The NBA G League held its draft for the 2020/21 season on Monday afternoon.
In a typical year, the G League draft lasts four rounds and teams are only required to make two selections. However, this year’s draft was just three rounds and teams weren’t required to make any picks.
Because only 17 of 28 NBA G League affiliates (plus the G League Ignite) are participating in the revamped season at Walt Disney World in Florida, and because teams aren’t permitted to bring extra players to training camp for health and safety reasons, roster spots will be at a premium in the NBAGL this season, and the draft reflected that. Only 25 players were selected.
With the first overall pick, the Greensboro Swarm – the Hornets‘ affiliate – nabbed former Wizard Admiral Schofield. The 42nd overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, Schofield averaged 3.0 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 33 games (11.2 MPG) as a rookie before being traded to the Thunder during the offseason. Oklahoma City waived him last month.
With the second overall pick, which they acquired in a trade earlier in the day, the Memphis Hustle selected former Baylor standout Freddie Gillespie, who had been in camp with the Mavericks. Gillespie recently spoke to JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors about his desire to make it to the NBA and his plans to begin his professional career in the G League. He’s now in position to suit up for the Grizzlies‘ affiliate.
Here are the full 2020/21 G League draft results:
Round One:
- Greensboro Swarm (Hornets): Admiral Schofield (Tennessee)
- Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies): Freddie Gillespie (Baylor)
- Canton Charge (Cavaliers): Antonio Blakeney (LSU)
- Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves): Allonzo Trier (Arizona)
- Lakeland Magic (Magic): Tahjere McCall (Tennessee State)
- Canton Charge: Anthony Lamb (Vermont)
- Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder): Zavier Simpson (Michigan)
- Lakeland Magic: DJ Hogg (Texas A&M)
- Westchester Knicks (Knicks): Justin Patton (Creighton)
- Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets): Armoni Brooks (Houston)
- Raptors 905 (Raptors): Kevon Harris (Stephen F. Austin)
- Rio Grande Valley Vipers: Jarron Cumberland (Cincinnati)
- Oklahoma City Blue: Vince Edwards (Purdue)
- Austin Spurs (Spurs): Jonathan Kasibabu (Fairfield)
- Raptors 905: Gary Payton II (Oregon State)
- Memphis Hustle: Anthony Cowan Jr. (Maryland)
- Iowa Wolves: Dakarai Tucker (Utah)
- Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz): No pick
- N/A
Round Two:
- Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers): Jemerrio Jones (New Mexico State)
- Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Pacers): Oshae Brissett (Syracuse)
- Westchester Knicks: No pick
- Iowa Wolves: No pick
- Long Island Nets (Nets): No pick
- Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers): No pick
- Fort Wayne Mad Ants: Quincy McKnight (Seton Hall)
- Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers): No pick
- Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors): Selom Mawugbe (Azusa Pacific)
- Raptors 905: No pick
- Memphis Hustle: No pick
- Austin Spurs: Anthony Mathis (Oregon)
- Erie BayHawks (Pelicans): No pick
- Greensboro Swarm: No pick
- Austin Spurs: Kaleb Johnson (Georgetown)
- Santa Cruz Warriors: No pick
- Memphis Hustle: No pick
- Oklahoma City Blue: Rob Edwards (Arizona State)
- Salt Lake City Stars: No pick
Round Three:
- Greensboro Swarm: No pick
- Erie BayHawks: No pick
- Westchester Knicks: No pick
- Delaware Blue Coats: Braxton Key (Virginia)
- No picks from 43-57
The teams that didn’t make any picks will fill their rosters with affiliate players and returning rights players, meaning they didn’t need to draft anyone and/or didn’t have the open spots to do so.
As Jonathan Givony of ESPN and Blake Murphy of The Athletic noted (via Twitter), NBAGL teams overwhelmingly opted for youth, passing on most of the notable veteran NBA players in the draft pool. That group included Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers, Lance Stephenson, Emeka Okafor, and Shabazz Muhammad, among others.
Former Nets first-rounder Dzanan Musa removed his name from the draft pool before the event began, per Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).
How someone doesn’t pick Beasley is beyond me
Some teams still have the ability to add the designated veteran slot. I would imagine guys like Beasley would fill that slot instead of taking up a regular roster spot that could go to a prospect.
So since a lot of teams didn’t select players, does that mean most rosters are full? Or are the undrafted veterans mentioned still have a chance of landing on a G-League team even though they weren’t selected?
Rosters are mostly full for now, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any changes at all. Injuries and possible positive COVID-19 tests could force teams to make roster moves before or during the season. Since they’ll be playing in a bubble, I doubt there will be as much roster shuffling as usual, but there will be some.
Ah gotcha, that’s what I figured
No team drafted the 7 Foot Center out of UNLV named Brandon McCoy? He played for Milwaukee’s GLeague affiliate team last year and played DeAndre Ayton straight up when his college team played the Univ of Arizona a few years back. Anyone know if he is playing overseas? He’s an intriguing backup NBA center prospect.
The Wisconsin Herd waived McCoy in February when it signed Justin Patton. He has not played overseas or anywhere else since, to my knowledge. A lot of pretty good players are working out at home, waiting for an opportunity. With fewer G League teams playing this season, there are fewer jobs.
I am disappointed, but not really surprised that none of the former Kentucky guys were selected. Of the available ones, I figured some team might pick up Isaiah Briscoe, but I guess he just needs to pick up a world atlas and find his next country to live in for a while,
I was wondering where Trier ended up now I know. Too bad he couldn’t make the top 15 on a roster.
dang. i didnt expect muhammed, chalmers, and stephenson to go undrafted. dis is da most lamest g league draft i’ve ever witnessed . da other ones i witnessed were 2018 and 2019 at least those were pretty packed and detailed. but dis one only had 26 players who got drafted. at least da raptor 905 got two top picks in payton ll and kevon harris. could use payotn’s shooting and defense capabilities if da raptors can’t improve.
Something doesn’t smell right with these draft picks. A monopoly is occurring and bias is filtering down from the top. A lawsuit may be in order!
Justin Patton needs to get a 10 day contract by the knicks later in the season because we’ve seen the movie and know that the knicks suck
ikr. randle aint gonna do any shot blocking or even defense. just let him be john stockton and get more upgrades at da 5. wait wait….. didnt they sign taj gibson? wut thye gunna do with him? throw him behind knox and randle?