Jeremiah Fears Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Draft Notes: Uzan, Markovic, Coward, 2025 Mock

April 13th, 2025 at 11:56am CST by Rory Maher

Houston junior Milos Uzan, who helped the Cougars reach the final of the NCAA tournament, is declaring for the 2025 NBA draft, agent Aman Dhesi tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

Uzan is a 6’4″ guard who spent his first two college seasons at Oklahoma before transferring to Houston. In 40 games this past season with the Cougars, he averaged 11.4 points, 4.3 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per contest, with a shooting slash line of .453/.428/.783.

Givony suggests that Uzan, who goes No. 42 overall in ESPN’s latest mock draft (Insider link), will be testing the draft waters this spring. If he withdraws from the draft, he will return to Houston for his senior campaign.

Here are a few more notes related to June’s draft:

Serbian forward/center Bogoljub Markovic is entering his name in the draft, agent Misko Raznatovic announced (via Twitter) earlier this week. Markovic had a productive season for Mega Basket in the ABA League, averaging 13.7 PPG, 6.7 RPG and 2.6 APG on .526/.391/.757 shooting in 26 games (29.4 MPG). The 19-year-old is another projected second-round pick, coming off the board at No. 50 in ESPN’s mock.
Washington State senior Cedric Coward is declaring for the NBA draft, agent Todd Ramasar tells Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 (Twitter link). Coward is also entering the transfer portal to keep his options open for his final season of college eligibility. Coward only played six games for the Cougars in 2024/25 due to a shoulder injury, but he put up big numbers in those appearances, averaging 17.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 3.7 APG and 1.7 BPG on .557/.400/.839 shooting. The 6’6″ small forward is projected to go No. 55 overall in ESPN’s mock draft.
Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports updated his 2025 mock draft after the NCAA tournament ended earlier this week, with some noteworthy differences from ESPN’s. For example, O’Connor seems higher on South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles (No. 5), Colorado State wing Nique Clifford (No. 14) and Auburn guard Tahaad Pettiford (No. 22) than ESPN is (they go No. 10, No. 25 and No. 39, respectively, in ESPN’s mock). O’Connor is also a little more bearish than ESPN on Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears (No. 11 vs. No. 6 at ESPN) and Illinois forward Will Riley (No. 21 vs. No. 16).

Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears Entering 2025 NBA Draft

April 2nd, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears has decided to go pro following his freshman year, announcing today on ESPN’s The Paul Finebaum Show that he’ll enter the 2025 NBA draft and forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility, as Jonathan Givony of ESPN relays.

Fears, who ranks No. 7 on ESPN’s list of this year’s top 100 prospects, averaged 17.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.6 steals in 30.2 minutes per game in 2024/25, earning a spot on the SEC’s All-Freshman team and helping the Sooners claim a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

According to Givony, Fears’ combination of “size, speed, pace, shot-creation, shot-making and scoring instincts” makes him one of the top backcourt prospects in this year’s draft. He’s also one of the youngest players in the 2025 draft class — he won’t turn 19 until October.

Givony has expressed some reservations about Fears’ defense, which needs improvement. And it’s worth noting that the 18-year-old sometimes struggled with his shot as a freshman, making just 28.4% of 3.9 three-point attempts per game.

However, Fears’ stock remains high enough that he doesn’t feel the need to test the draft waters and leave the door open for a second college season.

Southeast Notes: Hornets, Kokoskov, Heat, Adebayo, Banchero

March 6th, 2025 at 9:30am CST by Dana Gauruder

Have the Hornets already gone into tank mode? It might seem that way, considering they’ve lost 17 of their 19 games. Head coach Charles Lee denies that’s the case.

“I think it would be very easy to sometimes lay down when you are in the position that you are, but we are obsessed with daily improvement,” Lee told Roderick Boone of the Charlotte Observer. “Part of daily improvement is going into every game and facing a different type of opponent, different strategy, different coverages, different matchups, and adjusting and adapting. And they’ve done a really good job of doing that.”

Miles Bridges says the players aren’t giving up, even as the losses pile up.

“We’ve got to play with pride — we’re in the NBA,” Bridges said. “We are blessed to be in the NBA. That’s my mindset coming into a game. I’m blessed to be here in the NBA, so I want to go out and give 100% and I try to give that to the other guys. Just going out and playing with pride. Being on a losing streak sucks for everybody. If we can get a win next game against the best team in the league (Cleveland on Friday), that will probably turn us up.”

We have more from the Southeast Division:

Igor Kokoskov became an NBA head coach again — at least for one night. The Hawks assistant filled in on Tuesday for Quin Snyder, who was battling an illness. Atlanta lost to Milwaukee, 127-121. Kokoskov was Phoenix’s head coach during the 2018/19 season. “None of us knew until right before tipoff,” point guard Trae Young told Charles Odum of the Associated Press. “He was here early. It kind of surprised us but we still had a game to go play. It sucks we couldn’t get him the win.”
As things stand, the Heat could wind up with two first-round picks in this year’s rich draft. The Heat will keep its own pick if it misses the opening round of the playoffs, most likely by losing in the play-in tournament. The Heat will receive the Warriors first-round pick if it falls between 11-30, which is becoming an increasing likely outcome. Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald takes a look at some of the players who might be available in the middle of the first round, including UConn’s Liam McNeeley, Duke’s Kon Knueppel and Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears.
Bam Adebayo‘s offensive production has increased since rookie Heat center Kel’el Ware was inserted into the starting lineup. That’s no coincidence, he told Jackson. “It gave me more energy to play offense,” he said. “I’m not in every pick-and-roll. Obviously, he’s guarding the five [the center]. A lot of four men [power forwards] don’t and do the things that fives do. For me, it definitely let a load off me where I definitely could focus more on scoring.” Adebayo averaged 15.7 PPG in the first 40 games and 21.3 PPG in the past 19 games, including 17 with Ware starting.
The Magic anticipated they’d be on the upswing once Paolo Banchero started producing at his usual levels again. It hasn’t worked out that way. Banchero, who was sidelined for two-and-a-half months with an abdominal injury, has averaged 29.6 points on 47.8% shooting, 6.3 rebounds, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 34.7 minutes over the past seven games. However, Orlando has lost four straight, including twice to the Raptors. “We’ve got to do some soul-searching,” Banchero told Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel. “The good thing about a time like this is that, really, the only way you can go is up.”