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Draft Notes: Ivey, Murray, Sharpe, Daniels, Roddy, Minott, Segu

May 26th, 2022 at 10:46pm CST by Dana Gauruder

While Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith and Paolo Banchero are the consensus top three prospects in this year’s draft, it’s rare that the top three picks in a draft end up being the three players who enjoy the best pro careers, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz.

The ESPN duo identifies Jaden Ivey, Keegan Murray, Shaedon Sharpe and Dyson Daniels as the other prospects who are the best bets to emerge as top-three players from the 2022 draft class, breaking down the strengths of that quartet and considering which lottery teams might benefit the most from their talents.

We have plenty of draft-related news to pass along:

  • Colorado State’s David Roddy has worked out for the Magic, Nuggets and Rockets, Darren Wolfson of KSTP tweets. The power forward is ranked No. 47 on ESPN’s Best Available list.
  • Memphis forward Josh Minott has workouts lined up with the Magic, Raptors, Hawks, Spurs, Bulls and Hornets, Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com tweets. Minott is ranked No. 48 on ESPN’s Best Available list.
  • Buffalo guard Ronaldo Segu will continue to pursue professional opportunities and forgo his remaining year of college eligibility, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweets. He averaged 14.9 PPG and 5.1 APG last season.
  • Nathan Mensah is withdrawing from the draft and returning to San Diego State, the school announced in a press release. Mensah is the reigning Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year.
  • Josh Mballa is pulling out of the draft and transferring from Buffalo to Ole Miss, Jeff Goodman tweets. Mballa averaged 13.0 PPG and 8.6 RPG last season.
  • Texas Tech guard Adonis Arms has workouts scheduled with the Nuggets, Pistons, Pelicans, Magic and Jazz, Keith Smith of Spotrac tweets.
  • Northern Colorado’s Bodie Hume will remain in the draft, Rothstein adds in another tweet. The senior forward averaged 11.0 PPG and 6.2 RPG last season.
  • Potential top-10 selection Johnny Davis wants to model his game after Devin Booker. Another potential top-10 pick, Daniels, believes he’s a combination of Tyrese Haliburton offensively and Alex Caruso or Lonzo Ball defensively. Numerous draft prospects told The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov which NBA players they most closely resemble or strive to be.
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NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2022 Draft

April 27th, 2022 at 10:05am CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2022 NBA draft, announcing in a press release that 283 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 247 are from colleges, while 36 are international early entrants.

Those are big numbers, but they fall well short of the 353 early entrants who initially declared for the draft a year ago. Beginning in 2021, the NCAA granted 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.

That tweak to the NCAA’s eligibility rules has increased the number of total early entrants due to the influx of seniors into the pool. However, as Jonathan Givony of ESPN observes (via Twitter), the number of college non-seniors (123) on the initial early entry list this year is actually the lowest since 2016, while the number of international prospects (36) is the lowest since 2014.

This year’s total of 283 early entrants figures to shrink significantly by June 1 and again by June 13, 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 58, the number of picks in the draft.

Our tracker of early entrants for the 2022 draft is fully up to date and can be found right here.

Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:

Newly-added players:

College players:

These players either didn’t publicly announce that they were entering the draft or we simply missed it when they did.

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.

Other notable draft-eligible early entrants:

The NBA sent its teams a list of 33 “also-eligible” names. That list isn’t public, but Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link) shared some of the most notable players on it, and we’ve added them to our early entrant tracker. They are as follows:

  1. Dominick Barlow, F, Overtime Elite
  2. MarJon Beauchamp, G/F, G League Ignite
  3. Dyson Daniels, G, G League Ignite
  4. Henri Drell, G/F, Windy City Bulls
  5. Michael Foster, F, G League Ignite
  6. Jaden Hardy, G, G League Ignite
  7. Makur Maker, C, Sydney Kings (formerly Howard Bison)
  8. Jean Montero, G, Overtime Elite
  9. Samson Ruzhentsev, G/F, Mega Basket (formerly Florida Gators)
  10. Kai Sotto, C, Adelaide 36ers (formerly G League Ignite)
  11. Zaire Wade, G, Salt Lake City Stars
  12. Kok Yat, F, Overtime Elite
  13. Fanbo Zeng, F, G League Ignite

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 had no NCAA eligibility remaining, making them automatically draft-eligible; 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, at least for the time being.

