European big man Walter Tavares is working on a contract buyout with his team in the Spanish ACB League and will travel soon to the United States to work out for several NBA teams, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. Several execs believe that the 7’3″ center has a strong change to land in the first round of the draft.
Wojnarowski hears that several teams in the 20s plan to bring Tavares in for a closer look. The 22-year-old doesn’t have a formal agreement on a buyout with Gran Canaria of the Spanish ACB, but there is momentum toward that happening. Tavares is a relative basketball neophyte who never played basketball before his 17th birthday. There’s no question that Tavares is green, but he has tons of upside and has intrigued many scouts.
Tavares put his toe in the water for last year’s draft but ultimately decided to withdraw just weeks before. The big man is currently ranked No. 34 on DraftExpress’ top 100 list and slated to go No. 32 to the Sixers in their mock. Tavares is being represented by agent Andy Miller.