NBA Draft Rights Held For 2018/19

When top college prospects like Deandre Ayton or Marvin Bagley III are drafted, it’s a given that their next step will involve signing an NBA contract. However, that’s not the case for every player who is selected in the NBA draft, especially international prospects and second-round picks.

When an NBA team uses a draft pick on a player, it gains his NBA rights, but that doesn’t mean the player will sign an NBA contract right away. International prospects will often remain with their professional team overseas for at least one more year to develop their game further, becoming “draft-and-stash” prospects. Dario Saric, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Tomas Satoransky are among the more notable players to fit this bill in recent years.

However, draft-and-stash players can be former NCAA standouts too. Sometimes a college prospect selected with a late second round pick will end up playing overseas or in the G League for a year or two if there’s no space available on his NBA team’s 15-man roster.

While these players sometimes make their way to their NBA teams, others never do. Many clubs currently hold the NBA rights to international players who have remained overseas for their entire professional careers and are no longer viewed as top prospects. Those players may never come stateside, but there’s often no reason for NBA teams to renounce their rights — those rights can sometimes be used as placeholders in trades.

For instance, during the 2018 offseason, the Mavericks and Rockets agreed to a trade that sent Chinanu Onuaku, cash, and future draft-pick swap rights to Dallas. For Houston, the deal was just about getting off Onuaku’s guaranteed salary and the tax penalty that would have come along with it, but the Mavericks had to send something to the Rockets in the deal. Rather than including an NBA player or a draft pick, Dallas sent Houston the draft rights to Maarty Leunen, the 54th pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

Leunen is currently playing for Fortitudo Bologna in Italy, and at this point appears unlikely to ever come to the NBA, but his draft rights have been a useful trade chip over the years — the Rockets/Mavericks swap represented the third time that Preldzic’s NBA rights have been included in a trade since he was drafted.

Listed below are all the players whose NBA draft rights are currently held by NBA teams. These players may eventually arrive in America and join their respective NBA clubs, but many will end up like Leunen, plying their trade overseas and having their draft rights used as pawns in NBA trades.

Atlanta Hawks

• Augusto Binelli, C (1986; No. 40): Retired.
• Alain Digbeu, F (1997; No. 49): Retired.
• Marcus Eriksson, G/F (2015; No. 50): Playing in Spain.
• Alpha Kaba, C (2017; No. 60): Playing in France.

Boston Celtics

• None

Brooklyn Nets

• Isaia Cordinier, G (2016; No. 44): Playing in France.
• Christian Drejer, F (2004; No. 51): Retired.
• Juan Vaulet, F (2015; No. 39): Playing in Argentina.
• Aleksandar Vezenkov, F (2017; No. 57): Playing in Greece.

Charlotte Hornets

• Arnoldas Kulboka, F (2018; No. 55): Playing in Germany.

Chicago Bulls

• Albert Miralles, C (2004; No. 39): Last played in Spain.
• Jon Diebler, G (2011; No. 51): Playing in Turkey.

Cleveland Cavaliers

• Ejike Ugboaja, F (2006: No. 55): Retired.
• Edin Bavcic, F/C (2006; No. 56): Playing in Austria.
• Renaldas Seibutis, G (2007; No. 50): Playing in Spain.
• Sergiy Gladyr, G (2009; No. 49): Playing in Monaco.
• Milan Macvan, F (2011; No. 54): Playing in Germany.
• Chukwudiebere Maduabum, F/C (2011; No. 56): Playing in Japan.
• Ilkan Karaman, F (2012: No. 57): Playing in Turkey.
• Sir’Dominic Pointer, G/F (2015; No. 53): Playing in G League.
• Arturas Gudaitis, C (2015; No. 47): Playing in Italy.

Dallas Mavericks

• Petteri Koponen, G (2007; No. 30): Playing in Germany.
• Stanko Barac, C (2007; No. 39): Last played in Italy.
• Satnam Singh, C (2015; No. 52): Playing in Canada.

Denver Nuggets

• Sani Becirovic, G (2003; No. 46): Retired.
• Xue Yuyang, F/C (2003; No. 57): Retired.
• Izzet Turkyilmaz, F/C (2012; No. 50): Playing in Turkey.
• Nikola Radicevic, G (2015; No. 57): Playing in Spain.
• Petr Cornelie, F (2016; No. 53): Playing in France.
• Vlatko Cancar, F (2017; No. 49): Playing in Spain.

Detroit Pistons

• None

Golden State Warriors

• Mladen Sekularac, G/F (2002; No. 55): Retired.

Houston Rockets

• Venson Hamilton, F (1999; No. 50): Retired.
• Serhiy Lishchuk, F/C (2004; No. 49): Retired.
• Axel Hervelle, F (2005; No. 52): Playing in Belgium.
• Tadija Dragicevic, F (2008: No. 53): Playing in Spain.
• Sergio Llull, G (2009; No. 34): Playing in Spain.
• Marko Todorovic, F/C (2013; No. 45): Playing in Spain.

Indiana Pacers

• Andrew Betts, C (1998; No. 50): Retired.
• Maarty Leunen, F (2008; No. 54): Playing in Italy.

