Nets select Brooklyn-born Isaiah Whitehead in NBA Draft
Will become first Brooklynite to play for Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets swapped second round picks with the Utah Jazz at Thursday’s NBA Draft at the Barclays Center, sending cash to the Jazz to move up from 55 to 42. The Jazz picked Brooklyn native Isaiah Whitehead of Seton Hall for the Nets and Brooklyn selected North Carolina guard Marcus Paige for Utah.
Whitehead played two years at Seton Hall, most recently leading the Pirates to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006. The Brooklyn native averaged 18.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 32.3 minutes per game in 34 games (33 starts) as a sophomore, earning unanimous All-Big East First Team honors and an Associated Press All-America honorable mention. He was also named the 2016 Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player after averaging 23.3 points and 5.7 assists in the Big East Tournament, where the Pirates claimed their first conference tournament title since 1993. As a freshman, Whitehead averaged 12.0 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 27.8 minutes per game in 22 games (19 starts) en route to Big East All-Rookie Team honors. A product of Abraham Lincoln High School and Coney Island, Whitehead was a McDonald’s All American and named Mr. New York Basketball by the state’s Basketball Coaches Association in 2014.
“He fits what we want to be,” Nets General Manager Sean Marks said. “For us he embodies what Brooklyn grit is all about.”