You are here
Home > Basketball > Warriors Select James Wiseman, Nico Mannion & Justinian Jessup in 2020 NBA Draft

Warriors Select James Wiseman, Nico Mannion & Justinian Jessup in 2020 NBA Draft

Fallback Image

The Golden State Warriors selected center James Wiseman (second overall) and guards Nico Mannion (48th overall) and Justinian Jessup (51st overall) in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Wiseman, 19, averaged 19.7 points on 76.9 percent from the field (20-of-26 FG), 10.7 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 23.0 minutes in three games (all starts) during his lone season at the University of Memphis. The 7’1” center was on the 2019-20 preseason watch lists for the Wooden Award, Naismith Trophy, Lute Olson Award, NABC Player of the Year and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. Additionally, he was one of five players on the 2019-20 Associated Press Preseason All-America Team. As a senior at Memphis East High School, Wiseman was named the 2018-19 Gatorade National Player of the Year and Morgan Wootten Player of the Year and was ranked as the nation’s top recruit in 2019 by ESPN. Wiseman won a gold medal with USA Basketball at the 2017 FIBA U16 Americas Championship.

Wiseman joins Rick Barry (1965) as the only #2 overall draft picks in Warriors franchise history and represents the highest Warriors draft pick since Joe Smith was selected first overall in 1995. He is the team’s first Lottery pick since Harrison Barnes in 2012 (seventh overall) and first top five selection since Mike Dunleavy Jr. in 2002 (third overall).

Mannion, 19, averaged 14.0 points, 5.3 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 32.3 minutes over 32 games in his lone season at the University of Arizona. The 6’3” guard was named to the 2019-20 All-Pac-12 Second Team in addition to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, ranking second in the conference in assists per game. A native of Siena, Italy, Mannion was a McDonald’s and Naismith All-American as a senior at Pinnacle High School in Phoenix. His father, Pace, was selected by the Warriors with the 43rd overall selection in the 1983 NBA Draft and played six seasons in the NBA.

Jessup, 22, averaged 12.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 31.2 minutes per game over 129 contests (120 starts) during his four-year collegiate career at Boise State. The 6’7” guard was named to the 2019-20 All-Mountain West First Team as a senior after earning 2018-19 All-Mountain West Third Team honors as a junior. A career 40.8 percent shooter from three-point range (325-of-797 3FG), Jessup’s 325 three-pointers rank as the most in the history of the school and Mountain West Conference. The Longmont, Colo. native made 70-of-73 attempts from the free throw line during his senior season (95.9 percent), marking the best single-season free throw percentage in school history.

Warriors NBA News

FacebookTwitterEmailWhatsAppBloggerShare
Tutorialspoint
el-admin
el-admin
EltasZone Sportswriters, Sports Analysts, Opinion columnists, editorials and op-eds. Analysis from The Zone Team
Similar Articles
Top