NC State star DJ Burns gets nominated for Breakthrough Athlete of the Year award at 2024 NIL Summit

After his magical run during the 2024 March Madness, NC State center DJ Burns has been nominated for the Breakthrough Athlete of the Year award at this year's NIL Summit. The nomination was announced on Instagram by Athletes.org. The NCAA Tournament crowd darling joins 14 more nominees for a host of other awards.

Burns joins a veritable list of other nominees for Breakthrough Athlete of the Year encompassing other sports (via NILSummit.com). This includes fellow hooper Milaysia Fulwiley of NCAAW champion squad South Carolina, Monmouth University track star Grace Stephens, Oakland guard Jack Gohlke, Oregon trackster Katrina Wright, and Southern Connecticut State gymnast Sydney Smith.

Burns was the major cog in the Wolfpack`s insane run through to the Final Four as a massive underdog. Holding down the paint for NC State, the 6-foot-9, 275-lb forward averaged 16.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in five NCAA Tournament games. His signature performance was a dominant 29-point effort in an upset of the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight.

However, while he will be held to just four points in the Wolfpack`s Final Four loss against powerhouse Purdue, Burns has already endeared himself to college basketball fans all over. There was one time when Burns was seen looking for the security staff to take pictures with, right after NC State upset Duke in the Elite Eight to go to the Final Four:

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What`s next for DJ Burns?

Despite not being named in mock drafts all year, DJ Burns still believes in his chances of becoming an NBA player. As such, he`s actually lost a bit of weight in preparation of potentially going pro.

After participating in a pre-draft workout with the Indiana Pacers, the big man mentioned how he was able to handle the team`s workout pace without a full body cramp (via Indy Star):

"Playing at the pace that we played today, doing the work that we did today," Burns said. "I probably would have left out with a full-body cramp a couple months ago."

Pace is definitely one of the biggest things about Indiana during the past NBA season, and Burns seems like he could be able to handle the speed of the pro game right now. Specifically, the Pacers were second in the entire league in pace of play with 101.75, allowing them to score an insane 123.3 PPG.

If DJ Burns says he feels like he could handle that kind of speed in the pros, then perhaps he just increased his draft stock in a massive way.