Three weeks ago, Syracuse standout Judah Mintz entered his name into the NBA Draft. Thankfully, he decided to maintain his college eligibility. He will have until June 12 to make a final decision as to whether he will stay in the draft or return to school.

While it makes sense for Mintz to explore the draft waters, it makes sense for him to return to school for one more year. Bringing him back would be a huge move for Adrian Autry in his first season as Syracuse’s head coach. However, I am not being totally selfish in wanting him back. I truly believe that Mintz will be a lottery pick in 2024.

It is hard to imagine where Syracuse men’s basketball would have been without Mintz this past season. The 6’3” freshman was a revelation for the Orange offense with his ability to create his own shot, set up his teammates and generate turnovers. Mintz finished fifth in the ACC in assists per game and led the conference in steals per game, all while pouring in 16.7 points per game.

If you dig a little deeper though, you can see why the NBA will be interested in Mintz. He got to the line at will, attempting the third-most free throws in the conference and ranking top 10 in usage rating. Bottom line, Mintz is clearly a gamer. He showed no hesitation to take the lead on offense as a freshman and he has shown a knack for making big plays with the ball in his hands.

Not to mention, there are not many freshmen guards that have success playing for Jim Boeheim. Jalen Carey, Kadary Richmond, Frank Howard, Kaleb Joseph and many more all lived in the dog house for much of their freshman season under the Syracuse legend. I don’t know if any of them were as talented as Mintz, but the point still stands.

That being said, Mintz is not really drawing much draft love this year. He is typically a mid-second-round selection in mocks, if he is included at all. It is easy to understand why. There are some clear areas for growth for Mintz before he makes the jump to the next level. His 3-point shooting is nowhere near NBA caliber at the moment. He shot just north of 30 percent from behind the arc over the course of the season.

While that is a really tough number for NBA teams to overlook, Mintz’s 3-point percentage was up to 33.3 percent in conference play. That is notable progress. Another season of improvement—let’s say he shoots over 35 percent—and I think he will put to bed concerns about his shooting ability. It might not be the strong point of his game, but I think he will get it to a point where teams no longer look at it as a weakness.

Perhaps the most important element within all of this talk about Mintz’s future is the outlook for the 2024 NBA Draft. Mintz already has some fans for the 2024 draft cycle. ESPN’s Jonathan Givony projected him going 23rd overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder in his latest mock, published back in February.

On top of that, Mintz could be well-positioned to climb even higher. Givony had this to say in his mock: “NBA team representatives say they've been disappointed with what they've seen thus far from the elite prospects in this year's high school senior class, a group that historically makes up the backbone of the 2024 draft lottery. High school recruiting analysts widely disagree on who the top prospects in the class are, mostly because they don't view any of them as sure-fire, elite NBA prospects you'd expect to see atop their rankings.”

With so much uncertainty and pessimism surrounding the current high school senior class, that opens the door for Mintz to climb in draft circles. This is simply a matter of reading the playing field. The 2023 draft class is loaded, while the 2024 draft class is decidedly less so.

It is incredibly difficult to predict these things so far out, but it is hard to imagine Mintz would not be able to improve his stock next season. Mintz will be surrounded by shooters once again, with Benny Williams, Chris Bell and Justin Taylor all slated to return as well. He will also have a new backcourt mate with Notre Dame transfer and former 5-star recruit JJ Starling coming home to Central New York.

I’m not projecting any ACC Championships or deep NCAA tournament runs right now, but this Orange squad should be well positioned to build off a 17-15 season. If SU can push themselves more into the national conversation with Mintz leading the way, he is going to boost his draft stock in a meaningful manner.

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