Height: 6 Feet 3 Inches
Weight: 195 Pounds
Wingspan: 6 Feet 4 Inches
League: NCAA
Draft Age: 21.73
Draft Projection: Late First Round
After three seasons with the Baylor Bears, Jared Butler is finally set to play NBA basketball. Butler will leave Baylor as a National Champion, a Consensus All-American, and an NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player. Though he probably would have been selected in the 2020 NBA Draft, if he were to have declared, he came away with some serious hardware during his junior year and boosted his stock from a second-round pick to a first.
Offensively speaking, Butler has always been a great perimeter shooter, but he struggled to put the rest of his game together. However, after a breakthrough 2020-2021 season, Butler proved himself able to facilitate a very successful college offense and become more effective as an inside scorer without compromising his other strengths.
Another major factor in his success as a collegiate basketball player was his lockdown perimeter defense. Butler has been a strong defender since day one in Waco, and this coupled with his perimeter shooting always kept him on NBA radars. However, with a more complete game and even more refined defense and shooting, teams should love his upside as a modern two-way guard, especially given his ability to play without the basketball.
As a three-year NCAA veteran, he does not have the ceiling that some of the younger guards in this class do, but he appears to be a safe bet to be a very solid NBA role player. In a reserve role, Butler should be able to contribute in the NBA as a rookie, as well.