- Baylor forward Jeremy Sochan had a pre-draft workout with the Thunder today, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. Kentucky point TyTy Washington had a session with the Thunder on Friday and will work out for the Hawks on Sunday, according to Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog (Twitter link). OKC owns three first-round picks and may be considering both players at No. 12.
Utah center Rudy Gobert, a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, will compete for France in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament this summer, writes Yann Ohnona of French outlet L’Equipe (hat tip to BasketNews.com). Gobert said he had some concerns about his knee, but his MRI was clear so he’ll be ready to go in a few months (the event runs from September 1-18).
“It’s been a few days that it’s been clear in my head,” he said, per L’Equipe. “The process took some time. If I listened to myself, I would still be 200 percent to go, but in recent years I’ve had a few breaks because of knee pain.
“Once I had an MRI to ensure there was no problem, I was able to organize my summer. It was important that everything was clear in my head before I committed. The fact that Evan [Fournier] is there is a factor, I love going to war with him.”
Gobert helped guide France to a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics last summer.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- Veteran center Serge Ibaka, who’s an unrestricted free agent this summer, hopes to play for Spain at EuroBasket, as reported by Spanish journalist Marc Mundet (hat tip to BasketNews.com). Ibaka hasn’t played for Spain in international competition since 2014 at the FIBA World Cup. After undergoing back surgery last June, Ibaka struggled to regain his old form this season, averaging just 6.8 PPG and 4.6 RPG in 54 games (16.2 MPG) for the Clippers and Bucks.
- French phenom Victor Wembanyama is the reason why NBA teams are already eyeing the 2023 draft, according to Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated, who says Wembanyama is the most hyped prospect since LeBron James and “would likely have rated as the top prospect in any draft in the past decade,” including 2022, were he eligible. The 7’3″ big man possesses a 7’9″ wingspan and a tantalizing combination of mobility and skill, Woo notes. Rival teams believe the Thunder will continue their losing ways for at least one more season to keep their hat in the ring for a chance to select the 18-year-old in ’23, Woo writes.
- Turkish National Team head coach Ergin Ataman, who has led Anadolu Efes to two consecutive EuroLeague titles, has emerged as a candidate for an NBA assistant coaching job, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Ataman joked about joining Gregg Popovich‘s staff in San Antonio earlier this month after the long-time coach came to watch the EuroLeague Final Four, per Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. “Maybe after three consecutive final appearances, he (Popovich) thinks that let’s take one European coach to the NBA and help me go to the NBA,” Ataman laughed. “He’s a good friend of mine. He helped me a lot four years ago when I went to San Antonio. I stayed ten days with him. He’s an amazing person.”
- Former Washington State center Efe Abogidi, who withdrew from the ’22 draft earlier today, is expected to sign with G League Ignite, reports Jeff Goodman of Stadium (via Twitter). The big man averaged 8.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG, and 1.8 BPG in 37 games (20.9 MPG) for the Cougars as a sophomore last season.
The NBA may have earmarked Seattle and Las Vegas as potential expansion locations. According to John Canzano of 750 The Game, the league is eyeing both cities if it adds expansion teams, though no further details have been made available. Canzano made his comments on Seattle radio station 93.3 KJR (Twitter link).
It’s worth noting that a similar report was shot down by the league in March, as Chris Daniels of King5.com wrote at the time. However, several players and league officials hold Seattle in high regard, and Las Vegas is currently used by the NBA for its annual summer league, which will be held July 7-17 this year.
Here are some other odds and ends from the basketball universe:
- The Thunder have received a summer league commitment from Robert Baker, his agent Jerry Dianis told Hoops Rumors. Baker, a 6’10” forward, played with the Kings’ G League affiliate this year. The 23-year-old also played collegiately at Harvard from 2017-20.
- Celtics star Jayson Tatum would like to see some changes to the All-NBA Team voting, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. Tatum received All-NBA First Team honors, but he was left off last year’s three teams — costing him tens of millions on his current deal, as Bontemps notes. Among Tatum’s adjustments would be making the teams positionless. He used Joel Embiid as an example, since Embiid finished second in Most Valuable Player voting this season, but was relegated to the All-NBA Second Team because the MVP winner, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, made the First Team. Tatum also voiced his concerns about the process back in February.
Serbian star Vasilije Micic is leaning toward making the jump to the NBA next season but not necessarily to the team that owns his rights, according to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com (hat tip to RealGM).
The Thunder acquired Micic’s draft rights from the 76ers, who drafted him in the second round in 2014, in December 2020. With a glut of guards on the OKC roster, Micic’s agent is working with the team to trade his rights once again, this time to a team looking for backcourt help.
Micic stated earlier this month he was mulling a move to the NBA. “If this option comes out, I would be ready to risk (it),” he said.
He won his second consecutive Final Four MVP trophy in Europe this spring playing for Anadolu Efes in Turkey. The 28-year-old signed a three-year extension with Anadolu Efes last summer that contains an escape clause after each season.
German guard Justus Hollatz declared himself eligible for the draft but the international prospect is signing a two-year contract with the Spanish club Broegan Lugo, according to a Eurohoops.net story. Hollatz played last season with the Hamburg Towers of the EuroCup League.
