Will Wade’s Track Record of Putting Players in the NBA

NC State hasn’t had a player selected in the NBA Draft since 2017, when Wolfpack guard Dennis Smith Jr. was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round with the ninth overall pick. In total, the Wolfpack has only produced six NBA draft picks since the turn of the century.

With the hiring of Will Wade as the Wolfpack’s men’s basketball coach, will NC State become a program that regularly produces NBA players?

What is Wade’s track record when it comes to producing NBA Draft picks?

Wade’s first two head coaching stints were at Chattanooga and VCU, and in those four seasons, none of his players heard their names called in the NBA Draft. Over the past two seasons at McNeese State, no Cowboy players were selected either.

Now, none of that is particularly surprising.

Chattanooga has only produced nine NBA Draft picks in the history of the program, with the last one being in 1997.

VCU has produced 22 NBA Draft picks, with five of them coming since 2000. Mike Rhoades and Ryan Odom turned the Rams into a program the NBA has taken notice of in the past four seasons, producing two NBA Draft picks each.

McNeese State has only produced eight NBA Draft picks, with the last one being in 1989.

If you want to get a sense of what Wade might be able to do at NC State, we need to look at his five-year stint at LSU.

Wade was extremely successful at producing NBA players as the head coach of the Tigers.

In five seasons, Wade produced four NBA Draft picks at LSU, seeing a player hear their name called in each of his final four seasons.

In 2019, point guard Tremont Waters was drafted by the Celtics in the second round with the 51st overall pick. Waters played three years in the NBA, averaging 3.7 points and 2.1 assists in 40 games.

In 2020, shooting guard Skylar Mays was selected by Atlanta in the second round with the 50th overall pick. Mays played four years in the league, averaging 4.3 points in 105 games.

In Wade’s final two seasons, LSU produced back-to-back first-round draft picks.

In 2021, the Nets drafted shooting guard Cameron Thomas with the 27th overall pick. After starting in only six games in his first two NBA seasons, Thomas has exploded over the past two years with Brooklyn. He has started in 74 of the 91 games he’s played during that span. In 2023-24, he averaged 22.5 points, and this year, he averaged a career-high 24.0 points per game. In four seasons, Thomas has averaged 15.1 points per game.

In 2022, power forward Tari Eason was selected by the Rockets with the 17th overall pick. Eason had his most productive year to date this season, averaging 12.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.7 steals, while shooting 48.7% from the field and 34.2% from three. He started in 16 games in 2024-25.

Another name to mention is big man Naz Reid, who earned SEC All-Freshman honors under Wade in 2018-19. Reid declared for the NBA Draft after one year at LSU but didn’t hear his name called. Shortly thereafter, the Timberwolves signed Reid to a two-way contract, allowing him to play in the G-League with the Iowa Wolves and also spend time with the NBA team. The Timberwolves saw his potential, playing him in 30 games (11 starts) in 2019-20. Reid has been a mainstay with Minnesota ever since, playing in 406 games (74 starts) over the past six seasons, averaging 11.6 points and 4.9 rebounds during that span.

In Wade’s first year in Raleigh, he’s already built a roster that likely has NBA talent on it. There is a high likelihood that Texas Tech transfer Darrion Williams hears his name called next year, and freshman shooting guard Matt Able is already on NBA teams’ radar, having been a 5-star recruit in the 2025 recruiting class.