzaga and is based out of Portland, Oregon.