How Purdue basketball's Trey Kaufman-Renn improved his NBA Draft stock
Purdue's Trey Kaufman-Renn, a late NBA Draft Combine invite, is now projected as a second-round pick after showcasing new skills.
CHICAGO − Trey Kaufman-Renn suffered a minor ankle injury on Tuesday that kept him from participating in NBA Draft Combine scrimmages on Wednesday and Thursday. That's been the lone hiccup thus far for the former Purdue basketball star in his quest to make it to the NBA. Not originally a combine invite, Kaufman-Renn earned his way in front of NBA scouts as a late addition after performances in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, a showcase for 64 college seniors last month, and the G League Combine.
"It's just kind of reinforced the idea that I belong here," Kaufman-Renn said at the NBA Draft Combine on Wednesday. "I should have been in the combine already. I shouldn't have had to do the G League Combine to get there.
I belong with the best. I've done it for so long. " Accolades and statistics say Kaufman-Renn deserved to be there, but he needed to show NBA teams things he didn't do much of at the college level.
Including, apparently, magic tricks. During one interview, Kaufman-Renn was asked to perform a magic trick, a former hobby to entertain friends and family, and he obliged. But more to the point, Purdue utilized Kaufman-Renn mostly as a low-post player or in pick-and-rolls.