2022 NBA Draft Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Hall Of Fame, House, Clark, Beasley, 2022 Draft

December 23rd, 2021 at 3:04pm CST by Luke Adams

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has announced its list of 50 nominees for 2022, including four-time NBA champion Manu Ginobili, who is eligible for the first time this year.

Chauncey Billups, Shawn Marion, Michael Finley, and Mark Jackson are among the other nominees eligible to be inducted into the Hall of Fame as players, while George Karl and Paul Westhead are two of many coaching nominees. Veteran referee Joey Crawford is also eligible for the first time this year.

The Hall of Fame will announce its 2022 finalists in February and will reveal this year’s class on April 2. The enshrinement ceremony will take place on the weekend of September 9-10.

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

Before Danuel House signed a 10-day deal with the Knicks, he received interest from a number of other teams, including the Sixers, Lakers, and Kings, sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Veteran forward Earl Clark, the 14th overall pick in the 2009 draft, has signed an NBA G League contract, agent Daniel Hazan tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Clark appeared in 261 career NBA games, but hasn’t played in the league since 2015.
Former No. 2 overall pick Michael Beasley has been sent a G League contract and invited to join the NBAGL player pool, tweets Marc Stein. Beasley joined a Puerto Rican team in October after playing for Portland in Summer League this year.
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report takes a look at some early-season surprises and disappointments among 2022 NBA draft prospects, while ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz (Insider link) published an updated version of their 2022 mock draft this week. Purdue guard Jaden Ivey has moved up to No. 4 in ESPN’s latest mock, while Jaden Hardy of the G League Ignite has slipped out of the top five.

And-Ones: Roster Rules, Muhammad, Faried, Prospects

December 20th, 2021 at 3:41pm CST by Luke Adams

A handful of reporters have shared some additional details on the changes to the NBA’s roster rules as agreed upon by the league and the players’ union, which we outlined this morning.

According to Eric Koreen of The Athletic, while teams are now being required to sign replacement players if they have multiple players sidelined due to positive COVID-19 tests, a club won’t have to sign any additional replacements if it’s able to have 13 healthy players in uniform.

Meanwhile, Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link) cites multiple sources who say it won’t just be new hardship signings that don’t count against team salary for cap or tax purposes — that change will be applied retroactively to all of this season’s hardship signings. Teams, of course, will still be required to pay 10-day salaries to each player they sign, but those deals won’t have an impact on a club’s cap or tax situation.

Finally, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link), even though players on two-way contracts no longer face a 50-game regular season limit, they remain ineligible to participate in play-in or postseason games unless they’re promoted to their team’s standard roster.

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

Former lottery pick Shabazz Muhammad, who last played in the NBA in 2018, joined the Grand Rapids Gold – the Nuggets‘ G League affiliate – for the NBAGL Showcase, as Marc Stein reported (via Twitter). Muhammad struggled in his debut on Sunday vs. the G League Ignite, recording four points, four turnovers, and six fouls in 16 minutes of action.
CSKA Moscow and veteran NBA big man Kenneth Faried have parted ways, the Russian club recently announced in a press release. Faried signed a two-month contract with CSKA in October, but played a limited role for the team, which opted not to extend his deal to cover the entire season. “Thank you for having me, it was amazing – the organization, coaches and people of CSKA Moscow,” Faried said in a statement. “I wish I could have stayed the whole season but it’s a business and I understand that!”
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic identifies seven college upperclassmen to keep an eye on this NCAA season as 2022 draft prospects, singling out Kansas wing Ochai Agbaji, Duke wing Wendell Moore Jr., and Northwestern forward Pete Nance (Larry Nance Jr.‘s brother), among others.

And-Ones: Franchise Valuations, Maker, Ferrell, J. Smith

December 16th, 2021 at 9:46am CST by Luke Adams

Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico has released his annual NBA franchise valuations, with the Knicks ($6.12 billion), Warriors ($6.03 billion), and Lakers ($5.63 billion) leading the way. Those three clubs are far and away the NBA’s most valuable, in Sportico’s view — no other team is valued above $3.61 billion, which is where the fourth-place Nets land, and the average league-wide valuation is about $2.6 billion.

