An Elite NBA Pipeline For Decades, UNC Aims For Revival Under Davis
By David Glenn
When legendary UNC basketball coach Dean Smith led the Tar Heels to the NCAA championship in 1982, his top three players were James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Michael Jordan. Worthy became the #1 overall pick in the 1982 National Basketball Association draft. Two years later, Jordan (#3) and Perkins (#4) also ranked among the first handful of selections.
Similarly, when legendary UNC coach Roy Williams led the Tar Heels to the NCAA title in 2009, three of his starters (Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington) went on to become first-round NBA picks. Amazingly, two of that team’s backups (Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller) also emerged as first-round selections, and senior guard Danny Green — who became a second-rounder — went on to play 15 NBA seasons and collect three championship rings at that level.
In more recent years, though, UNC has fallen from that sort of long-standing, prominent perch in the NBA universe.
In fact, the 2025-26 NBA regular season recently started (Tuesday night) with only 11 UNC products on NBA rosters, a relatively low number by Carolina’s historical standards.
That number includes players who finished their college career elsewhere, such as Walker Kessler (Auburn) and Caleb Love (Arizona). Kessler played only one season (2020-21) as a little-used reserve with the Tar Heels before developing into a first-round draft pick during his single season with the Tigers. Love played three seasons (2020-21 through 2022-23) at Carolina, competed for the Wildcats over the past two campaigns, then secured a two-way contract (meaning he has an NBA roster spot but likely will play in the G League for much of his rookie season) with the Portland Trail Blazers as an undrafted free agent.
In another obvious “sign of the times,” the program’s revised NBA number also includes short-term incoming Carolina transfers such as Harrison Ingram (2023-24) and Pete Nance (2022-23). Each spent only a single season in Chapel Hill, after transferring to UNC from Stanford and Northwestern, respectively.
Among UNC’s 11 season-opening NBA players, seven were Williams signees (Cole Anthony, Harrison Barnes, Tony Bradley, Cameron Johnson, Kessler, Day’Ron Sharpe and Coby White), while just four were Hubert Davis signees (Ingram, Love, Nance, Drake Powell).
UNC Products In NBA (2025-26 Opening-Night Rosters)
Player, Position, Team (NBA Season)
Cole Anthony, G, Milwaukee Bucks (sixth)
Harrison Barnes, F, San Antonio Spurs (14th)
Tony Bradley, C/F, Indiana Pacers (eighth)
Harrison Ingram*, F, San Antonio Spurs (second)
Cameron Johnson*, F, Denver Nuggets (seventh)
Walker Kessler*, C, Utah Jazz (fourth)
Caleb Love*, G, Portland Trail Blazers (first)
Pete Nance*, F, Milwaukee Bucks (third)
Drake Powell, G/F, Brooklyn Nets (first)
Day’Ron Sharpe, C, Brooklyn Nets (fifth)
Coby White, G, Chicago Bulls (seventh)
*—played for multiple colleges
For perspective, consider that Duke had 24 of its former players on opening-night NBA rosters this year. UNC (11) ranked second among the 18 Atlantic Coast Conference programs in that category, followed by Virginia (seven), Florida State (six) and Stanford (six).
The Blue Devils’ massive contingent is led by Boston forward Jayson Tatum, a ninth-year veteran and six-time NBA All-Star, and Dallas point guard Kyrie Irving, a 15th-year veteran and nine-time NBA All-Star.
Each player already has been an NBA champion — Tatum in 2024 with the Celtics, Irving in 2016 with Cleveland. Tatum, who is recovering from an Achilles tendon tear he suffered in May, isn’t expected to play again until after the calendar turns to 2026.
Duke’s crew now also includes five NBA rookies: first-round draft picks Cooper Flagg (first/Dallas), Kon Knueppel (fourth/Charlotte) and Khaman Maluach (10th/Phoenix), plus second-round selections Sion James (33rd/Charlotte) and Tyrese Proctor (49th/Cleveland).
UNC’s Davis, a beloved Carolina alumni now in his fifth season as the Tar Heels’ head coach, knows the NBA extremely well. He played in the world’s best hoops league for 12 seasons, logging 734 games and 156 starts, averaging more than eight points per game and shooting a sensational 44 percent from 3-point range for his career.
However, as a head coach, Davis hasn’t yet sent a high-impact player to The League.
UNC men’s basketball head coach Hubert Davis looks on during a college basketball game against Georgia Tech in Jan. 2024, in Atlanta. (Photo via AP Photo/Alex Slitz.)
Ingram has been on a two-way contract, and he played only five NBA games last season. Nance played in only 21 NBA contests over the past two years. Love isn’t expected to be more than a fringe NBA player, at best. Perhaps Powell, Brooklyn’s first-round pick (22nd overall) this summer, eventually will develop into something more than a role player at the pro level.
That underwhelming trend probably will have to change if Davis is going to turn the Tar Heels into the consistent national contenders they were under Smith, Bill Guthridge and Williams, a three-time (2005, 2009, 2017) national champion.
On this year’s Carolina team, which will begin its regular season Nov. 3 with a home game against Central Arkansas, the only player projected as a likely first-round NBA draft pick is freshman Caleb Wilson. The Tar Heels have had only one of those (Powell) since Sharpe in 2021.
A 6-foot-10, 215-pound forward from Atlanta, Wilson led Holy Innocents Episcopal School to Georgia’s private-school state championship last season. A consensus top-10 high school senior nationally, he also played in the McDonald’s All-American Game and the Jordan Brand Classic while becoming a dean’s list student and posting a 3.8 GPA.
“It’s been so much fun coaching Caleb,” Davis said on a recent episode of the David Glenn Show. “Obviously, he’s extremely talented. He’s somebody, with that talent, that has a burning desire for the team and the program to be successful. He’s unpacked his bags; both feet are in. He’s such a great teammate. He’s got a charismatic personality that just lights up the locker room, lights up the court, every time he steps in a room.
“I’m really excited about the season he’s going to have in his freshman year,” he concluded.
In the ACC this season, at this very early stage, the players considered most likely to become 2026 first-round NBA selections are Duke freshman forward Cameron Boozer, Louisville freshman point guard Mikel Brown Jr. and UNC’s Wilson, although others certainly could join that list over the next six months.
In the meantime, it’s up to the UNC coaching staff to help Wilson and some of his teammates chase their NBA dreams — and contribute with a team-first mindset — while also continuing to recruit the Tar Heels’ next generation of potential NBA superstars.
That combination is exactly how Smith once turned Carolina basketball into one of the greatest-ever mixtures of future NBA talent and consistent collegiate success. Under much different rules, and in a much different era, it’s up to Davis to do the same.
David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.
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