2020 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Notes: Bishop, Lottery Scenarios, Figueroa, Gach

June 24th, 2020 at 1:23pm CST by Luke Adams

Having had his waiver for another college season denied by the NCAA, Jermaine Bishop of Norfolk State will keep his name in the 2020 NBA draft and go pro, tweets Jeff Goodman of Stadium.

A 6’1″ guard, Bishop spent two years at Saint Louis before transferring to Norfolk State for his junior year. In 2019/20, he averaged 15.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.2 APG on .405/.395/.855 shooting in 31 games (33.4 MPG) for the Spartans.

Bishop isn’t a top-100 prospect on ESPN’s big board and seems likely to go undrafted in October, but his outside shooting ability should intrigue professional teams. His .395 3PT% this season came on 8.0 three-point attempts per game.

Here’s more on the draft:

In an Insider-only piece for ESPN.com, Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz break down the various lottery odds and options for the NBA’s bottom eight teams. Although ESPN’s draft gurus view LaMelo Ball as the best option for most of those clubs, they acknowledge that there may be a few tough decisions to make, with no clear No. 1 prospect in this year’s class.
After spending two seasons with St. John’s, guard LJ Figueroa is transferring to Oregon. Despite that commitment to the Ducks, Figueroa hasn’t ruled out going pro and his name is still in the draft pool, a source tells Zach Braziller of The New York Post. However, Figueroa is unlikely to remain in the draft.
Former Utah swingman Both Gach entered the transfer portal this spring and committed to the University of Minnesota. Gach was testing the draft waters during that process, but the expectation is that he’ll remove his name from draft consideration, a source tells Josh Newman of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Revised Early Entrant Policy For NBA Draft Clarified

June 20th, 2020 at 3:31pm CST by Arthur Hill

Now that the NBA has established new dates for early entrants in the October 16 draft, an ESPN report clarifies what those changes will mean.

According to a memo from the league obtained by Adrian Wojnarowski, underclassmen and eligible overseas players will have until August 17 to submit their names for the draft, with a withdrawal deadline of October 6. Those dates are tentative until an agreement can be finalized with the players union regarding the season restart.

Players who decided against entering the draft before the previous deadline of April 26 will have a chance to reconsider. Early entrants who have already submitted draft paperwork won’t need to reapply, a source told Jonathan Givony of ESPN, while players who entered the draft and later withdrew will be given a chance to apply again.

Earlier this month, the NCAA set August 3 as the date for players to take their names out of the draft and still maintain their college eligibility. College players could wait until the NBA’s October 6 deadline to withdraw and would be draft-eligible in a future year, but doing so would make them ineligible to return to their college team.

ESPN notes that today’s memo doesn’t mention whether a draft combine might take place or if teams will be able to hold private workouts or attend pro days sponsored by agencies.

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2020 NBA Draft

NBA Draft, Free Agency Dates, Deadlines Set

June 20th, 2020 at 11:03am CST by marksuleymanov

The date for the 2020 NBA draft has been set for Friday, October 16, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Wojnarowski also notes (via Twitter) that free agency will open up two days later, on October 18, with a moratorium period on deals from October 19-23.

The NBA draft was originally tentatively rescheduled for October 15 with the draft lottery moved to August 25 from the original June 25 and May 19 dates, respectively.

In a pair of tweets, Wojnarowski says that the new early entry deadline for the draft is August 17, while the early entrant withdrawal deadline is October 6. The latter date makes sense, since the NBA’s deadline for early entrants to withdraw their names always falls 10 days before the draft.

However, the August 17 update may require some further clarification — the early entry deadline initially fell on April 26 and there was no indication at the time that the NBA had pushed it back. The NCAA recently set its own early entrant withdrawal deadline for no later than August 3.

In regards to free agency, teams will be able to negotiate with players starting at 6:00pm eastern time on October 18, per Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Players and teams figure to start reaching agreements at that point, though they won’t be able to complete them until a few days later. You can track all the players set to hit free agency this fall here.

Additionally, traded player exceptions that were originally set to expire on July 6-10 will expire on October 23-27, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link). You can track those trade exceptions here.

The NBA is currently working toward resuming the 2019/20 season through a bubble league in Orlando. If and when the season can be resumed and completed, the new dates will impact franchise’s plans for building rosters toward the ’20/21 campaign.

Draft Notes: Avdija, Ball, Lawson, Collins

June 19th, 2020 at 11:54am CST by Arthur Hill

Deni Avdija, projected as a high lottery pick in this year’s draft, will rejoin his Maccabi Tel Aviv team when the Israeli basketball league resumes play Sunday, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

“Before I go to the U.S., I have a job to finish here in Israel,” Avdija stated in an email. “As a competitor I am committed to my organization and teammates to help bring a championship to Tel Aviv. We were having such a great season, so winning the title, even with the delay and without live fans, will give me a sense that the hard work paid off.”

The 19-year-old forward was averaging averaging 12.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists when the league suspended play in March and is rated fifth on Givony’s latest list of the top 100 draft prospects. The Israeli league won’t use a “bubble” concept during the remainder of its season. There will be home and away games without fans, and players have been told to remain at home and self-quarantine when they’re not at practices or games.

