College Prospect Spotlight: GCU's Tyon Grant-Foster
The upcoming draft class will be one of the most interesting in recent years, primarily because there is so much variability. Not only is there no bonafide top pick, but the tiers throughout the class are deep and unstructured.
As such, there should be tremendous shakeup on boards over the next six months and likely many surprises on draft night. As such, the best prospects around the world still have a great opportunity to increase their stock since nothing is set in stone.
There's always a handful of college players who don't get as much national attention as they deserve, but are incredible players that could make an impact at the next level. This is especially true for schools in smaller conferences.
For this week’s spotlight, we take a look at Grand Canyon wing Tyon Grant-Foster, who has legitimate NBA talent.
Tyon Grant-Foster (Wing | Grand Canyon Antelopes)
6'7” | 210 lbs
Season Stats: 20.3 PPG | 5.5 RPG | 2.3 APG | 1.8 SPG | 1.8 BPG
Joe Rondone/The Republic-USA TODAY NETWORK
Background
Grant-Foster has one of the most inspiring stories in college basketball. After spending two seasons at the community college level, he made his way to Lawrence to play for the Kansas Jayhawks. From there, he transferred to DePaul where his life would change forever. In the season opener, Grant-Foster was rushed to hospital at halftime of the season opener. After what was essentially two years away from the game, he made his return this season at Grand Canyon University and has been incredible.
Emerging as one of the best players in the country, the 6-foot-7 wing has earned a 10.4 C-RAM (Gold Rating) from Cerebro Sports and has proven he has an NBA skillset. As good of a person as he is a player, any team would be lucky to add him in June's draft. He's the cousin of NBA player Ish Wainwright and could be following in his footsteps very soon.
NBA Upside
For starters, Grant-Foster is a dynamic scorer. He has great positional size and length, which allows him to create mismatches. Furthermore, he is an underrated passer and can do more than just produce points to enhance a team's offense. He's also extremely disruptive on the defensive end, notching more than three stocks (blocks + steals) per contest this season.
With the size to play multiple positions at the NBA level, Grant-Foster could operate as an off-ball guard or even a traditional wing. Especially if his 3-point shot improves, there's no reason he shouldn't be at minimum signed to an undrafted free agent deal this summer.
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