Elk Grove Teen Expected To Be Among Top Picks In NBA Draft
ELK GROVE (CBS13) - An Elk Grove teen who graduated from Pleasant Grove High School is expected to be selected early in Thursday's draft.
Marquese Chriss only started playing organized basketball five years ago, but he's expected to go high in the 2016 NBA Draft.
The Elk Grove native's leaping skills are catapulting him into the NBA. Even his high school coach John Deponte couldn't have predicted his rapid rise.
"We knew he was destined for big things, but a lottery pick? one year in college?" he said.
The 19-year-old is expected to be picked in the Top 15 selections, with some predicting him going as high as No. 4. This comes after a single year at the University of Washington where he made headlines as a late bloomer.
The newspaper clippings hang in the halls of Pleasant Grove High, and his old coach couldn't be more proud.
There's a public NBA Draft party for him on Thursday starting at 4 p.m. at Bull Wings restaurant in Elk Grove.
Chriss would be in rare company locally. The great Elk Grove native Bill Cartwright was selected third overall in the 1979 NBA Draft. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson was drafted seventh in the 1987 draft.