2024 NBA Draft: A Conversation With Jaylen Wells
Draft Digest's Jordan Monaco sits down with Jaylen Wells, the former Division II basketball player and 2024 NBA Draft prospect who is a 6-foot-8 wing that converted 42% of his threes at Washington State this season.
Jaylen Wells is a 6-foot-8 wing who converted 42% of his threes this past season as a junior at Washington State. After a strong season, Wells publicly declared for the 2024 NBA Draft on April 4th.
Wells has an extremely unique path to declaring for the NBA Draft, however, as he spent two years in Division II at Sonoma State before transferring to Washington State this past season and didn't make his high school varsity team until his junior year. If there's any story of overcoming stacked odds time and time again, it's the story of Jaylen Wells.
Growing Up
Wells grew up in Sacramento, California, and is the youngest of four children. Being from Sacramento granted him a multitude of contacts in the basketball world, including Danielle Viglione, a former WNBA player and longtime trainer of Wells. Wells mentions that many other players were originally from Sacramento but moved, such as Jared McCain: "Staying in Sacramento helped me make a name for myself."
Growing up, Wells was inspired to play basketball after seeing his siblings play and living with his older brother who played college basketball.
"[Being the youngest of four] helped in a lot of ways," Wells told Draft Digest. "I've seen the things that made my brother successful and try to model it after him. He's also around 6'8" and can shoot it really well. It helped to be able to play him one-on-one every day."
Basketball wasn't the only sport Wells played growing up, as his parents put him in every sport. He indicated that tennis, baseball, soccer and even competitive gymnastics were the sports he played through third grade. At that point in, in third grade, he realized his passion for basketball.
First Stop: Folsom High School
Wells played basketball at Folsom High School near Sacramento under Coach Mike Wall. When asked about how he grew there as both a student and a basketball player, Wells had nothing but good things to say.
"One of my main reasons for going there was because they wanted to win. There wasn't a lot of politics around it and they put the right players on the floor to win at all times," said Wells. "They handled themselves like a college program with the training and drills they did, and it was way different than something you might experience at any other high school. They took stats during practice like a college team and Mike Wall was a hard coach who pushes you to develop yourself on and off the court."
Wells didn't just walk into minutes as a freshman either. In fact, he didn't make varsity until his junior season. Entering freshman year, he was only 5-foot-8 and was the 16th man on the junior varsity team. He mentioned that he didn't play that much, but got playing time here and there and had a couple of breakout games. After being promised to be on varsity his sophomore year, Wells ended up being the sixth man on junior varsity instead and had freshmen starting over him. While there are a lot of people in today's world who would transfer, Wells talked about putting his head down and continuing to work.
Wells started on varsity as a junior after working tirelessly, but still only averaged around nine points and a handful of rebounds per game. The offseason prior to his senior year was what separated Wells from his peers, as he worked the hardest he ever had during COVID:.
"I would run to Folsom High School and run the track and the stadium with my dad," Wells recalled. "We'd find courts around the city that had hoops up. I was putting in a ton of work in that time and ended up averaging 27 points per game that senior year."
Additionally, Wells had a timely growth spurt that he attributed credit to, as he went from 5-foot-8 his freshman year to 6-foot-2 by his junior season, then grew to 6-foot-6 before his senior season.
While working hard on the court, Wells was creating a social media brand with his friend from high school off the court: Sleep Nation.
"It was a movement that wanted to highlight players who were being overlooked; players like myself. We would do open runs and do videos for them. It was something we did and made a little money off of it. It was cool bringing hoopers from Sacramento together for open runs. It's slowed down since we're both in college, but we had a little Instagram account (@sleepnation) and would record and edit the videos," the upcoming draft prospect explained to Draft Digest.
Second Stop: Sonoma State
Before transferring to Washington State prior to his junior season, Wells spent two seasons at Division II college Sonoma State. Wells still remembers his mindset while at Sonoma State after receiving no Division I offers.
"Coming out of high school averaging 27 points and eight rebounds at one of the highest divisions and most competitive in Sacramento, you might expect D1 offers with that statline. It was during COVID, [I was a] late bloomer, I went to Sonoma State and felt like I didn't settle," Wells said. "I felt like it was the right place to be and they wanted me there and I wanted to be there. It's one of the best decisions I've made. It helped me develop as a player, as a leader, and we went from 3-25 our freshman year to winning the first round of the Conference Tournament my sophomore year."
