Virginia alums Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn are among the 78 college and international prospects to get invites to the 2024 NBA Draft Combine.
For Beekman, a four-year starter at UVA, it will be a return visit.
Beekman looked good in two scrimmages in the 2023 combine, scoring 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting, 1-of-1 from three, 2-of-2 at the line, with five rebounds, four assists, one steal and two turnovers in 22:54 of floor time off the bench in one scrimmage, and going for eight points on 2-of-8 shooting, 1-of-2 from three, 3-of-4 at the line, with one rebound, five assists, three steals and two turnovers in 21:19 of floor time in a second scrimmage.
Beekman was a projected mid-second-round pick last year, and decided to return for his senior season, in which he put up career numbers – 14.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game, shooting 44.3 percent from the floor overall and 31.0 percent from three.
Beekman was also named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year for a second straight season.
Dunn is a projected second-half-of-the-first-round pick in this year’s draft, based totally on his defense and potential.
It’s certainly not his counting numbers – Dunn, as a first-year starter in 2023-2024, averaged 8.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots per game, shooting 54.8 percent from the floor, 20.0 percent from three and 53.2 percent at the free-throw line.
Dunn has almost no offensive game. He shot 22.4 percent (11-of-49) on jumpers this past season, getting almost all of his offense at the rim (90-of-134, 67.2 percent).
Down the stretch of the 2023-2024 season, Dunn was practically missing in action on the offensive end. In his last 14 games, Dunn averaged 5.2 points per game on 47.1 percent shooting from the floor, 1-of-10 shooting from three and 6-of-17 shooting at the line.
Even as a projected first-round pick, I’d expect to see Dunn splitting his time between the NBA and G League next season to get regular minutes and to work on his offense.
Beekman is a projected second-round pick, but he’s by far the more NBA-ready of the two, and I’d expect Beekman to play his way onto an NBA roster and contend for rotation minutes as a rookie next season.