Possible Jazz First Round Pick Gives Notable Injury Update
An intriguing storyline for fans to follow during this draft cycle involves Duke’s Dariq Whitehead, the freshman forward a part of this year’s 2023 class. With a sustained foot injury that would look to have surgery lingering for Whitehead, his stock was a bit in flux to start the pre-draft cycle.
Now things look a bit better for Whitehead. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Whitehead’s most recent surgery was a success, now putting him on track to start for whatever team drafts him come training camp:
"Whitehead, who had an initial procedure on his right foot in August, underwent a second surgery...called a 'revision operation with bone grafting for a fifth metatarsal Jones fracture.’... Whitehead went No. 26 in ESPN's June 1 mock draft. He has been meeting with a number of teams ahead of the June 22 draft, including visits with those in the top half of the draft board, sources said."
- Adrian Wojnarowksi on Duke’s Dariq Whitehead, via ESPN.
An interesting report coming from Woj. Not only on the injury side of things, but mentioning his meeting with teams in the 'top half of the board’ gives us a sense of teams that could potentially have interest.
Despite mocks listing him at 26, the league seems to value him a bit higher if meeting with teams in the ‘top half.’ While it may be a bit shocking to see Whitehead go within the lottery-range due to his playing status at the moment, there’s some clear intrigue here.
One of these teams could be the Utah Jazz, a franchise that could look to take a chance on Whitehead’s upside. With three first round picks (including two around the range of teams he’s met with), Utah can afford to take a prospect with a 'high-risk, high-reward’ reputation at some point in the night.
While the Jazz have continued to keep most of their draft meetings on the down-low at the moment, more rumors could heat up as the draft now approaches the two weeks away mark.
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