NBA Draft Prospect: N’Faly Dante C- Oregon

NBA Draft Prospect: N’Faly Dante C- Oregon, was one of the many athletes that the Ducks used.

Dante, a sophomore center for the Oregon Ducks, increased his production during his second season in Eugene. The NCAA cleared him late in the 2020 season after a knee injury. Dante’s minutes, points, steals, blocks and rebounds per game all increased in Year 2. A season ago (2019-20), the big man saw most of his offensive production come on lobs from Boston Celtics 2020 first round pick (26th overall) and Naismith Trophy award finalist Payton Pritchard. This year, Dante used his length and drop-step to average nine points per game on 65.6-percent shooting from the field. 

Dante is a force defensively, averaging 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. Most players at the Oregon center’s size (6’11, 230) aren’t nimble enough to get down in a defensive stance. But Dante sits in the chair and moves laterally on the perimeter in pick and roll situations. 

Can he make it at the next level?

One question with modern bigs is can they do the little things to make it at the next level? Those include, but are not limited to: conditioning, defending without fouling and boxing out consistently. For example, look at how the Wizards use Daniel Gafford. These are some of the question marks NBA scouts will have when breaking down his game. His free throw inefficiency has also ranked as an area of concern. As well as his injury history.

NBA Draft Prospect N’Faly Dante– UPDATE (5/18/21)

Unfortunately, Dante injured his ACL in late December 2020 versus San Francisco (12/17/20). He underwent surgery, was lost for the season and will return to the Ducks for the 2021-22 campaign.

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