He shouldn’t have to wait much longer.
As expected, Tennessee shooting guard Chaz Lanier didn’t hear his named called on Wednesday night during the first day of the 2025 NBA Draft. The 6-4, 199 pound shooting guard forced his way onto the NBA’s radar after a big time final season at North Florida, which allowed him to showcase his talents in the loaded SEC last season.
Lanier will now likely see that hard work pay off on Thursday night, where he’s expected to come off the board quickly in the second round. According to ESPN, Lanier is the eighth-best player left on the board, which would slot him in somewhere around the 40th pick. That’s been the range that Lanier has been projected to go in throughout the process.
Other college stars like Adou Thiero, Johni Broome, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Tyrese Proctor remain on the board as well.
Lanier, armed with his lightning quick release, will have a chance to provide someone with instant shooting off the bench. He burst onto the scene at North Florida after three seasons as a bench player, scoring 19.7 points per game in the 2023-24 season. Lanier backed that up by scoring 18 points per game this season at Tennessee. He shot 44 and 39 percent from three-point range in his final two seasons.
Lanier turned heads at the NBA Combine too, finishing in the top five of all the shooting drills at the event. He also finished in the top five of a handful of agility drills.
The Minnesota Timberwolves will kick things off on Thursday night, followed by the Celtics, Hornets and 76ers. ESPN will pick up their coverage at 8 p.m. ET.