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

Former NBA lottery pick Thon Maker and Hapoel Jerusalem have parted ways, the Israeli team announced earlier this week (via Twitter). Maker, who spent part of last season with the Cavaliers, is once again a free agent.
Veteran guard Yogi Ferrell recently signed with a team in Slovenia, but he remains focused on playing his way back to the NBA, he said this week on Eurohoops’ EurohooPOD podcast. “I definitely want to get back over there and still show I belong in the league,” Ferrell said.
While Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren have long been viewed as the consensus top two prospects in the 2022 draft class, John Hollinger of The Athletic says that Auburn’s Jabari Smith is making a legitimate case to be considered at No. 1.
The Bulls‘ organization is being impacted by COVID-19 at multiple levels. Like the NBA squad, the G League’s Windy City Bulls have had their schedule affected by the health and safety protocols and won’t take part in the upcoming NBAGL Winter Showcase, the league announced in a press release.

And-Ones: Stephenson, Popovich, Thibodeau, Africa League, Samuel

December 9th, 2021 at 5:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lance Stephenson is currently playing for the Nuggets’ G league affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold. He ultimately hopes to get another chance to play in the NBA, as he told Bob Kravitz of The Athletic.

“I want to show everybody I’m a different guy and I’ll do anything I can to contribute to a team,’” he said. “My whole mindset is getting back to the NBA. I feel like I belong there. That’s my destination. And I’ll never quit trying.”

Stephenson, who is averaging 19.5 PPG and 7.4 RPG for the Gold, hasn’t appeared in the NBA game since the 2018/19 season, when he played in 63 regular-season games for the Lakers.

We have more from around the basketball world:

A successor for Gregg Popovich as Team USA’s head coach has yet to be named. Popovich said that Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau would make an excellent choice, according to Steve Popper of Newsday. “Oh sure, there are a lot of guys up here that would be fantastic and he’s one of them,” Popovich said. “I think that experience is great and the people that they’re looking at, they’re all great candidates and I think everybody is going to be happy with the final selection for sure. He also was really helpful and supportive during my last four or five years with this, talking to him about how it all goes, giving advice.”
The Basketball Africa League will have an expanded second season, according to an NBA press release. The season will begin on March 5, 2022, in Dakar, Senegal, and will include stops in Cairo, Egypt, and Kigali, Rwanda. The BAL will once again feature the to 12 club teams from 12 African countries and will expand to a total of 38 games over three months.
Seton Hall big man Tyrese Samuel has caught the eye of NBA scouts, Adam Zagoria of NJ.com writes. According to Zagoria, 25 NBA scouts from 17 teams will be in attendance on Thursday when the Pirates play Texas. There’s a chance Samuel could enter the draft after this season, depending on the feedback he gets.

And-Ones: I. Thomas, Trade Candidates, Lin, Noel, Draft

December 1st, 2021 at 4:24pm CST by Luke Adams

Team USA only won one of two games in the first round of qualifiers for the 2023 World Cup this week in Mexico, but veteran guard Isaiah Thomas played against both Cuba and Mexico, leading the U.S. with 42 total points and 13 assists in 49 minutes across the two contests.

After putting up 21 points in Team USA’s win over Cuba on Sunday, Thomas reiterated his desire to get back onto an NBA roster, while leaving the door open to the possibility of playing in an international league.

“The ultimate goal is to get back in the NBA,” he said, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link). “I just love playing the game of basketball. So, obviously, at some point, if the NBA isn’t an option I’ve got to look at options overseas. … I love competing and I love playing.”

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

In the latest HoopsHype Podcast, Michael Scotto and Yossi Gozlan identified some potential trade candidates among the group of the players who will become eligible to be dealt on December 15 or January 15. Nuggets wing Will Barton, Pelicans swingman Josh Hart, Rockets center Daniel Theis, and a few Pistons veterans are among the players Scotto and Gozlan discussed.
Former NBA point guard Jeremy Lin has returned to the Beijing Ducks for another season, as EuroHoops relays. Lin, who has been out of the NBA since winning a title with Toronto in 2019, said in a statement that “playing basketball in China feels at home.”
After filing suit against his former agent Rich Paul, Knicks center Nerlens Noel now finds himself at odds with the players’ union. As Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic explains, the NBPA’s standard player agent contract states that disputes should be settled through arbitration, which Noel has circumvented by taking his issue with Paul to court.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz (Insider link) updated their top-100 big board for the 2022 NBA draft on Tuesday and shared some insights on several college prospects. Auburn’s Jabari Smith made a significant impression on Schmitz, who said he was “blown away” by what he saw from the 18-year-old and considers him a potential dark horse to be next year’s No. 1 pick.

Draft Notes: Banchero, Holmgren, Smith, Ivey, NCAA

November 26th, 2021 at 6:40pm CST by Rory Maher

Tonight’s highly anticipated matchup between between No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 5 Duke features the top two prospects on most 2022 draft boards — freshmen Paolo Banchero and Chet Holmgren.