Los Angeles Clippers

• Vladimir Veremeenko, F (2006; No. 48): Playing in Cyprus.
• David Michineau, G (2016; No. 39): Playing in France.

Los Angeles Lakers

• Brad Newley, F (2007; No. 54): Playing in Australia.
• Chinemelu Elonu, C (2009; No. 59): Playing in Italy.

Memphis Grizzlies

• Tyler Harvey, G (2015; No. 51): Playing in G League.
• Wang Zhelin, C (2016; No. 57): Playing in China.

Miami Heat

• George Banks, F (1995; No. 46): Retired.
• Robert Duenas, C (1997; No. 57): Retired.

Milwaukee Bucks

• Andrei Fetisov, F (1994; No. 36): Retired.
• Eurelijus Zukauskas, C (1995; No. 54): Retired.

Minnesota Timberwolves

• Lior Eliyahu, F (2006; No. 44): Playing in Israel.
• Henk Norel, C (2009; No. 47): Playing in Spain.
• Paulao Prestes, C (2010; No. 45): Last played in Brazil.
• Bojan Dubljevic, F/C (2013; No. 59): Playing in Spain.

New Orleans Pelicans

• Latavious Williams, F/C (2010; No. 48): Playing in Bosnia.
• Tony Carr, G (2018; No. 51): Playing in Italy.

New York Knicks

• Louis Labeyrie, F (2014; No. 57): Playing in Spain.
• Ognjen Jaramaz, G (2017; No. 58): Playing in Serbia.

Oklahoma City Thunder

• Abdul Shamsid-Deen, C (1990; No. 53): Retired.
• Sofoklis Schortsanitis, C (2003; No. 34): Last played in Greece.
• Szymon Szewczyk, F/C (2003; No. 35): Playing in Poland.
• Paccelis Morlende, G (2003; No. 50): Retired.
• Yotam Halperin, G (2006; No. 53): Retired.
• DeVon Hardin, C (2008; No. 50): Retired.
• Devon Hall, G (2018; No. 53): Playing in Australia.
• Kevin Hervey, F (2018; No. 57): Playing in G League.

Orlando Magic

• Rashard Griffith, C (1995; No. 38): Retired.
• Remon van de Hare, C (2003; No. 52): Retired.
• Fran Vazquez, C (2005; No. 11): Playing in Spain.
• Janis Timma, F (2013; No. 60): Playing in Greece.
• Justin Jackson, F (2018; No. 43): Playing in G League.

Philadelphia 76ers

• Emir Preldzic, F (2009; No. 57): Playing in Turkey.
• Vasilije Micic, G (2014: No. 52): Playing in Turkey.
• Anzejs Pasecniks, C (2017; No. 25): Playing in Spain.
• Mathias Lessort, F (2017; No. 50): Playing in Spain.

Phoenix Suns

• Ron Ellis, F (1992; No. 49): Retired.
• Milos Vujanic, G (2002; No. 36): Retired.
• Cenk Akyol, G/F (2005; No. 59): Playing in Turkey.
• Dwayne Collins, F (2010; No. 60): Retired.

Portland Trail Blazers

• Marcelo Nicola, F (1993; No. 50): Retired.
• Doron Sheffer, G (1996; No. 36): Retired.
• Federico Kammerichs, F/C (2002; No. 51): Retired.
• Nedzad Sinanovic, C (2003; No. 54): Retired.
• Milovan Rakovic, C (2007; No. 60): Last played in Switzerland.
• Daniel Diez, F (2015; No. 54): Playing in Spain.

Sacramento Kings

• Alex Oriakhi, F (2013; No. 57): Last played in Mexico.
• Dimitrios Agravanis, F (2015; No. 59): Playing in Greece.
• Luka Mitrovic, F (2015; No. 60): Last played in Germany.

San Antonio Spurs

• Robertas Javtokas, C (2001; No. 55): Retired.
• Viktor Sanikidze, F (2004; No. 42): Last played in Greece.
• Sergei Karaulov, C (2004; No. 57): Playing in Russia.
• Erazem Lorbek, F/C (2005; No. 46): Last played in Slovenia.
• Giorgos Printezis, F (2007; No. 58): Playing in Greece.
• Adam Hanga, G/F (2011; No. 59): Playing in Spain.
• Nemanja Dangubic, F (2014; No. 54): Playing in Germany.
• Nikola Milutinov, C (2015; No. 26): Playing in Greece.
• Cady Lalanne, F/C (2015; No. 55): Playing in Spain.

Toronto Raptors

• DeeAndre Hulett, F (2000; No. 46): Retired.

Utah Jazz

• Peter Fehse, F (2002; No. 49): Retired.
• Mario Austin, F/C (2003; No. 36): Retired.
• Ante Tomic, C (2008; No. 44): Playing in Spain.
• Shan Foster, G/F (2008; No. 51): Retired.
• Nigel Williams-Goss, G (2017; No. 55): Playing in Greece.

Washington Wizards

• Aaron White, F (2015; No. 49): Playing in Lithuania.
• Issuf Sanon, G (2018; No. 44): Playing in Slovenia.

Information from Mark Porcaro and Keith Smith was used in the creation of this post.