At 11:22 p.m. on June 23, about a half hour later than many expected, Yahoo Sports NBA analyst Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted the Los Angeles Clippers selected former Maryland center Diamond Stone with the 40th pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
He wasn’t a first-round pick, but Stone was the first of four former Terps to agree on a deal with an NBA team. Seven picks after Stone, the Orlando Magic drafted forward Jake Layman before trading him to the Portland Trailblazers.
Neither forward Robert Carter Jr. nor guard Rasheed Sulaimon heard their named called that night, but both players reached summer league deals shortly after the draft.
“I’m excited because I’ll be surrounded by veterans that will take me under their wings,” Stone said in a release. “I can learn the ropes in an organization that’s been very successful.”
Wojnarowski tweeted earlier in the night the Clippers traded the 33rd pick to the New Orleans Pelicans and received the 39th and 40th picks in return. Moments later, they selected Stone, who averaged 12.5 points and 5.4 rebounds during his only season in College Park.
Stone, ranked No. 6 in ESPN’s top 100 rankings in 2015, expected to go higher.
“I probably have the biggest chip of the draft,” Stone told The Baltimore Sun. “I’m hungry. Every big [man] picked in front of me, it’s just like when I see them, it’s going to be war. I’ve just got to play my hardest every game and show these people why it was a mistake to sleep on me.”
Layman, who stayed at Maryland all four years, was set to join Stone in the Orlando Summer League. That was until the Magic dealt Layman to the Trailblazers for $1.2 million and a second-round pick in 2019.
“Staying for my senior really helped me,” said Layman, who developed into an All-Conference player the second half of his career. “I was able to get my degree [American Studies], which was very important to me and my family. I was able to elevate my game, which put me in the position to get drafted.”
The pair will play in different summer leagues for different teams, but they’ll always be linked as the two players in Maryland’s 2016 draft class.
It marks the first time since 2002 that the Terps had more than one player drafted. Nearly three months after Maryland won its lone national title that year, forward Chris Wilcox and guard Juan Dixon were both first-round picks.
Many pundits expected Carter to be the Terps’ third player drafted, and the Georgia Tech transfer actually had two opportunities to hear his name called in the second round. Carter’s agent, Todd Ramasar, told The Baltimore Sun the Atlanta Hawks and Denver Nuggets would have selected Carter at No. 44 and No. 53, respectively, if he agreed to go to Europe for development purposes.
He declined both offers, instead deciding to sign a summer league deal with the Golden State Warriors.
Media outlets projected Sulaimon to go undrafted, but the 6-foot-4 wing still has an opportunity to make an NBA roster when he competes with the Chicago Bulls in the Las Vegas Summer League from July 8–18.
The Duke transfer will play alongside former Terps forward Dez Wells, who competed with the Oklahoma City Blue in the D-League last season after going undrafted in 2015.
All four players who joined NBA teams started for Maryland this past season, helping the Terps earn their second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and first Sweet 16 appearance since 2003.
So as guard Melo Trimble, the team’s lone returning starter, prepares for his junior season, his former teammates will embark on the next phase of their basketball careers.