Sam Vecenie of The Athletic recently shared his third mock draft for 2022, with Banchero, a 6’10” forward for Duke, at No. 1, and Holmgren, a 7’0″ center for Gonzaga, at No. 2. Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report currently has the two players flipped, with Holmgren’s elite shot-blocking and offensive versatility slightly outranking Banchero’s physical tools and high skill-level.

Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated thinks that Holmgren has more at stake in Friday’s marquee matchup, because it might be his only opportunity to prove he can physically compete against two strong, NBA-bodied big men in Banchero and Mark Williams (No. 31 on Vecenie’s board). Holmgren has a huge 7’6″ wingspan, but weighs just 195 pounds.

The game will also feature three other projected draft picks, per Vecenie’s board: No. 12 A.J. Griffin (Duke), No. 17 Trevor Keels (Duke) and No. 44 Drew Timme (Gonzaga).

The two 6-0 teams face off at 9:30 PM CT on ESPN in what is likely to be the most heavily-scouted game of the men’s college basketball season.

Here are some more 2022 draft-related notes:

Some scouts viewed Banchero and Holmgren in a tier of their own for 2022. However, freshman Jabari Smith of Auburn has been turning heads with his strong play, and Wasserman writes that he could be a future star as well. Vecenie has Smith third on his board, while Jeremy Woo has him second in his initial mock draft, ahead of Holmgren. Smith, who’s six months younger than Banchero and a year younger than Holmgren, is a 6’10” forward with an intriguing mix of skills, and is viewed as the best shooter of the projected top three picks.
John Hollinger of The Athletic breaks down 10 potential draft picks — two sophomores and eight upperclassmen. The players range from projected high lottery picks (Jaden Ivey of Purdue, number five on Vecenie’s board) to fringe second-rounders (Scotty Pippen Jr. of Vanderbilt, not currently on Vecenie’s board).
Jake Fisher of Bleacher Report wonders whether the NCAA is still the best path to the NBA for top prospects. He explores the pros and cons of the NCAA and alternatives such as G League Ignite, Overtime Elite, and playing internationally.

And-Ones: Howard, Banchero, UAE, Underperforming Teams

November 17th, 2021 at 11:46am CST by Luke Adams

The University of Michigan has agreed to a long-term contract extension with men’s basketball head coach Juwan Howard, the program announced on Tuesday in a press release. Howard’s new deal will run through the 2025/26 season, locking him up for the next five years.

Howard has been identified as a potential NBA head coaching candidate in recent years, but the former Heat assistant has repeatedly shot down rumors that he’d be interested in returning to the league. If he changes his mind during the next five years, Howard could probably negotiate an exit from his deal with the Wolverines. But the fact that he agreed to that extension in the first place suggests he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.

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

Duke’s Paolo Banchero, a projected top-two pick in the 2022 NBA draft, was arrested on Sunday for aiding and abetting DWI, according to Steve Wiseman of The Raleigh News & Observer. Blue Devils guard Michael Savarino, who was driving a vehicle registered to Banchero, was charged with DWI. Both players have December court dates.
NBA games will be played in the United Arab Emirates for the first time next fall, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, who reports that the league will schedule two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi in October 2022. The NBA has previously played exhibitions in the Middle East in Israel, but this will be the league’s first trip to the UAE.
A handful of ESPN writers took a closer look at some underperforming teams to assess how concerned those clubs should be about their slow starts. The Hawks, Bucks, and Celtics are among the teams that shouldn’t be too worried quite yet, but the panic meter is already high for the Pelicans.

And-Ones: Rudez, Trade Candidates, Singh, Canales

November 11th, 2021 at 5:17pm CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA forward Damjan Rudez has announced his retirement, as Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files relays (via Twitter). Rudez confirmed his decision on his own Twitter account, posting a message thanking everyone who was “a part of this long and beautiful journey with me.”

A 6’10” Crotian, Rudez spent most of his professional career in Europe. Besides playing in his home country, he also had stints in Belgium, Slovenia, Spain, Monaco, and The Netherlands. He did briefly play in the NBA from 2014-17, appearing in a total of 146 games for the Pacers, Timberwolves, and Magic.

Rudez’ NBA career got off to a promising start in Indiana, where he made 40.6% of his three-point attempts in 68 games (15.4 MPG) as a 28-year-old rookie. However, he was traded to Minnesota in exchange for Chase Budinger following his rookie year and his production fell off after that.