We have more draft-related decisions:
- Potential first-round pick Patrick Baldwin Jr. is staying in the draft and believes he’ll move up draft boards in the coming weeks, he told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “I still think I’m one of those top guys in the class, and I think the circumstances I had to deal with this year were a little bit unique,’ said Baldwin, who has an upcoming workout with the Thunder. “I’m looking to go into workouts and show them what I look like when I’m healthy and fully able to go.” Baldwin, ranked No. 34 on ESPN’s Best Available list, played only 11 games for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee due to an ankle injury.
- Oregon’s Quincy Guerrier is pulling out of the draft and returning to school, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets. The Canadian-born forward averaged 10.1 PPG and 5.3 RPG last season.
- Furman early entrants Jalen Slawson and Mike Bothwell are withdrawing from the draft and will play for the Paladins again next season, according to Jeff Goodman (Twitter links). They averaged a combined 30.2 PPG last season.
- Emmanuel Akot, who is in the transfer portal, will be playing college ball again next season rather than staying in the draft, Rothstein tweets. He averaged 12.4 PPG for Boise State last season.
Santa Clara wing Jalen Williams was perhaps the standout of last week’s draft combine in Chicago, while Houston guard Marcus Sasser looked like the best player at the G League Elite Camp, John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic write as part of their analysis of the combine.
Hollinger and Vecenie suggest that Williams’ stock has “exploded into the stratosphere” as a result of his performance in Chicago and that he looks like a safe bet to be a first-round pick. As for Sasser, he got “nearly unanimous praise” from scouts, who believe he has a chance to start his rookie season on a standard NBA contract, rather than a two-way deal.
The Athletic’s duo shares several more combine-related tidbits in their full story, including identifying Wake Forest forward Jake LaRavia as a prospect who is drawing legitimate interest from contending teams in the last 10 picks of the first round.
Hollinger and Vecenie also say that chatter about Michigan forward Caleb Houstan having received a promise continues to circulate among league insiders. Those insiders have speculated that Oklahoma City at No. 30 could be the team eyeing Houstan, given the Thunder‘s history of shutting down their targets well ahead of draft night.
Here are a few more draft-related notes:
- Josh Minott, the No. 48 player on ESPN’s 2022 big board, will be keeping his name in the NBA draft, according to his uncle (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports). The freshman forward played fewer than 500 total minutes in his first and only college season at Memphis in 2021/22.
- Wyoming guard Hunter Maldonado tells Rothstein (Twitter link) that he’ll withdraw from the draft and use his final year of NCAA eligibility. Maldonado had a big senior year in 2021/22, averaging 18.5 PPG, 6.3 APG, and 5.7 RPG and making the All-Mountain West Conference first team.
- George Washington junior guard James Bishop will withdraw from the draft and return to school for at least one more year, tweets Rothstein. Bishop has been the Colonials’ go-to scorer since transferring for his sophomore season, averaging 17.6 PPG in 47 games over the last two years.
- Senior guard Emmanuel Bandoumel will also withdraw from the draft as he transfers from SMU to Nebraska, tweets Rothstein.
- Former Louisiana senior center Theo Akwuba has withdrawn from the draft and Oklahoma State junior guard Avery Anderson III and Tennessee junior guard Santiago Vescovi are expected to do the same, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium (all Twitter links). Goodman notes that Akwuba will be transferring to Ole Miss for his final college season.
Eric Walden and Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune wonder what Jazz general manager Justin Zanik might be able to get for All-Stars Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert on the trade market, should the team opt to break up its playoff core during the offseason
Walden and Larsen note that the Jazz own one of the NBA’s priciest rosters. The club lacks a pick in the 2022 draft, through which it could have theoretically added complementary young talent under team control. Utah has yet to get beyond the second round of the playoffs with its Mitchell-Gobert core.
The authors also express skepticism that offloading the contracts of expensive starters Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic, and Royce O’Neale, or sixth man Jordan Clarkson would result in any sort of meaningful return. This leaves the pathway to improve the team without offloading Mitchell or Gobert fairly narrow.
There’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- The Thunder are likely looking at a variety of players with the No. 12 pick near the end of the 2022 draft lottery, writes Joe Mussatto of the Oklahoman. Mussatto previews the fits of several young prospects, including G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels, Baylor forward Jeremy Sochan, and Memphis center Jalen Duren, among others.
- The Trail Blazers are reshaping their front office under new permanent general manager Joe Cronin during the offseason. Jason Quick of The Athletic (Twitter link) reports that assistant GM Bill Branch, who had been in Portland since 2010, has been let go by the team. This latest move continues a brain trust overhaul that began in December 2021.
- Tulsa forward Jeriah Horne, St. John’s wing Julian Champagnie and Alabama guard JD Davison are among the NBA hopefuls who have been brought in to work out for the Timberwolves as Minnesota prepares for the 2022 draft, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter video links). The Timberwolves possess the Nos. 19, 40, 48, and 50 picks this year.
