UNC Basketball: Drake Powell participated in the 2024 Nike Skills Academy this week
Incoming freshman and five-star forward Drake Powell was selected to participate in the 2024 Nike Skills Academy this week in Portland, Oregon. He was a participant in the event last summer, and this year he is the only Tar Heel to make the cut.
The NBA Skills Academy is a week-long event where players go through various workouts and drills, film sessions, and five-on-five play. Current and former NBA players attend the event to help train high school and college-level prospects, and there are a bunch of NBA scouts that show up to the event as well. Since there are only 15 men’s college players selected every year, Powell making the cut is a pretty big deal. It’s a great opportunity for him to show NBA scouts what he’s made of before suiting up in Carolina blue for the first time this November.
Standout performance from UNC’s Drake Powell at Nike Academy, showing an impressive blend of defensive versatility, intensity, passing and perimeter shooting confidence. Impacts winning in a variety of ways and has significant room to continue to grow long-term. pic.twitter.com/ljoT2as00o
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) August 8, 2024
Drake Powell is a 6’6, 195-lb small forward from Pittsboro, NC. He finished his high school journey as the third-best small forward in the country, and the 11th-best player overall per the 247Sports Composite rankings. Powell was named McDonald’s All-American alongside fellow teammate, Ian Jackson. Fellow 2024 commit James Brown joined the trio to give UNC the fifth-best recruiting class, which is also the highest ranked recruiting class in the Hubert Davis era.
There has of course been a lot of buzz surrounding Jackson and the potential of him being a one-and-done prospect, but Powell has a decent shot of making his way to the league next year as well. He shot up the high school ranks last summer during AAU play, and he continued to prove just how talented he was during his final season at Norwood High School. One of the most enticing parts of his game is he is known to be a gifted defender, and was actually declared the best defender in the 2024 class according to 247Sports’ Travis Branham. There’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to Powell’s arrival to Chapel Hill, and I expect him to play a big role in the team’s quest to return to the Final Four.
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