North Carolina’s Leaky Black, Clemson’s Hunter Tyson were ‘teammates’ for a day. Here’s why

Friendly rivals on the college hardwood for a few years, Leaky Black and Hunter Tyson found themselves in a unique position.

Natives of the very city they were training in on Saturday, there the two were inside the Novant Health Training Center in Uptown, lathered up after working out with four others in a pre-draft session for the Charlotte Hornets.

Black, a Concord native who just wrapped up his graduate season at North Carolina, went through some highly intense drills alongside Tyson, a Clemson product hailing from Monroe.

“Hunter is a good dude,” Black said. “I played with him at CP3 and he was a bucket back then. He could shoot that thing being that tall. I love Hunter. That’s my boy. On and off the court, he’s a good dude. I’ve got nothing but love and respect for him.”

Having a mini Atlantic Coast Conference reunion in a sense was a blast.

“That’s awesome,” Tyson said. “I played against a bunch of these guys for years and now being in the same environment, going through these pre-draft workouts, it’s been really cool to kind of meet these guys.

“You always play against them, but you don’t really know what they are like off the court. So just talking to everybody, meeting everybody, it’s been a fun experience.”

Black has crisscrossed the country over the past few weeks, going through myriad workouts in front of NBA personnel evaluators. They’ve been intrigued by the 23-year-old, perhaps wondering if the guy known as “Lockdown Leaky” among some of the Tar Heels’ faithful has the ability to continuously do what he did to Alabama’s Brandon Miller in November.

During a head-to-head matchup with Miller — viewed as likely the first college player to be selected in the NBA Draft on June 22 and someone the Hornets could pick No. 2 overall — Black helped limit Miller to a 4-of-21 showing. It certainly didn’t hurt in obtaining opportunities to get checked out by Golden State, Boston, Milwaukee, Orlando and most recently Atlanta prior to his latest stop in Charlotte on the draft pre-draft circuit.

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He’s pleased with the feedback he’s receiving, unfazed by the current lack of clarity regarding where he may be picked.

“Honestly, I like being the underdog,” Black said. “I love that. I love that. Because there’s only up. There’s no pressure. All it is, is go in there and show them what you can do and it’s only up from there. I obviously love that being the underdog, I love it.

“I love coming in here and surprising a lot of people with my play. A lot of people didn’t know I could handle the ball, didn’t know I was this tall in person and I could shoot. So, yeah, it’s very encouraging.”

A starter at North Carolina for the past four years and named to the ACC All-Defense team in his final season, Black averaged a career best 7.6 points and 6.5 rebounds in 32.1 minutes in 2022-23. His numbers, along with his confidence, increased each year in Chapel Hill and he made nearly 33.3% of his 3-pointers in his final two seasons.

The time under now-retired Roy Williams and current coach Hubert Davis, Black believes, has him properly prepared and hungry to continue the current trajectory.

“The biggest thing I took from that was the role that I was given from my freshman year, kind of like a 3-and-D guy back then,” Black said, “and it just helped me embrace being able to change my mindset and not having the ball in my hands. With the NBA, you are not going to have the ball in your hands all the time so it’s finding a way to stay on the court.

“I feel like I have a lot more to offer on the NBA level, just because of the spacing. I’m able to guard a lot of positions one-on-one. I know the NBA is a lot of one-on one game, and I feel like I can take up a lot of space out there.”

Same goes for Tyson, who lit it up during his final season for the Tigers, and posted 15.3 points and a career-high 9.6 rebounds en route to earning a nod on the ACC’s all-conference first team. The 281 defensive boards he amassed ranked tops in the ACC and second in the nation.

Tyson is a pretty good shooter, too, canning 83 total 3-pointers alone in his graduate year. He’s far from satisfied, though, and is focused on adding some strength, improving his ball-handling skills and getting a little more athletic. A possible second-round pick, the 6-8, 209-pound 23-year-old is confident he can fit at the pro level.

“I’m a hard worker,” Tyson said. “Every time I get on the floor I compete. I play as hard as I can. I’m not scared to get my nose in there with guys who are bigger and so-called better. I’m not scared of that.

“And just the ability to space the floor. The Hornets obviously have some really big time playmakers, and I would just try to take the pressure off them —space the floor and when I’m open try to knock down shots.”

That’s why for one day at least, Tyson could ponder what it might be like on the other side of the curtain suiting up as a member of the Hornets, all thanks to receiving an unreal perspective he never imagined in his wildest dreams.

“It would mean the world,” Tyson said. “Working out for the Hornets today was a dream come true. I’m living the dream right now. I’m so thankful God has put me in this position, and I’m just trying to make the most of every opportunity.”

Black couldn’t agree more.

“Man, just being from here, grew up 10 minutes from here, came to all the games and stuff, it would obviously be a dream come true,” Black said. “You can’t really put into words how special that moment would be, just being able to play for the home team. I get emotional just thinking about it, honestly, because I worked my whole life for this.

“Being able to do it in front of the whole team and all the little kids looking up to me in the area, going to school at North Carolina, it would be very special for sure. I’m just happy I’m here. To have a chance is all I can ask for.”