Daniel Gafford Biography, Stats, NBA Draft, Height and Body Measurements

Daniel Gafford is an American basketball player who plays at the collegiate level in the Southeastern Conference for the Arkansas Razorbacks. He is regarded as one of the best power forwards in the tournament and received several honors and recognition for his efforts and abilities.

He has made the SEC All-Freshman team, the All-State team twice, SEC  and is ranked as the No. 1 player in the whole of Arkansas state, as well as the No. 11 power forward in the entire nation. His skills have been considered a top level and the sort of talent you’d find on a four-star basketballer, with much room for improvement. Rivals.com ranked him at No. 33 in their list of the consensus top 50 players. He has made history as the first Arkansas freshman to register 400 points, 200 rebs, and 60 blocks in a single season.

Daniel Gafford Biography

Daniel was born on October 1, 1998, to Teresa Frazier and Wayne Gafford in El Dorado, Arkansas. He is one of five children born to his parents. He completed his early education at El Dorado High School, where he was a star player on the basketball team. He also served as a wide receiver on the school’s football team before giving up the sport to focus squarely on basketball.

During his time in high school, Gafford was a full-fledged member of the marching band, which he believes helped improve his playing skills. Due to his athletic attributes, impressive jumping abilities, aggressive defensive play, and jaw-dropping dunks, he was considered a top recruit in 2015, fielding offers from major college programs including Vanderbilt, Kansas, and Florida.

The young athlete decided to commit to Arkansas for his further education. He currently majors in sports management while also helping the Arkansas Razorbacks achieve a great season in the tournament. Radford’s decision to go to school instead of heading for the NBA Draft has been the subject of much criticism and confusion as most followers of his career seem to agree that he was one of the leading recruits in his class do it would have done him a whole lot of good to get drafted right away. However, Gafford considered education a priority.

He returned to Arkansas with many expectations riding on his shoulders and managed to exceed every statistic that was expected of him. He registered an impressive 11.5% block rate, which has prevented his team from getting into a lot more trouble on the defense. He has built a stellar reputation for himself as a top-rate finisher and rim protector; although, his defensive posture has been described as needing some improvement.

Gafford’s best attributes on the court are his massive height, athleticism, shot-blocking instincts, intense and sustained bursts of energy, high conversion rate, good rebounding abilities, transition speed, upside offensive potential, and his foul generation antics which result in free throws for the team.

Stats

It is clear that Gafford is a player on the rise and talent that should be closely monitored. His statistics have been downright remarkable even from his high school days. While at El Dorado, he led the team to a 6A state title game in his senior year and a 28-5 game record.

He averaged 17.4 pts, 1.4 assists, 16 rebounds, 2.5 steals, and 7.7 blocks. By his final year, he had registered 10 plus blocks in 11 games, 10 plus rebounds in 31 games including one 30 rebound performance, and tallied 18 double-doubles and 11 triple-doubles.

Gafford’s statistics have not dropped since he joined Arkansas. In his freshman year, he averaged 11.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.2 blocks overall, and 12.7 points and 6.2 boards in league play. He was ranked No. 22 in the nation and No. 2 player in the Southeastern Conference with 76 blocked shots.

He made 60.5 shots from the field and would have shot up to 14th on the national rankings and first in the SEC if he had averaged 5 shots per game instead of 4.7.  He scored double digits in 22 of the games he played in his rookie outing.

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NBA Draft

Although Gafford made the decision to return to Arkansas rather than declare for the NBA is still one of the top draft prospects in the nation, and might even be the best interior defense when the next draft comes around.

His potential is massive, his skills are improving by the day, and his current records and level of athleticism have earned him a spot in any concerns about prospective first-round picks. Even in a draft brimming with bigger men or better players, Gafford is still guaranteed to be picked in the lottery.

Height and Body Measurements

Gafford is considered one of the big men in the game thanks to his massive size and height. He currently stands at 6 feet 11 inches tall, with a 7’2 wingspan. He is reported to have a maximum reach of 12’4, which if verified at the NBA draft would put him directly behind Shaquille O’Neal with a reach of 12’5 – the highest in the league. Gafford weighs 234 pounds or 106 kg at the moment.