USC Basketball: Trojans Star Freshman Lands On Top 10 NBA Prospect List
The USC Trojans 2024-2024 season isn't going as well as we thought. As we approach February, the Trojans sit three games below .500 and have lost four consecutive games.
USC has yet to hit its stride, and a ton of it has to do with being without their superstar freshman guard, Isaiah Collier. Collier is currently out due to a hand injury. He will likely miss another handful of weeks that could hurt the team, but not his draft status.
Collier will likely be one-and-done in Southern California and could be a potential lottery pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
That's up for debate, but he certainly is among the best college basketball prospects. According to On3's senior national recruiting analyst Jaime Shaw, he ranks Collier as the fourth-best college basketball prospect.
Before the injury, the freshman guard averaged 15.4 points on 50.6% shooting, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists in 16 games and 28.5 minutes.
The kid from Goegia may be a top college basketball prospect, but the pool runs deeper than that. Many foreign players have taken over the game, and many will be taken early in this year's draft. However, according to Bleacher Reports' latest NBA mock draft by Jonathan Wasserman, he remains a top-15 pick, with his player comp being Ty Lawson.
Here's what Wasserman had to say about the star freshman as he projects him to land with the Phoenix Suns.
A weak off-ball game could ultimately lead to a slide, with most teams already invested in lead ball-handlers. That could allow the Phoenix Suns to add his rim pressure, creativity and passing late in the lottery.
While it's difficult to buy his three-ball or feel for running an NBA offense early in his career, Collier should still be able to provide value with his speed in transition, physical driving, gravity, paint scoring and ability to set up teammates.
If Collier can return and play well, he will jump the board in no time.
