Draft:Camden Heide

Camden Craig Heide (born July 16, 2003) is an American college basketball player for the Purdue Boilermakers of the Big Ten Conference. A consensus four-star recruit from Wayzata, Minnesota, he was a key member of Purdue's 2024 national runner-up team.

Early life and high school
Heide was born in Littleton, Colorado but spent his childhood in Wayzata, Minnesota. He grew up playing basketball, football, and baseball. He spent four years at Wayzata High School in Plymouth, Minnesota where he became the first eighth-grader in school history to play varsity basketball. In 2021 as a junior, he led Wayzata to its first Minnesota State High School Championship since 1959, held at Target Center. He averaged 17.9 points per game as a junior, shooting 57 percent from the field. He scored his 1,000th point at Wayzata on February 12, 2021 in a win against Hopkins High School and finished his career with 1,189 points.

He averaged 15.2 points per game as a sophomore and 13.5 as a freshman. Heide played AAU basketball for D1 Minnesota.

He transferred to Wasatch Academy in Utah for his senior year, playing in seven games before sustaining a broken foot.

Recruiting
Heide committed to Purdue on June 15, 2021. He held offers from Minnesota, Texas, Arizona, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Creighton, Iowa, Nebraska, Florida, Xavier, Marquette, and California. He was ranked the No. 1 player in Minnesota from the class of 2022 by 247Sports.com before his transfer. Heide was part of a highly-ranked Purdue recruiting class that included guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer.

Heide was named one of 18 finalists to USA Basketball's U16 National Team in May 2019 and attended the Men's Junior National Team minicamp in July 2019.

2022-23
Heide redshirted the 2022-23 season following foot surgery during his senior high school season.

2023-24
His collegiate debut came on November 13, 2023 against Samford, scoring 13 points in 17 minutes to go with three rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. As a redshirt freshman in 2023-24, he has played in all 39 games, averaging 3.3 points, 1.9 rebounds per game, and shooting 58 percent from the field and 45 percent from three-point range. He was one of only two college players to shoot 65 percent or better from 2-point range and 45 percent or better from 3-point range with a minimum of 40 attempts. He also led all Power 5 freshmen in effective field goal percentage 68.2 percent. Heide scored a season-high 18 points on 7-of-7 shooting against Rutgers on February 22.

Heide helped Purdue win the Big Ten regular season title for the second straight season and secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 against Grambling State, he scored eight points to go with three rebounds in a season-high 22 minutes. In a 106-67 win over Utah State in the NCAA Round of 32, Heide tallied 10 points with two dunks on 4-of-6 shooting and three rebounds. He added five points in a win over Gonzaga in the Sweet 16.

The Boilermakers advanced to their first Final Four since 1980 and first national championship game since 1969. Heide provided one of Purdue's major highlights in the national championship game with a ferocious putback dunk in the second half to pull Purdue back within seven points. His dunking ability was well-documented during the NCAA Tournament. Owning a 41-inch vertical leap, he credits jumping up and down for five minutes at a time between cars in his garage starting in sixth grade to jumpstart his leaping ability. He first dunked in seventh grade.

Personal life
Heide is the son of Craig and Kelly Heide. Craig and his brother, Jeff, and sister, Ashlyn, are Lafayette, Ind. natives and attended Purdue University.

His brother, Keaton Heide, was a four-year letterwinner at quarterback for South Dakota State from 2019-22, appearing in two FCS National Championship games, winning a national championship in 2022. He was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Newcomer of the Week on November 16, 2019 and was a four-time MVFC Honor Roll recipient. He saw action in 40 games, completing 113-171 passes for 1,401 yards and nine touchdowns in his career. Camden and Keaton were high school basketball teammates in 2017-18 and 2018-19.