There’s more draft news to pass along:

LaMelo Ball ranks No. 1 on the new draft board compiled by Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Georgia’s Anthony Edwards, Dayton’s Obi Toppin, Memphis’ James Wiseman and Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton round out the top five. Vecenie puts Haliburton on his list of players who have improved their draft stock during the interview process, which is topped by TCU’s Desmond Bane, who may have moved into the late first round.
South Carolina coach Frank Martin doesn’t believe guard A.J. Lawson should make an immediate decision about staying in the draft, according to John Whittle of 247 Sports. A report earlier this week indicated Lawson plans to return to school, but his father disputed that. “There’s no need to rush. He’s had probably six or seven interviews with NBA teams, which is what they’re all doing right now,” Martin said. “As long as NBA teams are offering interviews, I don’t see any reason why he should try to make a decision sooner than he has to. If no NBA team was asking to meet with him, I would think he’d make a decision by now.”
David Collins will take his name out of the draft and return to South Florida for his senior season, tweets Jeff Goodman of GoodmanHoops.
Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report ranks French guard Killian Hayes, Avdija and Haliburton as this year’s top sleeper prospects.

Draft Notes: Choh, Lawson, Combine, Bolmaro

June 17th, 2020 at 7:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Tamenang Choh, a forward from Brown, is withdrawing from the draft and will head back to school for his senior year, coach Mike Martin tells Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link).

Choh averaged a career-best 13.2 PPG in 27 games last season to go along with 8.1 RPG and 3.3 APG. However, he struggled with his efficiency, making just 39.2% of his shots from the field – including 29.2% from beyond the three-point line – and 65.5% of his free-throw attempts.

Here’s more on the 2020 NBA draft:

Following a report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link) suggesting that South Carolina guard A.J. Lawson will pull out of the draft and return to school, his father Anthony told Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com that A.J. “is still in the draft.” For now, we’re leaving him in the “testing the waters” section of our early entrant tracker.
If a draft combine exists in any form this year, the primary objective will likely be to get prospects’ measurements and medicals, says Jeremy Woo of SI.com. The on-court aspect, including drills and scrimmages, would likely be significantly limited, if it happens at all, according to Woo.
Spain’s basketball league, the ACB, resumed play in Wednesday. Within his Insider-only breakdown on how that return-to-play will work, Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com identifies five candidates to be drafted in 2020 and 2021 who are playing in the ACB and are worth keeping an eye on, including potential ’20 first-rounder Leandro Bolmaro.

Feron Hunt Withdraws From Draft

June 15th, 2020 at 8:43pm CST by Dana Gauruder

SMU forward Feron Hunt is withdrawing his name from the draft and will return to school, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets.

Hunt tossed his name into the draft pool in late March. However, he was considered a marginal second-round prospect, most recently being ranked No. 76 overall and No. 15 among power forwards on ESPN’s Best Available list.

Hunt is coming off a 2019/20 campaign in which he averaged 11.0 PPG and 6.7 RPG in 30 games (28.2 MPG) for the Mustangs.

For information on all early entrants, please click here.

And-Ones: P. Gasol, J. Burns, Diversity, More

June 11th, 2020 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Having previously expressed interest in the possibility of playing one final season with the Lakers, Pau Gasol spoke again this week about that scenario and once again opened the door to the idea of finishing his career in Spain.

As Tales Azzoni of The Associated Press details, Gasol believes he has to play in 2020/21 in order to give himself a chance of representing Spain in the Tokyo Olympics next July, which he wants to do. The big man, who turns 40 next month and has dealt with foot issues during the last year, specifically cited two of his former teams as desirable landing spots for next season.

“My intention is to play another season if the foot is OK, either in the NBA or in Europe,” Gasol told Spanish media, per Azzoni. “A final season with the Lakers is attractive, finishing at Barça (Barcelona) is attractive, but you have to see the real possibilities and see what situation would be best for the circumstances of the moment.”

Gasol’s storied career includes plenty of memorable moments with both the Lakers and Barcelona. He won a pair of NBA championships with L.A. in 2009 and 2010, and won two Spanish League titles in 1999 and 2001 with Barcelona, earning Finals MVP honors in ’01.

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

After testing the waters, Colgate guard Jordan Burns has opted to withdraw his name from the 2020 NBA draft pool, he announced on Instagram. A former Patriot Tournament MVP, Burns posted 15.8 PPG, 4.5 APG, and 1.7 SPG in 34 games (32.4 MPG) for the Raiders as a junior in 2019/20.
The NBA’s only Latino president of basketball operations, Gersson Rosas of the Timberwolves said this week that he hopes to see more diversity in front offices in the NBA and other sports leagues going forward. Eric Woodyard of ESPN has the story and the quotes from Rosas, who said, “You’re cheating yourself if you don’t have diverse perspectives.”
In an in-depth Insider-only breakdown for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks examines the biggest offseason questions facing the eight teams that won’t be part of the league’s restart in Orlando this summer.

