Dereon Seabron will keep name in NBA draft, will not return for NC State basketball
N.C. State’s Dereon Seabron is staying in the NBA draft.
The 6-foot-7 guard made the announcement Wednesday on his Instagram account, hours before the deadline to withdraw from the draft.
Seabron, the 2021-22 Most Improved Player in the ACC, played in 32 games as a sophomore. He led the Wolfpack in scoring, and was a second-team All-ACC selection.
After redshirting the 2019-20 season, Seabron played in 24 games during the 2020-21 season. Seabron’s production jumped from 5.2 points per game his first year, to 17.3 as a sophomore.
During his breakout 2021-22 campaign, Seabron scored in double figures in the first 21 games, including two 30-point outputs. Seabron scored a career-high 39 points in a four-overtime win over Nebraska on Dec. 1. Seabron scored in double-digits in 30 of 32 games.
He entered his name in the draft at the conclusion of the season and hired an NCAA certified agent, meaning he could return to school. The native of Norfolk, Virginia, was invited to the NBA combine in Chicago, where he had an impressive outing.
In Chicago, Seabron played in two scrimmages. He scored 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 26 minutes of action in the first scrimmage. Seabron, who led N.C. State in rebounding, also grabbed five boards. In the second scrimmage Seabron played 29 minutes and scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting with five rebounds and four assists.
Before the NBA combine, Seabron worked out for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooklyn Nets and Detroit Pistons. He had meetings with the Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat and Denver Nuggets this week. Seabron also had a workout scheduled with the Orlando Magic on May 25.
With Seabron moving on, head coach Kevin Keatts now has one scholarship available. N.C. State has added four transfers this offseason: guards Jack Clark (La Salle) and Jarkel Joiner (Ole Miss), along with forwards Dusan Mahorcic (Illinois State) and D.J. Burns (Winthrop), who was last season’s Big South Conference Player of the Year.
On Tuesday, freshman guard Terquavion Smith, who also went through the draft process, announced he was returning to school.
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 3:30 PM.