Finally, Givony reports (via Twitter) that Canadian forward Leonard Miller, from the Fort Erie International Academy has been asked to fill out additional paperwork to finalize his entrance into the draft pool. According to Givony, there’s an expectation that Miller will be added to the list, so we’ve left him listed in our early entrant tracker among the international players.

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Draft Notes: Early Entrant Decisions, Mintz, Obanor, Duarte

July 2nd, 2021 at 3:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Kentucky guard Davion Mintz has withdrawn from the draft and will return to the Wildcats for another year, per an ESPN report.

Jalen Wilson (Kansas), Orlando Robinson (Fresno State), Josh Mballa (Buffalo), Moussa Cisse (Memphis), Stanley Umude (transferring to Arkansas from South Dakota), and Alex Morales (Wagner) are also pulling out of the draft in order to return to school, according to a series of tweets from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

The NCAA’s early entrant deadline is July 7, so players who declared for the draft and are testing the waters will have until next Wednesday to either withdraw or keep their names in the pool.

Here’s more on the draft:

  • Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports takes a look at a dozen college programs whose rosters for 2021/22 will be affected by key decisions made on or before the July 7 early entrant withdrawal deadline.
  • Nebraska guard Dalano Banton will remain in the 2021 draft, he told Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link). Iowa forward Joe Wieskamp and Evansville wing Sam Cunliffe are staying in the draft too, while Coppin State wing Koby Thomas has also signed with an agent and will go pro rather than returning to school, according to Rothstein (Twitter links).
  • Illinois big man Kofi Cockburn and Oral Roberts forward Kevin Obanor have entered the transfer portal but are remaining in the draft for now, according to reports from Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com and Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link). Obanor has worked out for the Warriors and Cavaliers and has auditions lined up with the Sixers and Magic, per Goodman.
  • Oregon guard Chris Duarte tells Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that he believes he should be a lottery pick in this year’s draft.
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Draft Notes: McClung, Tiebreakers, Seniors, Mballa

May 18th, 2021 at 6:19pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Texas Tech guard Mac McClung has hired an agent and will remain in the draft, Jonathan Givony of ESPN reports.

McClung decided to test the draft waters last month while concurrently placing his name in the transfer portal. He averaged 15.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG and 2.1 APG for the Red Raiders. McClung, who spent two seasons at Georgetown, had two years of eligibility remaining.

He’s signing with Dan Poneman of Beyond Athlete Management but he has an uphill climb to get drafted. He’s not currently listed among ESPN’s Top 100 Best Available players.

“I just felt the timing was right for me to go all-in,” McClung said.

We have more draft news:

  • The coin flips to determine the tiebreakers in this year’s draft order will be conducted next Tuesday, Givony tweets. Those flips include the Cavaliers and Thunder for the fourth and fifth spots; the Magic, Pelicans and Kings for the Nos. 8-10 spots; the Hornets and Spurs at No. 11, if both lose their play-in games or make the playoffs; the Wizards and Pacers at No. 13, if both miss or make the playoffs; the Knicks and Hawks for spots No. 19 and 20; the Rockets, Lakers and Knicks for Nos. 21-23; and the Clippers and Nuggets for the 25th and 26th positions. For more info on the lottery standings and draft order, check out our comprehensive breakdown here.
  • Approximately 100 college seniors have filed as early-entry candidates, Givony writes in a separate story. The “preliminary early-entry list” includes only college seniors, allowing NBA teams an extra two weeks to conduct due diligence on that group of players. The list includes some high-profile playes such as Iowa’s Luka Garza, Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Oregon’s Chris Duarte, Oklahoma’s Austin Reaves and Loyola Chicago’s Cameron Krutwig, Givony adds. The full early-entry list will be released at the beginning of next month.
  • University of Buffalo forward Josh Mballa has declared his intention to test the draft waters while maintaining his college eligibility, according to a school press release. Mballa was named the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year while finishing second on the team in scoring at 15.3 PPG and leading the Bulls in rebounding at 10.8 RPG.
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