Carlton ‘Bub’ Carrington’s 2024 NBA Draft rise a surprise to even himself

Carlton “Bub” Carrington didn’t hesitate. 

He had a schedule mapped out for his future, and this wasn’t it. 

“The plan I created for myself was to be at Pittsburgh for two to three years,” the Pittsburgh one-and-done guard said ahead of Wednesday night’s NBA draft. “That was the plan I gave for myself. I was thinking more from a realistic standpoint.” 

The 6-foot-4 Carrington wasn’t on draft boards ahead of his freshman season. He wasn’t included in mocks.

A four-star prospect ranked just inside the top 100, he expected it to take time before he made the jump to the league. 

It happened so much faster than anyone expected. Carrington had a sensational one year at Pittsburgh — averaging 13.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and shooting 41.2 percent from the field. It didn’t hit him until the Panthers’ season was over that his time in college was coming to an end. 

“It felt, I don’t want to say easy, but I felt like I was just flowing out there and kind of felt unstoppable in a way,” he said. “I felt like I could be above [college].” 

Carrington, projected to go anywhere from the late teens to the top 10, is a unique prospect in this draft, in that his No. 1 sport growing up wasn’t basketball. He played football and baseball. The gridiron was his first love. He was a quarterback.

But by the 10th grade, he began to trend toward the hardwood. 

“I became tall,” Carrington joked. “I didn’t like getting hit anymore.” 

Basketball was in his blood. Former NBA player Rudy Gay is his cousin. Carrington is also close to Carmelo Anthony, a fellow Baltimore native.

Carrington played for his AAU team, Team Melo, and Anthony has become a mentor to him. 

“He tries to feed me little ins and outs of the game that he learned himself throughout the years,” said Carrington, who had individual workouts with the Thunder, Kings, Jazz, Spurs, Magic and Heat. “The one thing that he told me that stuck with me was to strive to be a professional. You got to do the little things as if they were big things, and you got to do them every day.” 

That mentality has taken him pretty far.

At this time last year, Carrington was just starting college workouts. Now, he’s on the doorstep of being an NBA first-round pick. 

“It’s exciting,” he said. “You can imagine, it’s a good feeling. With this whole process, traveling, working out and all that stuff, you don’t really have time to wait down and think about it. 

“I don’t think it’s hit me yet. It might hit me at the wrong time [during the draft]. I don’t think I’ve had that moment yet.”