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Draft Notes: Withdrawals, LaRavia, J. Williams, T. Smith, More

May 19th, 2022 at 1:46pm CST by Rory Maher

Former Murray State forward K.J. Williams has withdrawn from the 2022 NBA Draft and will transfer to LSU for 2022/23, he told Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). Williams averaged 18 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals on .538/.327/.699 shooting last season for the Racers.

Boise State guard Marcus Shaver has also withdrawn from the draft, announcing on Instagram that he’ll return for a final season with the Broncos. Shaver put up 13.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 34 games last season.

Here are more draft-related notes:

  • After a strong showing at the combine on Wednesday, where he led his group by making 18 of 25 shots during the three-point star drill, Wake Forest’s Jake LaRavia opted to sit out of scrimmages on Thursday, according to Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). Although it went unsaid, the implication is that LaRavia may have received a promise from a team that he’ll be selected in the draft. LaRavia has been rising up draft boards recently. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic had him going No. 28 in his latest mock draft, while John Hollinger of The Athletic ranks him as the No. 20 prospect.
  • Santa Clara’s Jalen Williams and North Carolina State’s Terquavion Smith are also draft risers, per Rafael Barlowe of NBABigBoard.com (All Twitter links). Williams might end up becoming a lottery pick, while Smith has been performing well in workouts and drills at the combine. One scout compared Smith to Warriors guard Jordan Poole. “Breathtaking athlete. Super confident. Jordan Poole in every way. Great shooter with blazing speed and an electric right leg. Impossible to stay in front of in one on one play,” the scout said. ESPN’s Mike Schmitz (Twitter link) also likes Smith’s game, saying he thinks Smith will project well to the NBA. Williams and Smith were both in the 20s in Vecenie’s mock draft.
  • G League ignite guard/forward Dyson Daniels has met with nine teams thus far at the combine, including the Knicks, Kings, Cavaliers and Hawks, tweets Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Daniels is a projected lottery pick, currently the No. 10 prospect on ESPN’s big board. He’s considered a strong passer, rebounder and versatile defender.
  • Syracuse’s Buddy Boeheim, who recently worked out for the Kings, Knicks and Warriors, has an additional 10 teams lined up for workouts, as Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com relays (via Twitter). Boeheim led the ACC in scoring in ’21/22.
  • In an interview with Spencer Davies of BasketballNews.com, Iowa State’s Izaiah Brockington said he thinks his competitive fire and work ethic will translate to the NBA-level. “I feel like my work ethic allows me to catch guys that a lot of people deem ‘better’ or would rank higher [than me],” Brockington said. “I feel like I have the intangibles that other people don’t. I have athleticism, and I have the dog mentality — somebody who just loves to compete and loves to win and isn’t gonna let somebody just walk all over them.” Brockington has workouts scheduled with 10 teams, according to Davies.
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MSU’s Gabe Brown Among Early Entrants For 2022 Draft

March 28th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Michigan State senior wing Gabe Brown will forgo his final year of NCAA eligibility and enter the 2022 NBA draft, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who tweets that Brown is signing with Parlay Sports for representation.

The No. 94 prospect on ESPN’s big board, Brown was a full-time starter for the Spartans in 2021/22, averaging 11.6 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 36 games (28.9 MPG). His calling card is his three-point shooting — he knocked down 39.3% of his attempts from beyond the arc over the last two seasons.

Brown’s MSU teammate Marcus Bingham also won’t be back with the Spartans next season, telling Mike Lacett of 13 On Your Side (video link) that he’s going through the NBA draft process. The senior center averaged 9.3 PPG and 6.3 RPG on .534/.415/.747 shooting in 35 games (18.7 MPG) for Michigan State in 2021/22.

Here are a few more players who are entering the 2022 NBA draft:

Expected to forgo remaining NCAA eligibility:

Testing the draft waters:

Our full list of early entrants for the 2022 NBA draft, which will be constantly updated in the next several weeks, can be found right here.

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NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2021 Draft

June 2nd, 2021 at 10:38am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2021 NBA draft, announcing in a press release that 353 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 296 are from colleges, while 57 are international early entrants.

That number obliterates the previous record of 236 early entrants, established in 2018. That had been expected, however, since the NCAA gave players an extra year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in seniors having to decide between staying at college for one more season or declaring for the draft as an “early” entrant.

Since well over half of the college early entrants are seniors, there are actually fewer college underclassmen than usual in this initial group of early entrants.

This year’s total of 353 early entrants figures to shrink significantly by July 7 and again by July 19, the two deadlines for players to withdraw their names from the draft pool. But it still looks like the pool will remain extremely crowded, with the eventual number of early entrants certain to exceed 60, the number of picks in the draft.

Our tracker of early entrants for the 2021 draft now includes seniors and is fully up to date. It can be found right here. It doesn’t include players who are automatically draft-eligible this year. As Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets, that list of auto-eligible players includes the prospects who played for the G League Ignite, such as Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga.

Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:

Newly-added players:

College players:

These players hadn’t previously been included on our unofficial list of underclassmen early entrants and weren’t on the list of senior early entrants that the NBA sent to teams last week.

International players:

These players weren’t previously mentioned on our list of international early entrants. The country listed here indicates where they last played, not necessarily where they were born.

Players removed:

Despite reports or announcements that the players below would declare for the draft, they didn’t show up on the NBA’s official list.

That could mean a number of things — they may have decided against entering the draft; they may have entered the draft, then withdrawn; they may have incorrectly filed their paperwork; or the NBA may have accidentally omitted some names.

In any case, we’ve removed the following names from our early entrant list for the time being.

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