An All-Georgia NBA team would have two All-Stars: Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (Holy Spirit Prep) and Celtics forward Jaylen Brown (Wheeler). It also would have the leading contender for NBA rookie of the year, Spurs guard Stephon Castle (Newton).
Castle, the Trail Blazers’ Scoot Henderson (Kell) and the Wizards’ Malcolm Brogdon (Greater Atlanta Christian) manage the point guard position.
Jazz 7-footer Walker Kessler (Woodward Academy) or the Magic’s Wendell Carter Jr. (Pace Academy) would play center. Carter had 19 points and seven rebounds in 26 minutes in Tuesday night’s victory over the Hawks in the Play-in Tournament.
The team’s weakness might be power forward. Only Sandy Creek’s Jabari Smith plays the position naturally, but Smith, the AJC’s all-class player of the year in 2021 and the NBA’s No. 3 overall draft pick in 2022, averaged 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds for the Rockets, the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed.
Depth would be a strength. Pebblebrook’s Collin Sexton, who averages 18 points per game at shooting guard for the Jazz, would come off the bench. The team also would have the league’s two most prolific 3-point shooters this season — Edwards and the Pistons’ Malik Beasley (St. Francis).
The All-Georgia team would have about the same number of players to choose from as a typical NBA team. There were 22 NBA players from Georgia this season. The Hawks used 21 players over their 82-game schedule.
“I think this team could make a solid run,” AJC Hawks beat reporter Lauren Williams said. “They’ve got some really strong playmakers that could go out there and get buckets. They have some really nice wings that could knock some shots down, and Kessler is a nice, solid, up-and-coming rim protector.”
But team balance and chemistry could be problems, Williams said. The team has more good shooting guards than it needs and only three center/power forwards — Kessler, Carter and Smith.
“They don’t have a ton of great options at point guard, and they have a logjam of players at shooting guard,” Williams said. “They also don’t have a lot of depth at center. I guess you could use Smith and (13-year NBA veteran Jae) Crowder in a small-ball situation.”
AJC sports columnist (and former Hawks beat reporter) Michael Cunningham agreed that a Georgia team would be good, but he also sees roster issues.
“It’s very strong on the wings and good enough at point guard,” Cunningham said. “There’s plenty of shooting and scoring. Kessler and Carter are good pick-and-roll defenders, and all three big men are ‘switchable.’”
Cunningham said the hypothetical Georgia team might lack the size it would need to beat the NBA’s best.
“Smith is the only true 3-point-shooting threat among the big men,” he said. “Carter is just OK. Smith can’t play every minute. When there’s no ‘stretch’ big on the floor to draw opposing bigs to the perimeter, Georgia’s slashers will have less room to operate against help defense. Any small lineup Georgia might use would be giving up too much size defensively.”
The idea that a Georgia team could beat the best NBA teams is new. There were only 17 Georgia NBA players in 2015, 14 in 1985 and only nine in 1975.
Georgia’s NBA numbers are on the rise while most states are in decline, with international talent increasingly taking roster spots. International players made up 28% of the league this season.
Georgia’s numbers also rose in the 1990s, with as many as 26 in 1995. Players such as Dale Ellis, Horace Grant and Dale Davis were the state’s best in those days.
The difference today, however, is the number of high-end draft picks. Ellis, Grant and Davis were lottery picks themselves, but not top-five overall. Five Georgia players have gone that high since 2020, and another one — Rutgers’ Ace Bailey (McEachern) — is projected to join them. The five are Castle (No. 4 in 2024), Henderson (No. 3 in 2023), Smith (No. 3 in 2022), Edwards (No. 1 in 2020) and Isaac Okoro (No. 5 in 2020). Brown went No. 3 in 2016.
Pace Academy basketball coach Sharman White was Carter’s coach at Pace Academy and has worked with or coached against 17 of Georgia’s 22 NBA players in high school or with USA Basketball. Those include all of those top-five NBA picks and those he would choose for his starting lineup: Edwards, Castle, Brown, Smith and Carter.
“It says what I have been saying for a while now, that Georgia is also a basketball state,” said White, arguing that Georgia basketball rivals or exceeds Georgia football in talent. “The amount of basketball talent that has come through this state over the last 15-20 years is elite. With the high number of top-five picks over the last five years, it speaks to not only there being good players here, it speaks to the highest level players coming from the state.”
Former Georgia high school players in the NBA this season:
SG: Anthony Edwards, Holy Spirit Prep (Timberwolves)
27.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists in 79/79 games/started
SF: Jaylen Brown, Wheeler (Celtics)
22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists in 63/63 games/started
SG: Collin Sexton, Pebblebrook (Jazz)
18.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists in 63/61 games/started
SG: Devin Vassell, Peachtree Ridge (Spurs)
16.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists in 64/53 games/started
SG: Malik Beasley, St. Francis (Pistons)
16.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists in 82/18 games/started
PG: Stephon Castle, Newton (Spurs)
14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 4.1 assists in 81/47 games/started
PG: Scoot Henderson, Kell (Trailblazers)
12.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists in 66/10 games/started
PG: Malcolm Brogdon, Greater Atlanta Christian (Wizards)
12.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists in 24/13 games/started
PF: Jabari Smith Jr., Sandy Creek (Rockets)
12.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists in 57/39 games/started
C: Walker Kessler, Woodward Academy (Jazz)
11.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists in 58/58 games/started
SG: Brandon Boston Jr., Norcross (Pelicans)
10.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists in 42/10 games/started
C: Wendell Carter Jr., Pace Academy (Magic)
9.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists in 68/51 games/started
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Greenville (Magic)
8.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists in 77/77 games/started
PG: Isaiah Collier, Wheeler (Jazz)
8.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists in 71/46 games/started
PG: Davion Mitchell, Liberty County (Heat)
7.9 points, 2.3 rebounds, 4.9 assists in 74/37 games/started
SG: Josh Okogie, Shiloh (Hornets)
7.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists in 40/7 games/started
SG: Isaac Okoro, McEachern (Cavaliers)
6.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists in 55/22 games/started
PF: Chuma Okeke, Westlake (Cavaliers)
5.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists in 9/3 games/started
SG: Ben Sheppard, Greater Atlanta Christian (Pacers)
5.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists in 63/9 games/started
PF: JT Thor, Norcross (Wizards)
3.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, 0.3 assists in 20/0 games/started
PF: Jae Crowder, Villa Rica (Kings)
2.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 0.7 assists in 9/2 games/started
PG: Quincy Olivari, Westlake (Lakers)
1.5 points, 0.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists in 2/0 games/started
Top-10 NBA Draft picks from Georgia since 2016
2024
No. 4 Stephon Castle
2023
No. 3 Scoot Henderson
2022
No. 3 Jabari Smith Jr.
2021
No. 9 Davion Mitchell
2020
No. 1 Anthony Edwards
No. 5 Isaac Okoro
2018
No. 7 Wendell Carter Jr.
No. 8 Collin Sexton
2016
No. 3 Jaylen Brown
