In the days leading up to Thursday’s NBA draft, the trajectory of former UCLA star Jaime Jaquez Jr.’s stock appeared to only improve. It even came with a coveted invite to the green room at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, allowing him to be in attendance with the rest of the top prospects such as inevitable No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama.
Waiting for his name to be called alongside his family, Jaquez Jr. watched four years of steady improvement culminate into a lifelong dream when the Miami Heat selected him in the first round with the 18th overall pick.
During his introductory NBA teleconference, Jaquez Jr. said he admired Heat star Jimmy Butler, who helped lead Miami to the NBA Finals this past season.
“I think it’s his ultimate toughness,” Jaquez Jr. said. “He’s a competitor. And that’s what I try to be every single day. He elevates his team. He just knows how to play. He always tries to make the right play. I try to emulate that.
“I think I’d be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t have a sense that I was going to go to Miami. I think I did really well in the workout. I think I shot the ball well, played great defense. I showed them what I was all about.”
He is the 43rd first-round draft pick in UCLA history, including the program’s 123rd all-time selection, and is the highest pick since TJ Leaf was taken 18th overall by the Indiana Pacers in 2017.
Later in the second round, Amari Bailey (41st overall to the Charlotte Hornets) and Jaylen Clark (53rd overall to the Minnesota Timberwolves) brought the all-time total number of UCLA draft picks to 125. It is the sixth time at least three Bruins have been selected in the same draft since the league moved to a two-round format in 1989.
Chances of becoming a first-round pick looked up throughout the week, with mock drafts from CBS, ESPN and The Athletic linking Jaquez Jr. firmly in the middle of the round in the 17-19 range.
The No. 18 selection comes with a guaranteed three-year contract slotted on the rookie salary scale at $3.5 million next season.
Jaquez Jr., plagued by nagging ankle injuries as a junior, bounced back with his best college season en route to Pac-12 Conference player of the year honors this past season.
The 6-foot-7 wing averaged team highs of 17.8 points and 8.2 rebounds to go with 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals while starting all 37 games.
Jaquez Jr. was a consensus second-team All-American and named the Lute Olson national player of the year by CollegeInsider.com.
The Camarillo, Calif., native increased his scoring average each season and helped the Bruins return to national relevance, including a trip to the Final Four in 2021.
“The Jaime Jaquez story is what college basketball is all about,” UCLA head coach Mick Cronin said in a statement. “You’re talking about a young man who led his team for four years, went to the Final Four as a sophomore and won the Pac-12 regular-season title as a senior. He led his teams to a 9-3 record in the NCAA Tournament and won an array of awards as a senior, including one national player of the year award. Plain and simple, Jaime is a winner. Words can’t describe how proud the entire UCLA community is of Jaime. We can’t wait to watch him thrive with the Miami Heat.”
On UCLA’s all-time list, Jaquez Jr. finished his career ranked eighth in scoring (1,802 points), eighth in steals (178), ninth in minutes played (1,229), ninth in games played (134) and 11th in rebounds (842). He is just one of nine players in program history to rank among the top 15 in both scoring and rebounding.
