Thursday night's NBA Draft was quite the testimonial for
Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) as the high school basketball powerhouse became the first team in history to produce four first round picks in the same draft class.
The four first round selections from the 2019-20 Montverde Academy team surpasses 1981-82 Dunbar (Baltimore, Md.) and 1988-89 St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.), which both produced three first round picks. Muggsy Bogues, Reggie Lewis and Reggie Williams of Dunbar were all drafted in 1987 while Terry Dehere, Bobby Hurley and Rodrick Rhodes were picked from the legendary St. Anthony team.
Here's a look at the players from Montverde Academy's 2019-20 national championship team that could hear their names called Thursday:
Day'Ron Sharpe is one of four players from the 2019-20 Montverde Academy hoping to be taken in the first round of Thursday's NBA Draft.
Photo by David Rosenblum
• Point guard
Cade Cunningham was the first player to come off the board first to the Detroit Pistons after averaging 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds
and 3.5 assists to earn Associated Press All-American first team and Big 12 Freshman of the Year honors. The 6-foot-8 Cunningham was the
2019-20 MaxPreps National Basketball Player of the Year after putting up 13.9 points, 6.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds per contest as a Montverde
senior.
•
Scottie Barnes was selected No. 4 by the Toronto Raptors. The 6-foot-9 wing averaged
10.3 points, 4.1 assists and 4.0 rebounds off the bench to help guide Florida State to the Sweet 16. Barnes was a first team MaxPreps All-American in 2019-20, chipping in 11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per outing.
•
Moses Moody went to the Golden State Warriors at No. 11. Last season, the 6-6 guard poured in 16.8 points and
5.8 rebounds per night to lead Arkansas to its first Elite 8 appearance since 1995. Moody was a MaxPreps All-American
selection in 2019-20, going for 10.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per game for
the Eagles.
•
Day'Ron Sharpe was selected with the 29th pick by the Phoenix Suns, but had his rights traded to the Brooklyn Nets. As a freshman at North Carolina, the 6-11 center averaged 9.8 points and 7.8
rebounds per game in just under 20 minutes per game coming off the bench. Sharpe earned fifth team
MaxPreps All-American honors as a senior, shooting 67 percent from the
field while averaging 12.1 points and adding 7.3 rebounds.
Incredibly, that foursome was joined by three other former Eagles in 2017 graduate Sandro Mamukelashvili who was selected No. 54 overall by the Indiana Pacers, 2018 graduate Filip Petrusev who had his draft rights traded to the Philadelphia 76ers after coming off the board at No. 50 overall and 2018 graduate Balsa Koprivica who had his draft rights traded to the Detroit Pistons after being selected No. 57 overall.
Montverde head coach Kevin Boyle is accustomed to attracting NBA-caliber talent to his teams as Cunningham marks his third No. 1 overall selection, joining Kyrie Irving (2011) and Ben Simmons (2016). Boyle has also coached a pair of No. 2 overall selections — D'Angelo Russell (2015) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (2012) — and a pair of No. 3 overall selections in Joel Embiid (2014) and R.J. Barrett (2019).
Kevin Boyle encourages his team from the sideline during the 2019 City of Palms Classic.
Photo by Jim Redman
