One of the breakout stars of March Madness is shedding the pounds to keep his NBA Draft hopes alive.
North Carolina State center DJ Burns Jr. told The Athletic’s Shams Charania that he “lost 45 pounds in the last six and a half weeks,” according to the NBA insider.
“There was a big deal made about his size, his frame, his weight […] I saw him at the Pro Day yesterday, he looked totally different […] He told me no Ozempic, he said he’s been doing workouts four days a week at 5 a.m,” Charania said Wednesday on FanDuel TV.
Burns’ slim down comes after he averaged 12.9 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.9 assists as a senior for NC State during the regular season.
Burns, who is listed at 6-foot-9, 275-pound, helped lead the Wolfpack to one of the most unlikely Final Four runs in recent college basketball history, the school’s first since 1983.
The Wolfpack were a massive long shot to make the NCAA Tournament before sweeping the ACC Tournament, earning an automatic bid.
They would ultimately make it all the way to the Final Four as an 11-seed, with Burns averaging 16.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists over their unbelievable nine-game winning streak, culminating in an Elite Eight win over Duke behind a dominant 29-point game from the big man.
NC State would fall short to Purdue and Zach Edey in the Final Four, losing 63-50.
Despite leading NC State’s cinderella run, Burns, who turns 24 in October, wasn’t widely considered an NBA prospect as teams prepared for the draft earlier this spring because of his weight and age.
Burns didn’t receive an invite to the league’s workout earlier this month, though he did conduct a workout with the Lakers this week, according to 247Sports.com.