The 2024 NBA Draft is nearly six weeks away, and the road to the draft is heating up this week in Chicago during the NBA Draft Combine. While experts have projected this could be one of the weaker draft classes at the top in nearly a decade, some of the top prospects in the upcoming class -- including former No. 1 overall recruit Ron Holland -- pushed back on that notion during his media availability in the Windy City.
"It definitely bothers me for sure," Holland told reporters on Tuesday about the upcoming draft class. "If you put us against any other draft class, we just don't have a standout unicorn or anyone like that, but we can all be very good role players one day. Some of us could be All-Stars. I feel like we are just a regular draft class. When I hear we are a bad draft class, I really try not to pay attention to it but it burns my blood."
Holland joined G League Ignite late in the recruiting cycle after requesting a release from his National Letter of Intent after signing with Texas. The former top-ranked recruit from the 2023 recruiting cycle by 247Sports out of Duncanville (Texas) High School averaged 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.2 assists this past season for Ignite.
Holland ranks as the No. 9 player in the 2024 NBA Draft Prospect Rankings from CBS Sports. In Kyle Boone's latest mock draft, Holland was slotted to go No. 11 to the Chicago Bulls. He goes high in the mock draft from Adam Finkelstein, who has Holland at No. 6 to the Charlotte Hornets.
