Among all of the players who were not drafted Thursday, perhaps no one came as a bigger surprise than University of Florida center Patric Young. Several NBA analysts published mock drafts with Young’s name listed as an early-second round pick, including a pair of CBSSports.com writers who projected him to go 34th and 37th, respectively. Instead, the 6-foot-9, 240-pound wound up being mentioned by virtually every national NBA website this weekend as one of 2014’s most intriguing undrafted players.
Although Young did not hear his name called on June 26, by going undrafted he gained the ability to choose his NBA Summer League team. Young and his agent selected the New Orleans Pelicans, whose summer squad will begin workouts in Metairie on July 7. The summer Pelicans open game action in Las Vegas on July 11, in a matchup against the D-League Select team (9:30 p.m. Central, live on NBA.com).
New Orleans is expected to announce its official NBA Summer League league roster this week.