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Pre-Draft Workouts: Whitmore, Pacers, Hornets, Lakers, More

June 1st, 2023 at 10:05am CST by Arthur Hill

The Pacers will host Cam Whitmore for an individual workout on Thursday, according to Wheat Hotchkiss of NBA.com. The Villanova forward is part of a group of prospects that are expected to come off the board shortly after the top three of Victor Wembanyama, Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson. Indiana holds the No. 7 pick in this year’s draft.

The Pacers welcomed Johnell Davis of Florida Atlantic, Adam Flagler of Baylor, Armaan Franklin of Virginia, Nate Laszewski of Notre Dame, Leonard Miller of G League Ignite and Isaiah Wong of Miami to a pre-draft workout on Wednesday, tweets Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. Davis has since decided to pull out of the draft and return to school.

We have a few more updates on draft workouts:

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Eastern Notes: Hawks, Quickley, Pistons, Banchero

May 8th, 2023 at 9:17pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Hawks will take a look at six draft prospects on Tuesday, Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets. That group includes three guards — UCLA’s Tyger Campbell, Furman’s Mike Bothwell and Ole Miss’ Matthew Murrell — along with Miami (Fla.)’s Norchad Omier, UTC’s Jake Stephens and Arizona State’s Marcus Bagley.

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Immanuel Quickley missed Game 4 of the Knicks’ playoff series against the Heat on Monday due to a sprained left ankle, the team’s PR department tweets. Quickley had been listed as doubtful on Sunday after suffering the injury on Saturday.
  • The Pistons need to prioritize perimeter shooting and defense, as well as veteran guards, during the offseason, Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press opines. Veteran options for their perimeter needs includes the likes of free agents Jerami Grant and Cameron Johnson (restricted), while Dennis Schroder and Patrick Beverley could fill the other need, unless they bring back free agent Cory Joseph.
  • Magic forward Paolo Banchero, who was named Rookie of the Year last week, said he had no idea he might be taken with the top pick last June until draft day, when he saw a report from Adrian Wojnarowski, Banchero told the ESPN analyst on the Woj Pod (Twitter link). “My mom was in complete shock. … I was freakin’ out. Going No. 1 is a whole different thing, especially when you’re not expecting it,” he said.
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Draft Notes: Hollatz, Baldwin Jr., Guerrier, Slawson, Bothwell, Akot

May 28th, 2022 at 11:02am CST by Dana Gauruder

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.
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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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