01-07-2025
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.
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