Jared McCain had a strong true freshman season as a member of the Duke Blue Devils. The five-star prospect in the 2023 recruiting class has found himself receiving plenty of attention for wearing nail polish on the court. Despite facing criticism throughout the season for his decision, McCain continued to don white and blue nail polish.
The Blue Devils star, who has an On3 NIL valuation of $1.4 million, trailing only Bronny James among men's college basketball players, recently opened up about why he paints his nails. In a video shared on his Instagram, McCain said while painting his nails:
"So, I'm in the middle of painting my nails right now, and I just did this side white, and I'm going to do this side blue, and I thought I'd just talk to you guys a little bit about why. Going with the Duke blue, as usual. It's just some self-care time. I think everybody should do some self-care for themselves. For me, it's nail painting. I'm sorry if that offends any of you guys.
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"There's really no crazy reason to it. It helps me not bite my nails. I went into a salon one time, and I decided to pick out a color, and I thought it looked nice. I know a lot of people disagree; a lot of people don't like it, but I'm just going to be myself and do what I think looks nice.
"One of the reasons I kept painting my nails is I had a game after I painted my nails, and I ended up playing really well. I'm not crazy superstitious, but I thought it looked nice, I thought it helped me play better."
Check out Jared McCain's comments on painting his nails below:
Jared McCain added that painting his nails has worked for him, and he plans to keep doing so. He signed an NIL deal with beauty company Sally Hansen after his nail painting once again went viral during the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Will Jared McCain enter the 2024 NBA draft?
Jared McCain has not announced his plans for the 2024 NBA draft. However, he is projected as a first-round selection if he does indeed decide to turn pro. In his lone season with the Duke Blue Devils, he averaged 14.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.1 blocks per game, while shooting 46.2% from the field, 41.4% from 3-point range and 88.5% from the free-throw line.
His production, and likely his draft stock, increased during four games in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils guard averaged 21.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.3 apg, 0.8 spg and 0.3 bpg while shooting 50.0% from the field, 50.0% from the 3-point range and 94.7% from the free-throw line. Duke reached the Elite Eight of this year's tournament but lost to the NC State Wolfpack 76-64.
While he could take advantage of a weak draft class, he could also look to return to Duke to build on his draft stock, as Kyle Filipowski did despite being projected to be selected in the first round of the 2023 NBA draft. Jared McCain has expressed an interest in playing with incoming top prospect Cooper Flagg.
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