Viktor Lakhin's showing vs. Duke should be enough for an NBA team to take a chance

We are officially one round into the 2025 NBA Draft and one Clemson basketball player is hoping to hear his name called in the second round on Thursday night. Viktor Lakhin is the Tigers' top NBA Draft prospect this year and he's projected to go at some point in the second round.

But it could be a little bit of a wait.

In most NBA mocks heading into this year's draft, he was projected to be a late-second-rounder or an undrafted free agent pickup, but he has the tools necessary to hear his name called.

Before an injury directly following the season, he missed some workouts and that led to a slight drop in his stock because he couldn't effectively work out for teams.

However, no one should forget just why he was a legit draft prospect on most experts' big boards. He has size, length, and the ability to excel against elite competition. Heck, he showed it while at Cincinnati in 2023-24 before transferring to Clemson for his final season.

In 2023-24 with Cincinnati, Lakhin scored 11 with nine rebounds on 5-of-6 shooting against No. 1 Houston, he had 17 points against No. 25 Texas, he had 17 points and seven rebounds against No. 12 BYU, and he had 11 points and five rebounds against No. 19 TCU. He more than held his own.

And then this past season with Clemson, he had plenty of stellar games, but the one that stands out that should end up getting him drafted was his masterpiece against Duke and the Blue Devils' three top-10 NBA Draft picks.

Lakhin scored 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go along with four rebounds and three blocks in a massive upset win over the Blue Devils. That should be enough proof that he can hang.

While we wait for Lakhin's name to be called on Thursday night, we have to hope that NBA team use this performance against Duke as proof that he belongs in the NBA. Heck, he out-performed three of the best players who were selected in this year's draft in a head-to-head showdown.