Luke Maye poised to lead UNC basketball next season after withdrawing from NBA Draft

In the experience of the NBA pre-Draft process, senior UNC basketball player Luke Maye learned everything he needed to know about his game moving forward. 

"He wanted to see where he stood,” head coach Roy Williams said. “He wanted to get some workouts. If he had gone to the workouts and blown people away and they said we're going to take him with the 10th pick, you know, the plan would have changed.” 

Maye, a native of Huntersville, N.C., decided to test the waters of the draft process on Apr. 23, announcing his decision to undergo workouts and evaluations without hiring an agent — which maintained his eligibility. After putting up 17 double-doubles and averaging 16.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, Maye wanted to know how far he was away from playing at the next level. 

The ACC Most Improved Player and conference first-teamer completed workouts and had his game evaluated by the Oklahoma City Thunder, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets, finding out what he needs to improve to be considered a top prospect. 

"It was a great opportunity to see how the game is different and to see how I fit into the NBA system,” Maye said. “The biggest thing I learned is just how I can really develop and get better on the defensive end and also continue to try to become more of a playmaker.” 

With those evaluations, Maye decided to return to school for his final season to develop his game further with a new goal in mind — a move that will be positive for his future draft stock and for the outlook of UNC’s season.

“I want to play in the NBA,” Maye said. “That’s my dream. That’s my goal.”

For now, though, he’ll bolster a Tar Heel roster that needs new leaders to step in now that Joel Berry II and Theo Pinson are gone. Maye broke onto the basketball scene with a shot to beat Kentucky in the Elite Eight in 2017, but rose to the challenge again last season to break career-high after career-high, which he said was to prove he wasn't just a 'one hit wonder.' 

"That shot against Kentucky was a pretty big moment in my basketball career," he said. "And I feel like my life changed after that. I feel like I've kind of established myself as one of the best basketball players in the country. I'm going to continue to build on that this coming year."

In each season in Chapel Hill, Maye has slowly advanced his game, but he’s poised to take on an even bigger role in his final season as one of the team's three veteran players. He says he’s ready for it. 

"I feel like the first three years I've always been a leader by example,” Maye said. “Really doing the right thing, working as hard as I can and working my butt off. I think I can become really more of a vocal leader and try to expect more out of my teammates, talk to the coaches and build that gap between the coaching staff and the players."

To prepare for that new role, Maye is in Chapel Hill all summer to train with his teammates, to get better and rebound from the Texas A&M loss that ended North Carolina’s season in the Round of 32 last year. During the UNC basketball camp this week, Maye and current teammates have been scrimmaging against former players as a part of a program tradition.

Soon, things will ramp up to make sure all the Tar Heels are in shape and ready to go for the 2018-19 campaign. It’ll be a season when Maye, Kenny Williams and Cameron Johnson will have a huge opportunity to make their own mark on the program as the players in charge — away from the influences of past leaders.

"They're big time players, they're wonderful kids and they have the total 100 percent respect from everybody on their team,” Williams said. “If you ask everybody on our team who the three hardest workers are … they're going to say Luke, Kenny and Cam. And that's a pretty good position to be in because they have the entire package for you.”

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