Men’s Basketball

In their first steps of the two-month NBA Draft process, Northwestern’s Vic Law and Dererk Pardon will participate this weekend in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, the premier event for college seniors looking for a shot in the NBA.

Each year, the top 64 players in the country who have exhausted their collegiate eligibility are invited to play in a eight-team tournament attended by representatives from every NBA front office. Since the majority of the top prospects in every draft class are underclassmen, it gives lower-profile players the opportunity to play in front of a large NBA contingent.

Law and Pardon are not currently projected to be drafted in June. If they end up going undrafted, they both are likely to receive a two-way contract or an Exhibit 10 contract, which would allow them to play with a team in the NBA Summer League and compete for a spot in training camp.

How Law and Pardon perform at Portsmouth will likely determine how strongly teams will pursue them if they go undrafted. In this tournament, Law and Pardon were placed onto different teams and will play against and alongside the prospects vying for the best summer league opportunities.

Law will play for a team that features one of the top players in the field — Ole Miss’ Terence Davis — as well as 2019 NCAA Tournament standouts Kenny Goins from Michigan State and Christ Koumadje from Florida State.

Pardon’s team features another one of the most highly-touted players in the field – Florida State’s Terance Mann – as well as one of the best scoring big men in the country, Eastern Kentucky’s Nick Mayo.

The top four performers at the Portsmouth Invitational will be invited to Chicago to participate in a more high-profile combine that features several players more likely to be drafted and an even larger swath of NBA representatives.

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Twitter: @2021_charlie

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