UCLA's Defensive Ace Jaylen Clark Declares For 2023 NBA Draft
The first domino has fallen in the Bruins' offseason.
UCLA men's basketball guard Jaylen Clark has declared for the 2023 NBA Draft, he announced Wednesday on Instagram. Clark is still eligible to return to the Bruins if he withdraws his name before June 1, though, and he could have as many as two years left to play in college.
Coach Mick Cronin and the rest of the staff are now awaiting the decisions of guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., point guard Tyger Campbell, guard Amari Bailey and center Adem Bona. Guard David Singleton, meanwhile, has exhausted his eligibility.
As for Clark, he will be starting his pro journey hampered by an Achilles injury he suffered in UCLA's regular season finale back on March 4. Clark underwent surgery not long after, and it remains to be see what his timetable to return to the court will be.
Clark broke out in his third season with the Bruins – his first as a starter. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 13.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 0.3 blocks per game in 30 appearances, while also leading UCLA and the Pac-12 in steals per game, steal percentage, defensive rating, defensive box plus/minus and overall box plus/minus.
As a result, Clark became the first Bruin to win Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year since Russell Westbrook in 2008. Clark also made the All-Pac-12 Second Team and Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, before eventually securing the NABC's Defensive Player of the Year award on Tuesday.
Clark's NBA Draft stock was nebulous throughout the season, even though he was emerging as one of the most effective two-way players in the West. However, The Athletic's Sam Vecenie had the Charlotte Hornets selecting Clark with the No. 41 overall pick in his latest mock draft on Tuesday – just nine spots below Jaquez.
UCLA has had a much slower NBA Draft output since coach Mick Cronin took over in 2019, going fully unrepresented in both 2020 and 2021. Peyton Watson was the No. 30 overall pick in 2022, ending the team's cold streak, but both Johnny Juzang and Jules Bernard went undrafted.
Chris Smith, like Clark, declared for the draft in 2021 despite being just a few months removed from a torn ACL. Smith went undrafted, but he signed a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons and was able to play 18 games with their G League affiliate that season.
The severity of Clark's injury will likely play a major role in how willing teams are to take a flier on him, although his emergence as an athlete and high-level defender is part of how UCLA won the Pac-12 regular season title by four games this year.
If Clark proves he can get healthy and replicate the kind of steady growth he experienced over the past three years in Westwood, he may hear his name called on draft night. If the interest isn't there, he could elect to rejoin the Bruins for another title push next season.
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