FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas forward Daniel Gafford was selected by Chicago Bulls in the second round (38th pick overall) in the 2019 National Basketball Association Draft Thursday night.
Gafford becomes the 38th NBA draft pick and 19th selected within the first two rounds. As the overall 38th pick, Gafford is the 16th-highest (tied) selection by a Razorback. The last Razorback drafted was Bobby Portis, a first-round pick of the Chicago Bulls in 2015. The last Razorback selected in the second round was Patrick Beverley, who went as the 42nd overall pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009. Gafford is the fourth Razorback to be drafted by the Bulls, joining Portis, Sonny Weems (2008) and Martin Terry (1973).
Gafford was named honorable mention All-America last season and was just the sixth Razorback to be selected first team All-SEC by both the coaches and media in the same season. In addition, the El Dorado native was named to the 2019 Lefty Driesell Defensive All-America team while being just the second Razorback to be named first team All-SEC and voted to the SEC All-Defensive team.
Gafford finished his two-year career at Arkansas with a career shooting percentage of .635 – second best in school history while recording 141 blocked shots – sixth best in school history. Overall, he played 67 games with 58 starts and scored 955 points (14.3 avg.) with 494 rebounds (7.4 avg.).
This past season, Gafford, a top 10 finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, ranked sixth in the NCAA and first in the SEC in field goal percentage (.660) – 95 percentage points better than second place (Tennessee’s Grant Williams). Gafford was one of two players in the NCAA to shoot at least 60 percent from the field and average at least 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots. In addition, he was the only player in the SEC to rank among the league’s top five (or top 10 for that matter) in scoring (4th, 16.9), rebounding (2nd, 8.7), blocked shots (3rd, 2.03), offensive rebounds (2nd, 2.84) and defensive rebounds (3rd, 5.81).
Gafford was a two-time SEC Player of the Week and added All-District honors by the US Basketball Writers and National Association of Basketball Coaches.
As a freshman, Gafford was named to the SEC All-Freshman team and was a three-time SEC Freshman of the Week. He was the first Arkansas freshman in program history to record 400 points, 200 rebounds and 60 blocks in a season. Gafford ranked 22nd nationally and second in the SEC with 76 blocked shots.
DANIEL GAFFORD HONORS
- 2019 AP ALL-AMERICA HONORABLE MENTION
- 2019 CollegeInsider.com Lefty Driesell Defensive All-America Team
- 2019 FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC (Coaches and Media, just 6th Razorback to be consensus 1st Team)
- 2019 SEC ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM (just 2nd Razorback to be 1st Team All-SEC and SEC All-Defensive)
- 2019 ALL-DISTRICT — USBWA District VII – (1st) | NABC District 21 – (2nd) | Basketball Times Midlands
- 2019 KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR AWARD TOP 10 FINALIST
- 2019 2x SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- 2019 Sporting News Midseason All-American
- 2019 PRESEASON 1ST TEAM ALL-SEC (Coaches and Media)
- 2019 PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE: Wooden Award • Citizen Naismith Trophy • Lute Olson Award
- 2018 SEC ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
- 2018 3x SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
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