Former Kansas wing Johnny Furphy was acquired by the Indiana Pacers with the No. 35 pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft on Thursday afternoon, bringing his slide to an end after he was not chosen on Wednesday.
“Last night was a very tough and humbling night for Johnny,” KU head coach Bill Self said in a press release. “The anticipation of being in the Green Room and the assurance that he and his representation had been told that he would be drafted didn’t turn out that way. It was a tough night and I thought Johnny handled it very maturely and very well, but it was not easy for he or his family.”
Furphy was officially selected by the San Antonio Spurs and then immediately traded to the Pacers, who had been slated to pick only one spot later. Indiana sent San Antonio cash considerations in order to move up, according to multiple reports.
“For him to come back, get drafted and find out he is traded to the Pacers is great,” Self added. “It’s an up and coming franchise. They’ve got really good players. I spoke with them (the Pacers) this morning and they were very excited about Johnny. They ended up trading up a pick to get him.”
Furphy, a freshman from Melbourne, Australia, averaged 9.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in his lone season with the Jayhawks.
Neither the Spurs nor Pacers had picked a Jayhawk in the draft since the 1980s, according to RealGM. The most prominent KU products to play for the Pacers in recent years are Scot Pollard (2003-06) and Brandon Rush (2008-11).
The Pacers’ president, Kevin Pritchard, was a member of KU’s 1988 national-title team. Indiana did not make a selection in the first round, so Furphy was its first pick.
The Pacers went 47-35 during the 2023-24 season and reached the Eastern Conference Finals before falling in a sweep to the eventual champion Boston Celtics.
McCullar to New York
Kevin McCullar Jr. came off the board with the draft’s third-to-last pick, at No. 56. He went to the New York Knicks with a pick that had previously belonged to the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets.
A strong defender throughout his career, McCullar became more of a primary offensive option during his final year with the Jayhawks, which was his sixth season of college basketball overall. He averaged a career-high 18.6 points per game to go along with six rebounds and 4.2 assists.
However, McCullar suffered a bone bruise to his knee early in KU’s conference schedule that diminished his offensive efficiency and kept him out of numerous games, including the Big 12 Conference and NCAA tournaments. Rehab for the knee injury also impeded his pre-draft process. Self said in the release that he “had a setback after the season as well.”
“Kevin is a first-round player and I think anybody that saw him healthy this year would agree to that,” Self said. “Kevin will play in the league for a long time and the Knicks got one of the toughest players we have had in our program. We are all excited that Kevin heard his (name) called. He will be a great fit to a playoff team and such a storied franchise.”
In the end, the Knicks added him to a class including picks Pacôme Dadiet (France), Tyler Kolek (Marquette) and Ariel Hukporti (Germany).
The last Jayhawk drafted by New York was Eric Chenowith in 2001, a fellow second-round pick. Other former KU players who went on to play for the Knicks include Cole Aldrich, Marcus Morris, Svi Mykhailiuk and Wayne Selden.
Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. is pictured during Media Day on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023 at Allen Fieldhouse. Photo by Nick Krug
AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson
