Men’s Basketball

Northwestern still has not had a player drafted into the NBA since 1999, but two of this year’s seniors will still get a chance to play at the highest level.

Despite being passed over in the draft, forward Vic Law and center Dererk Pardon signed as undrafted free agents with the Orlando Magic on Thursday night. Both are likely to earn spots on the Magic’s Summer League roster.

Law, a four-year starter, missed his sophomore season of 2015-16 with a shoulder injury, but returned the following season to help lead the Wildcats to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. He started all 36 games that season and shot nearly 40 percent on 3-pointers.

Although NU struggled this past year, Law still set career highs in points, rebounds and assists per game, with 15, 6.4 and 3, respectively. He came to the Cats as a consensus top-100 national recruit.

Pardon was NU’s starting center the last three seasons, and improved his scoring average every year. As a junior in 2017-18, he set a single-season school record with a .619 field goal percentage.
But Pardon is best known for scoring arguably the most important basket in program history. On March 1, 2017, he caught a full-court pass from then-senior Nathan Taphorn and made a layup as time expired as the Cats defeated Michigan and essentially secured a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The last Wildcat player to play in the NBA was Reggie Hearn, who played three games during the 2017-18 season for the Detroit Pistons. Before Hearn, Geno Carlisle played six games for the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2004-05 season.

The last NU player who played regularly in the league was Evan Eschmeyer, who spent two seasons with the New Jersey Nets and two more with the Dallas Mavericks between 1999 and 2003. Eschmeyer, who was taken by the Nets in the second round in 1999, remains the last Wildcat to be drafted.

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