And-Ones: D-League, BIG3, Greg Oden

A pair of former NBA players have signed D-League contracts, according to Chris Reichert of The Step Back, who reports (via Twitter) that Duje Dukan and Stephane Lasme are joining the league. Dukan played a single game last season for the Kings before returning to Croatia, while Lasme last saw NBA action way back in 2007/08 for the Warriors and Heat. Lasme has spent the last several years in Europe, though he received a suspension in 2016 for a failed doping test.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

• The new BIG3 league, which will debut this summer, has secured coaching commitments from Rick Barry, Clyde Drexler, and Rick Mahorn, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein (via Twitter). Previous reports have indicated that George Gervin and Gary Payton will also serve as coaches in the eight-team, three-on-three league.
• While former No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden has referred to himself in the past as the biggest bust in NBA history, he walked those comments back a little in a conversation with Dana O’Neil of Outside The Lines. “If you’re out there and you can’t do it, that makes you a bust,” Oden said. “Well, I was never really out there. I was never Greg Oden in the NBA.” Check out O’Neil’s piece for more from Oden, who hasn’t ruled out the possibility of pursuing a coaching or personnel job in the future.
• In a piece for The Step Back, Reichert identifies several D-League players who made unexpectedly strong impressions as last week’s NBA D-League Showcase. It remains to be seen whether the players singled out by Reichert will be able to land 10-day contracts with NBA teams this season, but they could at least be in line for larger roles on their respective D-League clubs.