Magic executives have made it clear they’ll do their homework on all their options for the No. 1 pick, even beyond Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren, and Paolo Banchero, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link).
However, most NBA teams believe that process will be a formality and consider Smith to be the clear favorite to become the Magic’s pick, according to Givony. NBA executives also overwhelmingly view Holmgren as the probable No. 2 pick for the Thunder, Givony adds.
Givony and his fellow ESPN draft expert Mike Schmitz shared several more tidbits based on their conversations with talent evaluators at last week’s combine in Chicago. Let’s round up a few highlights…
- NBA teams were “buzzing” about Dyson Daniels‘ performance in Chicago at his Pro Day, comparing him to NBA players like Tyrese Haliburton and Khris Middleton, according to Givony, who has moved the G League Ignite wing up to No. 6 on ESPN’s big board.
- Andrew Nembhard‘s willingness to play through a minor quad injury and his strong performance in the second game of the combine scrimmages helped boost his stock. The Gonzaga guard “leapfrogged” a handful of players who sat out the scrimmages and has a legitimate shot to be drafted near the end of the first round, says Givony.
- Croatian big man Karlo Matkovic was one of the under-the-radar risers as a result of his combine showing. He’s considered far more likely to be drafted than he was a week ago, and his agency says he’s had more requests for private workouts than he has available dates, per Givony.
- Mark Williams‘ 9’9″ standing reach will make him the longest player in the NBA, according to Schmitz, who says the Duke center has a chance to be selected ahead of Jalen Duren in the lottery.
- Canadian prospect Leonard Miller looked a step slow during the combine scrimmages and now appears more likely to attend college at Arizona or join the G League Ignite rather than staying in the draft, writes Givony.
Former Sixers guard Grant Riller has fully recovered from shoulder surgery and plans to work out for teams ahead of free agency this summer, a league source told Hoops Rumors. Riller spent time on two-way contracts with Philadelphia this season and Charlotte last season.
The 25-year-old started the 2021/22 season with Philadelphia, but he was waived upon needing surgery. The operation cost Riller over four months of action and ultimately ended his campaign. He averaged 13.1 points and 3.5 assists in 11 G League games, shooting an efficient 49% from the floor and 46% from deep.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider-only link) examines the offseason for all 30 teams, identifying every club’s biggest questions and priorities. The NBA draft will be held on June 23, while free agency is set to commence in early July. Some of the biggest free agents will include Bulls guard Zach LaVine, Suns center Deandre Ayton (restricted) and Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson. Nets star Kyrie Irving, Wizards guard Bradley Beal and Sixers guard James Harden also hold player options that could be declined.
- Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com examines how Serbian star Vasilije Micic appears ready to make a jump to the NBA. Micic, whose NBA draft rights are held by the Thunder, played for Anadolu Efes in Turkey this season and could soon join the NBA if Oklahoma City pushes to make it happen. “I’m in a situation where I have two more years of the contract no matter what happens. But of course, I like to look at all kinds of challenges. If this option comes out, I would be ready to risk (it),” he said.
- Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports shares the schedule for this year’s BIG3, which will tip off on June 18 in Chicago. The season will last 12 weeks and feature the league’s first-ever All-Star Game, according to Haynes. The draft will be held on May 25.
In his article about the 2022 NBA Draft Combine, Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated says that while some rival teams think the Thunder will pick Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren No. 2, he’s heard “quite a few educated theories” that they might favor Duke’s Paolo Banchero instead — assuming the Magic take Auburn’s Jabari Smith No. 1, which isn’t a given.
Banchero is more physically ready for the NBA than Holmgren and has displayed impressive perimeter skills and passing for a power forward, but Oklahoma City plays its cards close to the vest, so don’t expect to know which player the Thunder will wind up picking until draft night, Woo writes.
Within the same piece, Woo says Shaedon Sharpe, who’s considered a wild card in the lottery due to not playing at all for Kentucky, is a near-certainty to be picked in the top five or six, as his “unusual talent and athletic ability has successfully captured the attention of the entire NBA this week.”
Woo also lists a handful of scrimmage standouts from Thursday who may have boosted their draft stocks, including North Carolina State’s Terquavion Smith, Santa Clara’s Jalen Williams, and Purdue’s Trevion Williams, among others.
Here are some more draft-related notes:
- Within his aggregate mock draft, HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto says rival executives believe the Hornets and Timberwolves are among the teams who might be draft traders. Charlotte controls the 13th, 15th and 45th picks, while Minnesota holds the 19th, 40th, 48th and 50th picks.
- Three juniors, Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis, Dayton’s Toumani Camara and Saint Louis’ Yuri Collins, are withdrawing from the draft and returning to their respective schools, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (All Twitter links). Jackson-Davis had a strong season for the Hoosiers in 2021/22, averaging 18.3 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks. However, he tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to attend the combine, which may have contributed to his decision. He’s ranked No. 66 on ESPN’s big board, while Camara and Collins are unranked.
- Souley Boum has also withdrawn from the draft, as Rothstein relays (via Twitter). Boum played for UTEP last season, averaging 19.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals, but will transfer to Xavier for his final collegiate season.