Central Arkansas native Kel’el Ware was selected by the Miami Heat as the No. 15 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft Wednesday night.
Ware, a 7-foot center, won back-to-back state championships at North Little Rock High School and made the McDonald’s All American team his senior year.
This is the second consecutive year a North Little Rock High School graduate was drafted in the first round. Nick Smith Jr., who played his senior season alongside Ware at North Little Rock, was drafted No. 27 by the Charlotte Hornets last year after playing one year at Arkansas under Eric Musselman.
Ware averaged 6.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game as a freshman at Oregon. His stats improved significantly after transferring to Indiana for his sophomore year, where he averaged 15.9 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks a game. He led the Hoosiers in points per game, rebounds per game, blocks per game and field goal percentage. He also made 17 3-pointers on 40 attempts, improving his average from 27.3% his freshman year to 42.5% last year. He was second in the Big Ten conference in double-doubles and made the Big Ten All-Defensive Team.
ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said during the broadcast that Ware played harder last year at Indiana than he did his freshman year at Oregon. “The question about him when he was at Oregon was his motor and his motor revved really high this past season at Indiana,” Bilas said.
And in case you missed our report yesterday, Chipotle also partnered with Ware to “fuel his pre-draft journey.”
For a limited time the Kel’el Ware Bowl will be available to order online or on Chipotle’s mobile app. The bowl ($9.85) features both chicken al pastor and steak with white rice, sour cream, cheese and lettuce. Sounds like a solid order. But it’s worth noting that in a promotional video posted to his Instagram page, Ware said that his Chipotle order is all of the ingredients listed above but in burrito form. He’s also training for the NBA, and most of us are not. Plus, the bowl is only 610 calories, which looks like a more responsible choice for those of us summering in our office cubicles.
Also worth noting: Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari was in attendance at Barclays Center in Brooklyn Wednesday night to see his former Kentucky freshmen Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham, who were drafted No. 3 and No. 8 respectively.