Nae’Qwan Tomlin came closer to leaving Kansas State for NBA Draft than many realize
When Nae’Qwan Tomlin declared for the NBA Draft as an early entrant last spring, it was widely assumed that he would return to Kansas State as a senior.
The 6-foot-10 forward from Harlem, New York, seemed like a perfect candidate to learn from scrimmages against other NBA hopefuls, gain valuable feedback from professional scouts and then return to college as an improved player. All the while, he would never seriously flirt with the idea of staying in the draft, right?
Turns out, he gave it some thought.
After he got done working out with the San Antonio Spurs, Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz, Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trailblazers he felt like he was ready to make the jump.
“I definitely did, because a lot of my workouts were pretty good,” Tomlin said. “So that was definitely a thought. But I just felt like one more year (of college) wouldn’t hurt, especially because I’m new to this whole basketball thing.”
Indeed, Tomlin took an unusual path to college basketball stardom. He didn’t start playing organized basketball until after he graduated from high school and then spent three years learning the game in junior college before he caught on with the Wildcats and averaged 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds last season.
His long-term upside, combined with his size and athleticism, make him an intriguing NBA prospect. But he decided to put his pro career on hold to make a short-term impact at K-State next year.
Now that Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson have moved on, Tomlin is the new alpha dog in Jerome Tang’s locker room. That much is already obvious.
“He has a different confidence about him,” Tang said, “because he is so close to doing what he wants to do, but it’s also so far away. He has got to think about doing the right thing every day, gaining strength and weight. That is going to be really important for him.”
NBA scouts shared two main pieces of advice with Tomlin as he works to help K-State build on a 26-win campaign and push himself toward a professional career. First and foremost, they told him to add muscle to his frame so he can better fight for rebounds and spend more time at center than stretch forward or wing. Secondly, they urged him to improve his outside shooting.
Tomlin weighed 210 pounds and made 27.5% of his 3-pointers last season. But he was virtually unstoppable when he found mismatches in the paint and heated up from the perimeter.
He wants to bulk up to 225 and shoot closer to 40% from 3 so those games start happening more often.
“The NBA Draft process was really good for me,” Tomlin said. “I did it with the intention of coming back, but I really just wanted to get some feedback and see where I was at with other guys who I knew were going to be staying in the draft. That was good for me, getting feedback from teams that knew what I needed to work on, what I needed to improve on for this next upcoming year.”
Interestingly, no one told him he needed to prove he could score 40 points in a game.
More than anything, he learned he can help his future NBA stock by helping K-State make another NCAA Tournament run.
“The feedback wasn’t, ‘Hey, you need to score more.’ It wasn’t anything like that,” Tomlin said. “I definitely just want to make sure I’m still here being a team player even though I might be the guy now. I still want to come here and play team basketball and help my team win.”
This story was originally published August 8, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Nae’Qwan Tomlin came closer to leaving Kansas State for NBA Draft than many realize."