Nebraska’s James Palmer scores Portsmouth Invitational invite to help NBA draft stock

Nebraska’s James Palmer scores Portsmouth Invitational invite to help NBA draft stock
James Palmer averaged 19.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists during his senior season at Nebraska. MADDIE WASHBURN/THE WORLD-HERALD

ames Palmer received an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational, a four-day tournament giving 64 seniors an invite to play in front of scouts from the NBA and overseas.

The 64 players are divided into eight teams for the tournament. Palmer is on Norfolk Sports Club, which begins play Wednesday at 8 p.m. Games will be live streamed on PortsmouthInvitational.com.

Palmer will be the third Husker in four years to play in the event, following Shavon Shields (2016) and Tai Webster (2017). Neither Shields nor Webster were drafted after their Nebraska careers ended, but both are now playing professionally in Europe.

Palmer was a third-team All-Big Ten selection after his senior season, ranking third in the conference with 19.7 points per game. In his two years at Nebraska, he finished with the second-highest career scoring average (18.5) in Husker history.

Nebraska has another NBA draft hopeful this year in Isaiah Roby, who is also considering returning for his senior season. The Huskers haven’t had a player selected in the NBA draft since 1999.

The 2019 NBA draft will take place June 20.

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