And-Ones: Dunn, Zubac, Delaney, Offseason

While Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram are the consensus top two prospects in this year’s draft class, in some order, ESPN’s Chad Ford is surprised by how much teams’ boards vary from Nos. 3 through 8. According to Ford, every player out of the second-tier group that includes Kris Dunn, Jamal Murray, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, Jaylen Brown, and Buddy Hield ranks as high as No. 3 on at least one club’s board and as low as No. 8 on another board. Of those six players though, Dunn appears third on the most boards, per Ford.

Let’s round up a few more odds and ends from across the NBA…

• The sports agency formerly known as Relativity Sports is being relaunched as Independent Sports and Entertainment, with billionaire Ron Burkle tabbing former Madison Square Garden CEO Hank Ratner to lead the company, reports Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg Sports. The group has retained several top agents and over 300 MLB, NFL, and NBA clients.
• Croatian big man Ivica Zubac, who worked out for the Pistons today, has also gotten a look from the Grizzlies and Celtics, and has a workout on tap with the Raptors, tweets Keith Langlois of Pistons.com. According to Langlois, Zubac chose those four teams because they had shown the most interest in him.
• Former Virginia Tech guard Malcolm Delaney, who has played overseas for the last several years, turned down a two-year, $5MM offer from Barcelona in the hopes of landing with an NBA team this year, reports Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net. If Delaney can’t find the right NBA situation, he may end up in China, where he has a “huge offer” on the table, per Varlas.
• In a piece for The Vertical, former Nets executive Bobby Marks examines how teams prepare for the draft, from setting a draft board to medical reviews to trade talks.
• ESPN’s Kevin Pelton identifies five key offseason storylines to watch in the coming days and weeks.