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

Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype identifies some players around the NBA who aren’t getting regular minutes and could become trade candidates this season. Some, including Raptors guard Goran Dragic and Kings big man Marvin Bagley III, are probably already on the trade block, while others, such as Magic center Robin Lopez and Pistons wing Hamidou Diallo, are more speculative.
Indian prospect Principal Singh is finalizing a three-year contract with the New Zealand Breakers of Australia’s National Basketball League, tweets Marc Stein. Singh spent last season with the G League Ignite, but logged just 25 minutes in four games with the developmental club.
Veteran NBA assistant coach Kaleb Canales will be the associate head coach for Mexico’s national team, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Canales, who became the NBA’s first Mexican-American head coach in 2012, last worked for the Pacers under Nate Bjorkgren.
Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz of ESPN (Insider link) have updated their 2022 NBA mock draft and provided early impressions on a handful of prospects, including Duke guard Trevor Keels, who enjoyed an impressive college debut on Tuesday.

Hoops Rumors’ 2021/22 NBA Reverse Standings

November 10th, 2021 at 10:48am CST by Luke Adams

Throughout the 2021/22 NBA season, Hoops Rumors will be maintaining a feature that allows you to keep an eye on the tentative 2022 draft order. Our 2021/22 Reverse Standings tool, which lists the NBA’s 30 teams from worst to first, will be updated daily to reflect the outcomes of the previous night’s games.

Our Reverse Standings are essentially a reflection of what 2022’s draft order would look like with no changes to lottery position. We’ve noted each club’s odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick, based on the league’s current lottery format.

In instances where two non-playoff teams or two playoff teams have identical records, the order in our standings isn’t necessarily definitive — for draft purposes, the NBA breaks ties via random drawings, so those drawings would happen at the end of the year.

Of course, the 14 non-playoff teams all draft before the 16 playoff teams, even if some non-playoff teams have better records than those that made the postseason. Our reverse standings account for playoff seeding, though for now they assume that the Nos. 7 and 8 teams in each conference will earn those final two postseason spots. Since the NBA’s play-in format opens the door for the Nos. 9 and 10 seeds to sneak into the postseason, we may have to account for a little movement in the draft order at season’s end.

Traded first-round picks are included via footnotes. For example, the note next to Charlotte’s pick says the Hornets will send their pick to the Knicks if it’s not in the top 18. As of today, the Hornets’ pick projects to be 11th, meaning that pick wouldn’t change hands.

Some conditions on traded picks are more complex, leaving little room to fully explain them in our footnotes. We broke down all the details on those traded first-rounders right here.

Our Reverse Standings tracker can be found at anytime on the right sidebar under “Hoops Rumors Features” on our desktop site, or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu. It’s a great resource not just for monitoring a team’s draft position, but also for keeping an eye on whether or not traded picks with protection will be changing hands in 2022. So be sure to check back often as the season progresses!

Note: Mobile users are advised to turn their phones sideways when viewing the Reverse Standings in order to see team records and lottery odds.

And-Ones: M. Gasol, I. Thomas, 2022 Draft, Sharpe

November 9th, 2021 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After reuniting with Pau Gasol last season, FC Barcelona is attempting to recruit his brother Marc Gasol, team manager Juan Carlos Navarro confirmed this week (link via Mundo Deportivo; hat tip to Sportando).

Navarro classified the team’s discussions with Gasol as “conversations” rather than “negotiations,” but suggested that the Spanish center hasn’t ruled out the possibility. Gasol, who was traded from the Lakers to the Grizzlies and then was waived during the offseason, decided to return home to Spain rather than continue his career in the NBA. It remains to be seen if he’ll play on either side of the Atlantic in 2021/22.

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

In a documentary-style YouTube video called ‘For The Love of The Game,’ free agent guard Isaiah Thomas says he nearly signed with an NBA team during the summer. “This offseason I worked out for three teams and got very positive feedback from every organization,” Thomas said, per Marcus Kwesi O’Mard of NESN.com. “There was one team that I was basically very close to signing (with), then it didn’t happen.” The 32-year-old is attempting to make an NBA comeback after spending just 10 days on a roster last season.
In the first draft of his big board for the 2022 NBA draft, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic contends that Duke forward Paolo Banchero and Gonzaga big man Chet Holmgren are in their own tier at the top of the ’22 class. According to Vecenie, there are a lot of question marks beyond the top two at this point.
Shaedon Sharpe, the No. 1 prospect in ESPN’s ranking of the 2022 recruiting class, announced on Tuesday (via Twitter) that he’ll be enrolling at Kentucky in January. Sharpe won’t be eligible for the 2022 draft because he didn’t graduate high school before the NBA’s 2021/22 season began, notes ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link).