The most interesting player in the 2024 NBA Draft – Deseret News

Enrique Freeman is 23 years old and having the time of his life after fresh off a stellar performance at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. He was one of five players named to the Combine from the G League Elite Camp.

He topped the Combine in scrimmages, captivated teams with his strength, speed and defensive instincts, and then stunned them in interviews. He has scheduled pre-draft workouts with a number of NBA teams and is quickly rising up draft rankings across the country.

So what is this boy's story? Five years ago, Enrique Freeman needed a job.

He had just started college at the University of Akron on a full scholarship, but was used to being busier. He attended a college-cum-work experience school, St. Martin de Porres High, which prepares students for careers after high school.

During his high school years, he had worked with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, been student body president, and played on the best basketball team in St. Martin's history. He liked to keep busy.

When he was in Akron, he wanted something to do rather than just spend money. He signed up to be a referee, which was great because on the days he wasn't refereeing games, he got to play.

At this point, Freeman's plan was to stay in school, get his master's degree, and then enter adulthood debt-free and ready to work. Now and then, he would play a little basketball at the local rec center, where some of the local college players would stop by, but none of them really knew Freeman, and he had no plans to make a name for himself in basketball.

“In high school, we had the best record in St. Martin's history, but the school was more focused on the work-study program,” Freeman said. “I went to Geneva College, a D-III school, on a recruiting day. I watched their game, met with the coach briefly and then they never called me. That was it. No one else called.”

The Akron basketball team holds open tryouts every year for students to compete for walk-on spots. Although his mother, friends and siblings told him to try out, Freeman didn't. He was 6'4″, thin and lacked muscle, and when he saw the other guys on the team, he felt like he couldn't measure up.

“I made it into the team”

A year later, Tania Torre, a Cleveland police officer and Freeman's mother, was at work when her son called.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Torre said. “I was at work and at the copier when I got a call. He said, 'Mom, I have to tell you something you're not going to believe.' I said, 'Oh no. What's wrong? Are you OK?' And he said, 'Yeah, I'm on the team.' At first I thought, what team? Because he didn't tell us he was going to tryouts. But when he said it was Akron, I started crying like a baby.”

Over the course of the year, Freeman had grown to 6'1″ and missed basketball. He loved playing and competing, and while open gyms and intramural games were fine, he missed playing at a high level. He didn't want to tell anyone he was considering trying out because if he didn't make the team, he didn't want to disappoint anyone, but he also wanted everything to go his way. He wanted it to be his journey.

When Akron head coach Jim Groce showed up at the gym on open tryout day, Freeman immediately caught his eye.

“I walked in in the fall of 2019 with a cup of coffee, like I do every year when we do this, and I thought, 'Who is this guy?'” Groce said. “Nobody on my team knew who he was. You don't see many 6-foot-4, 6-foot-8 guys with a 7-foot-5 wingspan come in for a general student body tryout without knowing anything about them. Of course, at that point, he was maybe 180 pounds, soaking wet.”

Freeman impressed at the tryouts. He was tall, long, fast, cheerful, communicative, smart and unstoppable despite his lack of strength. The coaching staff quickly got to work to find out more.

Sure, he seemed like a great athlete, but what kind of student is he? Academic scholarship, model student, professors love him. OK, and what about high school? His high school coach said he was coachable, kind, hardworking, an overachiever with a great support system.

“Everything has worked out brilliantly,” Groce said. “So we thought, worst case scenario, we'll put him on the scout team. He can help us in that regard and we'll see where it goes. Well, he got better and better so quickly that by his second year with us, it was pretty obvious that he was going to be a major part of our rotation.”

“I brought him off the bench in the first game of the year and he grabbed 21 rebounds that game. Since then, he's started every game and the rest is history.”

At the end of the 2021–22 season, Freeman led the NCAA in field goal percentage, averaged a double-double, was named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year, led the Akron Zips to a MAC Tournament title, and was named tournament MVP.

Last year, a few NBA teams came calling. He went through some pre-draft workouts, but ultimately decided to opt out of the draft and return to Akron for one final season.

