Preparations are well underway for this year’s NBA draft, and Thursday should be a landmark day, with Kentucky’s slew of prospects scheduled to formally announce their respective decisions about entering the draft or staying in school. Andrew Harrison and Aaron Harrison have reportedly already made up their minds to turn pro, and there’s more on them amid the latest draft news.
- Just about everyone around the league to whom Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com has spoken believes that both Harrisons will be drafted in the second round (Twitter link). That jibes with the projections for Andrew, but it’s a surprise for Aaron, whom Ford and Givony have well outside their top 60 prospects.
- Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns took over the top spot on 2015 draft boards last week, and now forward center Skal Labissiere, who’s committed to Kentucky, is the new No. 1 in the 2016 mock draft that Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress maintains (Twitter link). An impressive showing at this week’s Nike Hoops Summit helped him vault over small forward Jaylen Brown and combo forward Ben Simmons.
- Dozens of NBA personnel and at least one GM think Grayson Allen would be worthy of a first-round pick this year, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in a chat with readers. The Duke freshman shooting guard has reportedly decided to stay in school, and Ford believes there’s nonetheless incentive for him to remain at Duke, since the ESPN scribe thinks he has a decent chance to be a late lottery pick next year.