Clemson’s PJ Hall makes NBA decision
Clemson men’s basketball star PJ Hall is “chasing his dream” and entering the 2024 NBA Draft after a memorable four-year run with the Tigers, he wrote.
Hall, a senior center and key fixture of Clemson’s 2024 Elite Eight run, announced Friday morning on his social media pages that he’s entering his name in the NBA Draft. Although he did not explicitly say in his post that he’ll remain in the draft no matter what, Hall (who has a fifth COVID year of eligibility remaining) wrote that Clemson will “always be home” and strongly intimated his Tigers career was over.
Hall, 22, has directly told family members he’s headed to the NBA and won’t return to Clemson, a source familiar with his thinking told The State. Hall has also signed with an agent, another sign he’s headed to the pros.
“Four years ago I made what I now know to be one of the best decisions of my life: To be a Clemson Tiger,” Hall said in his post. “Over these last four years, God blessed me with such an incredible school, team, coaching staff and fan base.”
He shouted out his past teammates and coaches for helping him “propel me to where I stand today. ... I couldn’t be more proud of what we accomplished together.”
“Four years I poured absolutely everything I had into Clemson,” Hall said. “I wouldn’t change one thing about my career.”
Hall, who was third team All ACC in 2023 and first team All ACC this season, is considered a second round pick in June’s draft. His name was included on a list of NBA draft entrants earlier this month. Per NCAA guidance, players have until May 29 to withdraw their name from the NBA Draft pool and return to college.
Clemson veteran guard Chase Hunter has also declared for the draft while explicitly mentioning in his announcement that he’s maintaining his college eligibility and chance to return to Clemson for a sixth season.
Hall (6-foot-10.5, 238 pounds) averaged a career-high 18.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game in 2023-24 as the Tigers and coach Brad Brownell reached their second ever Elite Eight and first since 1980. An every-game starter for Clemson (24-12), Hall was named to the All West Regional team and finished his career as the No. 7 scorer in Tigers basketball history (1,702 points).
The former four-star 2020 recruit from Dorman High School in nearby Spartanburg, was a developmental success story as he averaged 10 minutes and 3.5 points per game as a freshman before evolving into one of the ACC’s most productive and well conditioned post players. He’s also a decent 3-point shooter (32.6% for his career on 2.8 attempts per game), and that part of his game could boost his draft stock this summer.
Recent mock drafts have Hall going in the second round at No. 46 overall to the San Antonio Spurs (Bleacher Report), No. 37 to the Minnesota Timberwolves (nbadraft.net) and No. 54 overall to the Golden State Warriors (The Ringer).
This story was originally published May 3, 2024 at 10:02 AM.
