With March Madness coming to a close, the college basketball world has turned its attention to the 2021 NBA draft, which will include Auburn basketball’s Sharife Cooper. The standout freshman played only 12 games of the 2020-21 season due to NCAA eligibility issues that kept him from playing the first half of the season and an ankle sprain that kept him from playing at the very end.
Fans spent the entirety of the season expecting Cooper to be Auburn basketball’s second one-and-done, but it wasn’t made official until this month when he announced he’d be hiring an agent and forgoing his option to return to school.
Though Cooper has been strongly connected with the Knicks in the past, fellow FanSided site Hardwood Houdini’s Andrew Hughes (who you may recognize from the Tiger beat) thinks that Cooper belongs with the Celtics’ second unit. Auburn basketball’s standout freshman was known for his creative playmaking and ability to get the ball into the hands of an open shooter.
According to Hardwood Houdini, the Celtics’ issue is their lack of facilitation. They have the makings of a championship team, but they need a pass-first player, and that’s exactly what Sharife Cooper could be:
"A pass-first player is what the Boston Celtics roster needs and his assist-per-game total trailed only Jalen Moore out of Oakland. Topping eight assists is far more impressive in the SEC than the Horizon League, though."
Cooper boasted impressive stats for just a 12 game sample, and according to Yahoo Sports, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz, Cooper could be selected in the first round as the 19th pick to the Celtics. After averaging 20.2 points, 8.1 assists, and 4.3 rebounds, Cooper would be Auburn basketball’s third first-round draft pick in as many years, following Chuma Okeke to the Orlando Magic in 2019 and Isaac Okoro to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020.