“I don't think I had the confidence and belief two years ago that the NBA was realistic,” Freeman said. “But after we won and played against teams like UCLA, I thought, 'Well, I can hang with these guys.' That boosted my belief and confidence. Then NBA teams started inviting me to workouts and those workouts were huge for me because they not only helped my game but helped me evaluate my game. That's when I really started to believe I could make it to the NBA.”

'Can you help me?'

In Akron, Freeman played with his back to the basket a lot during his early years. He was more of a traditional forward or center who positioned himself and played from the basket. But if he wanted to be successful at the NBA level, he needed to improve his game.

During workouts with NBA teams last year, it was made clear to him that he needed to gain strength, prove his shooting ability and improve his defense to the perimeter. Freeman went to Groce.

“I brought him off the bench in the first game of the year and he grabbed 21 rebounds that game. Since then, he's started every game and the rest is history.”

— Akron head coach Jim Groce on Enrique Freeman

“The NBA teams need to see X, Y and Z, these are the things I need to incorporate into my training,” Freeman said. “So I talked to the coach. I said, 'Hey, I don't want to be the guy that says it's all about me, but can we incorporate some of these things? Can you help me?' And thank God he said yes.”

Expanding Freeman's game and incorporating new elements into team training would not have had a negative impact on the win or the team culture, and Groce wanted to help as much as he could.

That meant much tougher practices, not just for Freeman, but for the rest of the team as well. The Zips had longer, more intense practices in the spring, which is normally a quiet time.

“Spring training is usually very relaxed, but because I was going to work out with some NBA teams, coach had us do conditioning and all that other stuff,” Freeman said with a laugh. “The guys on the team were like, 'Rique, we love you, but not that much.' But I was so grateful, and then it not only helped me, but it helped the guys too, because they saw me working hard and that it was paying off, so they started believing in themselves.”

When Freeman showed up in Chicago last week, scouts who knew him from last year were surprised by how much weight he had put on. He weighed 212 pounds and was quicker and more explosive than they remembered. He was also comfortable running the perimeter, shooting threes and operating more like a small forward.

Then he was called up from the G League Elite Camp to the Combine. In his first practice game, he scored 17 points, the most of the game, and some executives started asking questions. Who is this kid from Akron?

“My only concern is that he will no longer be there when we make our choice”

Freeman has already interviewed with a number of NBA teams, including the Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors, Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons and Utah Jazz. At least a dozen teams are interested in signing him for a pre-draft workout, and his draft value continues to rise.

“He's undoubtedly the ideal candidate for a two-way contract,” said one NBA scout. “But I wouldn't be surprised if he gets selected and gets a standard contract. He plays with so much joy and so much determination. His defense alone should earn him an extra look.”

Before the Combine, many predicted that Freeman would go undrafted. At the end of the first few days of the Combine, he was considered a late second-round pick. Now, some executives are wondering if he will be available if they select earlier in the second round.

“The rate at which he's improving is really incredible,” a Western Conference executive told the Deseret News. “I'm not worried about him. My only concern is that he won't be there when we make our pick.”

Freeman is someone who attracts scouts and NBA decision makers with his play on the court and then wins them over with his personality. His smile and laughter are infectious. He loves his family, he loves to work hard and he cares about everyone around him.

Even after playing a major role on Akron's basketball team, he still set his sights on more. He completed his MBA last semester and also served on Akron's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the MAC Council of Student Athletes, which gave him the opportunity to advocate for other athletes.

“I knew my position of power in Akron,” Freeman said. “I was able to advocate for smaller teams that don't get as much attention as the men's basketball team. And they deserve attention. They deserve to be treated with the same respect and they deserve to have a great experience in Akron. I loved it and honestly, they helped me as much as I helped them.”

Over the last five years, Freeman has accomplished everything he set out to do during his college career and more, evolving from an in-house referee to an up-and-coming NBA Draft prospect who is without a doubt the most interesting and intriguing prospect in the 2024 draft class.

If he has come this far in five years, no one can predict what he can achieve in the next five years.