Pistons Notes: GM Search, Draft, Point Guard, More

June 11th, 2020 at 12:26pm CST by Luke Adams

As the Pistons continue their search for a new general manager, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic cites a high-ranking team source who says that prioritizing diversity during that process is considered “vital.”

As Edwards cautions, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Detroit’s next GM will be a person of color. However, it sounds as if the Pistons are casting a wide net as they consider candidates, and Edwards suggests he’d be “very, very surprised” if the team doesn’t hire a person of color to its front office this summer in some capacity, whether it’s as a GM, an assistant GM, or another position.

Here’s more on the Pistons:

Within the mailbag linked above, Edwards says he thinks the Pistons may play it a little safer in the 2020 NBA draft after rolling the dice on 18-year-old Sekou Doumbouya a year ago. As Edwards points out, this year’s draft class isn’t considered particularly strong to begin with, and scouting has been a challenge due to the coronavirus pandemic. As such, it might be a good time for the club to take a player it’s confident will develop into a solid pro, even if that prospect doesn’t necessarily have superstar upside. Of course, Detroit’s draft strategy will hinge in large part on where the team ends up in the lottery.
On an end-of-season conference call on Wednesday, Pistons head coach Dwane Casey said he thinks the team will look to acquire a starting point guard in the draft or free agency this offseason, per Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). Derrick Rose remains under contract for one more year, but thrived primarily in a sixth-man role in 2019/20.
As Sankofa relays in a full Free Press story, Casey also said on Wednesday’s call that he was encouraged by the growth of the Pistons’ young players this season. “We found Christian Wood, who had an excellent season with us when a lot of people had given up on him,” Casey said. “Svi Mykhailiuk, I thought he made great strides as far as his shooting ability and his development. And also Bruce Brown, I thought Bruce took strides. I don’t think that he’s a starting point guard in our league. I think he’s going to be an excellent backup for us for whoever we get in that situation. But this year’s development of him is really valuable.”
We passed along a few more of Casey’s end-of-season comments on Wednesday evening.

Villanova’s Saddiq Bey To Remain In Draft

June 9th, 2020 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

Villanova forward Saddiq Bey has decided to keep his name in the 2020 NBA draft and go pro, he tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Bey, whose departure was confirmed by the school (via Twitter), is signing with Excel Sports Management for representation, Woj adds.

Bey announced back in April that he’d be testing the draft waters following his sophomore year with the Wildcats. However, he kept his options open and hadn’t committed to going pro until now.

[RELATED: 2020 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]

“Over the last two years, I have grown as a player, student, and man thanks to my coaching staff, teammates, and professors,” Bey said. “Villanova has the greatest fans in the world and I will miss playing in front of them next year. I will always be a Wildcat. … I am really excited to start the pursuit of my NBA career.”

The No. 18 overall prospect on ESPN’s big board, Bey averaged a team-high 16.1 PPG in 31 games (33.9 MPG) in 2019/20. He also contributed 4.7 RPG, 2.4 APG, and an eye-popping .451 3PT% on 5.6 three-point attempts per game. After earning Big East All-Freshman honors a year ago, the forward – who turned 21 this spring – was a unanimous All-Big East First Team pick this year.

Although Bey looks like a lock to be a first-round pick, most mock drafts have him coming off the board outside of the lottery. Rob Dauster of NBC Sports argued this morning that Bey is one of the safest and most undervalued prospects in this year’s class, expressing surprise that he’s not “valued higher by the industry.”

Draft Notes: Combine, Interviews, Langley, Wings

June 8th, 2020 at 4:58pm CST by Luke Adams

If there’s a draft combine in 2020, it won’t take on its usual form, but preliminary discussions are underway for “some type of prospect gathering” in Orlando during the final week of August, reports Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

According to Givony, workouts or scrimmages are unlikely to take place at such an event, and it’s not clear how many players would be invited. But it could give teams an opportunity to interview players, conduct medical tests, and possibly get measurements.

The situation remains “fluid,” per Givony, who suggests that the NBA will want to see how the first few weeks in Orlando go before making plans to bring new people into the bubble. On the plus side, if a revamped combine takes place in late August, at least six teams would already have been eliminated by that point, reducing the number of total individuals in the bubble.

Here’s more on the 2020 NBA draft:

Within that same ESPN story, Givony cites team sources who say it has been challenging to line up Zoom interviews with many of 2020’s projected first-round picks. Executives have instead been focusing on potential second-rounders or undrafted players — according to Givony, a number of players not listed in ESPN’s top 100 have been invited to interview with more than half of the league’s clubs.
North Carolina A&T guard Kameron Langley is withdrawing from the 2020 draft and return to school for his senior season, a source told Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link). Langley, who has started 93 of 98 in three years with the Aggies, filled the box score in 2019/20 with averages of 9.4 PPG, 8.0 APG, 5.2 RPG, and 2.1 SPG.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer took a closer look at some of the most intriguing two-way wings in the 2020 draft class, including Tyler Bey (Colorado), Robert Woodard II (Mississippi State), and Patrick Williams (Florida State), among others.