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N.C. State's C.J. Leslie has injured shooting hand, will sit out drills at NBA draft combine

North Carolina State forward C.J. Leslie, a fast-rising prospect among several teams, has a minor sprained shooting hand and will sit out the drills portion of the NBA draft combine in Chicago this week, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Leslie, who left the Wolfpack after his junior year, is a long, talented 6-foot-9 forward with great athletic ability who has several NBA front offices eager to get a closer inspection of him.

Leslie's agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA, informed the NBA on Tuesday of the decision to sit out the basketball drills portion of the combine, league sources said. Leslie will participate in some athletic testing and interviews with team executives.

Leslie's right hand is expected to be fully healed to work out individually for teams in the near future.

[Also: Will sensation Andrew Wiggins deliver for Kansas? ]

One league personnel director told Yahoo! Sports that Leslie and Kentucky's Nerlens Noel rate as the two most explosive athletes in this year's draft class. Two teams drafting in the mid-20's told Yahoo! Sports that they believe Leslie will be gone before they'd get a chance to select him.

One of the hurdles Leslie has to overcome in the minds of some team executives was his tendency to drift during his college career. Leslie averaged 15.1 points and 7.4 rebounds as a junior at North Carolina State.

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