Tyrese Proctor or Riley Kugel? Choose Your 2024 NBA Draft Returner

Nearly every draft cycle, we see a college guard take a leap and rise in the first round. Last year, Michigan’s Kobe Bufkin did just that. After a quiet freshman season, in which he averaged a pedestrian 3.0 points per contest, Bufkin increased his stats across the board. Consequently, in his sophomore year, he averaged a stat line of 14.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.3 steals. As a result, his draft stock ballooned and the Atlanta Hawks eventually selected him with the 15th overall pick. Prior to this improvement, Bufkin struggled to find himself on draft boards in general.

Last year, we saw a similar rise from several college returners such as Arizona’s Bennedict Mathurin, Purdue’s Jaden Ivey, and Santa Clara’s Jalen Williams. Heading into the 2024 NBA Draft, who is going to fill that role? On top of many others, there are two major candidates who we must look towards to answer this question.

The first candidate is Duke’s Tyrese Proctor. In his freshman season, the 6-foot-5 point guard notched 9.4 points and 3.3 assists per game. On the flip side, he shot just 38.1% from the field and 32.0% from beyond the arc. He did improve as the season went along, recording four of his six 15-plus point performances after New Year’s Day. Still, Proctor will need to find consistency as an offensive creator and become more efficient in order to fly up draft boards. This may not be as easy with fellow guard Jeremy Roach returning to the Blue Devils, but Proctor’s raw talent alone could be too high not to shine through regardless.

We could also look to Florida’s Riley Kugel. Similar to Proctor, Kugel had a slower start to his college career but improved greatly over the course of his debut season. In his last ten games as a freshman, the 6-foot-5 guard averaged over 17 points per game. If Kugel can carry over the level of shot-making he displayed at the end of the season, the sophomore will surely find his way high up on many draft boards. He’ll have to continue to progress as a passer, though.

While Proctor and Kugel are certainly not the only returning breakout candidates, they are surely two of the premier ones to closely monitor as the 2024 NBA Draft cycle kicks off.

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