After mentioning that his time at Sonoma State helped him develop as a leader, Wells discussed his preferred style of leadership was during his time at Sonoma State, and how he is less of a vocal leader and more of a leader by example: "I'm more of someone who leads by example. I'm a little bit quiet, I stretch before and after every practice, I don't do drugs or anything outlandish, I stay humble. Just the way I carried myself and way I prepare for everything; do all the little things right, that way when people look at the leader they want to follow those same things. My freshman year I didn't talk as much, but sophomore year I became more of a vocal leader as well -- it's still something I want to continue improving upon."
After a successful freshman season at Sonoma State leading his team in minutes, averaging 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, all while shooting 41% from the field, 26% from three, and 72% from the free throw line, Wells was truly just getting started. Wells saw a significant statistical leap his sophomore season, another indication of his work ethic. He averaged 22.4 points per game, 8.7 rebounds per game, while seeing his shooting splits skyrocket to 52% from the field, 44% from three, and 86% from the free throw line.
"A lot of it had to do with experience. I was much more confident going into my sophomore year," said Wells about his jump in production. "We had a full new team sophomore year and I had to prove myself again with that team and prove I could be that leader from freshman year. I've always been a shooter. The scouting report used to be that I was a driver so I took offense to that. I worked out a ton over the summer with pros and did whatever I could to get ready for next year."
Third Stop: Washington State
After spending two years developing at Sonoma State, Wells knew that Washington State was the perfect next stop.
"The first person to reach out was Wayne Hunter, who was also from Sacramento. I had known about him for a couple of years. The whole staff loved me at Washington State." Even after spending 16 hours in the Seattle airport the day of his visit due to flight delays, Wells still felt like Pullman was the place to be: "Going there and seeing the community, walking past people saying 'Go Cougs'; they had the underdog mentality that I embraced," Wells told Draft Digest.
The most important thing Wells learned during his time at Washington State was that he can be a pro. It's all about confidence and being surrounded by the right team.
"Playing with those guys every single day, getting that confidence," Wells remembered. "Starting the year, I wasn't sure where I'd get that playing time. Throughout the year, I gained more and more confidence, and I tried to model my game after our senior captain Andrej Jakimovski and spent time around him and our other talented guys."
Additionally, Wells used the resources Washington State offered him, which were a step-change in what he got at the Division II level. He had access to food whenever he wanted, a shooting machine, gym access 24/7 and much more, which seemed basic, but was a new concept to him.
These resoueces at Washington State really paid diviends, and he quickly was able to take notice of the work he was putting in and how it had been translating to on-court success:
"If there's one guaranteed thing, it's that I'm going to get better," Wells told Draft Digest. "Every season from freshman year in high school to now, I've gotten better each season. It's something I'm really proud of."
This season, Wells averaged 12.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 44% from the field, 42% from three, and 81% from the free throw line. Consistency as such, especially translating directly from the Division II level, is no easy task.
"I lot of it is what I eat. I like to get a good night's sleep. During the season, I didn't eat a lot of junk food and I felt like I had the most energy when I was confident in what I was putting into my body," Wells said as he descibed his routine during this recent season. "I used to take my Sleep Nation wristband and chain with the cross on it and kiss both before putting in my locker before the game."
Additionally, Wells listens to music prior to games and is a big Rod Wave, A Boogie, and Drake fan. In fact, Wells interestingly had a specific song he'd play last before games throughout his time in college. His song of choice freshman year was "Chip On My Shoulder" by Rod Wave, his sophomore season was "No Air" by Jordin Sparks, and his junior season was "No Comparison" by A Boogie.
Next Stop: 2024 NBA Draft
After a productive season at Washington State, Wells decided to enter the 2024 NBA Draft. This was something he had been considering for a few months, and now has officially taken that next step.
"We first started talking about it halfway through conference play, a coach of ours brought it up to me. I honestly wasn't even thinking about it much," Wells admitted. "One of my coaches thought I should declare and made me realize I was playing pretty decent. After that, we tabled it to the end of the season. Once the thought of it was brought up to me, it only made me hungrier. I played better and better as the season went on and I proved to myself that I could be in the NBA and I'm confident that I should be in the NBA. Now I workout with the goal that I'm going to the NBA."
