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USA Today
01-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Former UNC basketball star expected to sign new NBA contract
Will this former UNC standout turn himself into an NBA starter? The 2020-2021 college basketball season was a mixed bag for the North Carolina Tar Heels. They returned to the NCAA Tournament for a 10th-consecutive season, a year after COVID-19 cancelled 2020's Big Dance, but were blown out (85-62) by Wisconsin. UNC welcomed one of its deepest, most-talented recruiting classes to Chapel Hill ahead of its 2020-2021 campaign, headlined by 5-stars Caleb Love and Walker Kessler. The greatest Tar Heel from that recruiting class ended up being RJ Davis, an all-time program great who ended up winning 2024 ACC Player of the Year Honors – and now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. One player not talked about enough from that 20'-21' roster: former 5-star recruit Day'Ron Sharpe, now a member of the Brooklyn Nets. Enter his fifth NBA season and with his rookie contract now expired, Sharpe is planning a return to Brooklyn, announcing his intention to sign a new deal on Monday afternoon. According to ESPN Senior Insider Shams Charania, Sharpe's deal will be worth two years and $12 million dollars. He'll stay with former Tar Heel Drake Powell, the latter of whom the Nets selected 22nd overall in last week's NBA Draft. Sharpe is largely a reserve, starting just 14 of his 191 NBA appearances for the Nets, but is watching his production increase each season. Sharpe averaged career highs of 7.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks per game during Brooklyn's 2024-2025 campaign, which included five double-doubles, highlighted by a 25-point, 15-rebound performance against the eventual NBA Champion Oklahoma City Thunder in February. Though Sharpe was a rare one-and-done at North Carolina, he made a name for himself as an offensive rebound machine, leading the country in offensive rebound percentage (.183) and the ACC in offensive rebounds per game (3.4). Sharpe finished second to Florida State's Scottie Barnes, now a member of the Toronto Raptors, in 2021 ACC Rookie and Sixth Man of the Year Voting. Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
USA Today
04-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
RJ Davis leads collegiate athletes in this category
RJ Davis leads collegiate athletes in this category RJ Davis is a winner both on and off the basketball court. There are few Tar Heels I'll have a greater appreciation for than RJ Davis, who recently completed his fifth and final year in Carolina Blue. Davis, a shooting guard from White Plains, New York, exemplifies what it means to put a UNC jersey on. Davis helped lead North Carolina to the 2022 National Championship game as just a sophomore, stayed in Chapel Hill after a turbulent 2023-2024 campaign, then earned ACC Player of the Year Honors in the 2024-2025 season – along with leading the Tar Heels to a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. What you might not know about RJ, though, is he's also faring quite well in the NIL department. According to ESPN's Michelle Steele, RJ leads all collegiate athletes – in the past year – with 25 NIL deals. This is four more than the second-place earner, Arizona punter TJ Cash Peterman, and USC women's basketball star JuJu Watkins (20). If you go take a look at RJ's Instagram page, his two most recent NIL deals appear to be with Hulu and Call of Duty. Smart move by RJ, because who doesn't like watching TV and/or playing video games? With UNC's season recently ending against Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 64, you might be wondering what RJ's next steps in his basketball career are. There are no updates as of April 3, but I'm willing to bet RJ makes an NBA Summer League team – at a minimum. We might be a little biased, but RJ is good enough to play NBA basketball. He has an ACC Player of the Year award under his belt, can drive to the rim and finish, make free throws at a high clip and knock down threes consistently, which is most of today's NBA game. Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