As a testament to his entire story thus far, Wells has been diligently working on improving his game since the season ended. He mentioned he does around three workouts per day, focused on working on shooting while tired, working on conditioning level, and keeping the same form when tired.
With that in mind, Wells is also very focused on improving his defense, which will be extremely important in earning minutes at the next level.
"I want to improve my on-ball defense and defense in general. I thought I was a pretty decent defender this year but love being a good defender. By the end of the season I wanted to guard the best player and I was (Keion Brooks, Cody Williams), and I love the challenge of guarding the best guy on the team," the Washington State product said.
That wasn't it for Wells, however, who went on to say that he's working on being able to read pick-and-rolls a little bit better and improving his ball-handling in general. He feels he can immediately help a team in many regards even outside of having the ball in his hands.
"Senior year of high school I was a 6-foot-6 point guard and those skills even translate to today. If I had the opportunity to play point guard, I would welcome it," Wells said. "I'm a really good catch-and-shoot shooter, [I] can shoot off-the-dribble. [I] think I'm honestly a three-level scorer in general. Can get to the one-dribble pull-up, if not the pull-up then get to the basket. [I] think I'm a pretty good playmaker, even if not ball-dominant. Feel like I can make that extra pass when two guys are coming at me. Think my defense -- at least I hope to the public -- is exceptional. I'm an effort guy who will never take a game off."
Wells models his current game off a few players, mentioning Trey Murphy and Keegan Murray as his archetype. He wants to work towards adding skills similar to players like Jayson Tatum and Jimmy Butler as well.
Off The Court
While the game of basketball is what Wells spends much of his time doing, there are also important people and experiences to him off the court. Wells has a handful of people that have greatly impacted him throughout his life that helped him get to where he is today
"First my dad and mom," Wells explained. "They both sacrificed a lot of their time, money, their own personal dreams... for mine. Some trainers throughout Sacramento, especially Donte Miller. [Miller] was one of my main trainers that helped me and believed in me. I mentioned before but Danielle Viglione, she played in the WBNA and had records at the University of Texas-Austin. Gus Armstead as well, he trains a lot of pros down in Sacramento (Fox, Gabe Vincent, overseas guys)."
When thinking back about his basketball journey, perhaps the best thing to happen to him was being smaler and having to force versatility within his game.
"I mentioned I was 5'8" and ended up being 6'6". If I wasn't versatile at 6'6", then I wouldn't be able to play point guard as a senior," said Wells. "I was working so hard then it all came together at once; me growing and all the skills I was getting. I had to adjust to being 6'6". I was playing like I was taller, doing jump hooks. Folsom was a very defensive-oriented program, so that was the first thting I focused on."
Given his unique background and success, Wells encourages all prospects following in his footsteps to lean into that uniqueness. Everyone's route in achieving their dreams looks different, but that's okay.
"Take your own path. Obviously I didn't have the path of a lot of D1 college basketball players," Wells explained. "Many played for circuit teams. I played for the Rose City Ballers (Silver gauntlet team for Adidas). I didn't go to tournaments much or get gear, but they believed in me and I was able to develop on that team. I didn't play varsity all four years, didn't go D1 out of high school, but I'm here now declaring for the draft. You don't need to go for that path going for the best things all the time but you gotta find the place that will help you develop you and make you the best."
It's incredible advice for all recruits, those that may be playing Division II, or are having to overcome a different obstacle to pursue their basketball dream. It's all about finding your motivation and staying focused each and every day.
"First thing that motivates me is my parents. Seeing what they went through to help my dream. Don't focus on proving people wrong, but I want to focus on proving people right that believed in me. My AAU Coach Brandon White (Rose City Ballers) always believed in me. Getting that text 'I always knew you could do it' is more valuable than proving those people that didn't believe in me wrong," Wells said.
Overall, Wells' story of determination and hard work serves as motivation for any person pursuing their basketball dream. Wells should not be taken lightly on the court either. His prolific shooting ability in both catch-and-shoot and off-the-dribble situations, his ability to attack closeouts, his developing playmaking and defensive ability, in addition to his overall positive trajectory and development as a player from season-to-season and game-to-game will undoubtedly be intriguing to NBA teams. Look out for Jaylen Wells to rise up draft boards during the pre-draft process.
"My one goal is to be in the NBA. I'm all in on the NBA," told Draft Digest.
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