Olisa Akonobi

The NBA G League held its draft for the 2024/25 season on Saturday afternoon. Players who signed NBAGL contracts and whose rights weren’t already controlled by a team were part of the draft pool.

It was the first time in G League history that each of the 30 NBA teams had an affiliate squad take part in a draft. A 31st team, the unaffiliated Mexico City Capitanes, also participated.

[RELATED: NBA G League Announces Schedule For 2024/25 Season]

The Westchester Knicks, New York’s affiliate, held the top two picks in Saturday’s draft and used them to select a pair of NBA veterans.

The No. 1 overall pick was sharpshooter Matt Ryan, who is reportedly drawing interest from the Knicks and is a candidate to be called up to their NBA roster at some point this season.

Drafting Ryan to Westchester won’t prevent another NBA team from poaching him, since holding a player’s G League rights doesn’t mean you control his NBA rights. But it will give the Knicks a chance to take a first-hand look at him before potentially offering him a standard or two-way contract.

Ryan has knocked down 41.1% of his three-point attempts in 63 career NBA games for the Celtics, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Pelicans.

The second player off the board was swingman Landry Shamet, who is recovering from a dislocated shoulder. Selecting him in the G League draft will allow the Knicks to keep him in the organization and closely monitor his rehabilitation process.

Shamet was expected to make the NBA roster prior to the injury and will be a candidate to rejoin the NBA squad later in the season if he fully recovers from his shoulder injury. He was the most experienced player in the NBAGL draft pool, with 348 career regular season outings at the NBA level.

Another notable name was picked fifth overall, as former NBA first-round pick Chandler Hutchison came out of retirement and was drafted by the Long Island Nets. Hutchison, 28, was the No. 22 pick in the 2018 NBA draft and appeared in 103 total games over the next four seasons for Chicago, Washington, and Phoenix.

Although the Nets’ affiliate technically drafted Hutchison, he was traded to the Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers) in a four-team trade that saw No. 3 pick Sean East II sent to the South Bay Lakers and Colin Castleton‘s returning rights acquired by Long Island. The full details of the deal, which also involved the Santa Cruz Warriors, can be found here.

East reportedly agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Lakers back in June, but that signing never became official. It’s not clear why, but after his rights were acquired by South Bay on draft day, the former Missouri guard will head to Los Angeles’ affiliate after all.

Finally, a pair of familiar names were selected late in the second round, with the 53rd and 54th overall picks. The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets‘ affiliate, nabbed former Knicks guard Allonzo Trier, followed by the Maine Celtics (Boston’s affiliate) drafting Kavion Pippen, the cousin of Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. and nephew of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen.

Kavion Pippen wasn’t the only family member of a Hall of Famer who came off the board in the second round. The Capital City Go-Go (Wizards) picked former USC forward DJ Rodman, the son of Dennis Rodman, with the 43rd overall pick.

Here are the full 2024 G League draft results:

Round One:

1. Westchester Knicks (Knicks): Matt Ryan
2. Westchester Knicks (Knicks): Landry Shamet
3. Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers): Sean East II
4. Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers): Thierry Darlan
5. Long Island Nets (Nets): Chandler Hutchison
6. Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): Christian Brown
7. Texas Legends (Mavericks): Tyson Walker
8. Greensboro Swarm (Hornets): Malik Hall
9. Maine Celtics (Celtics): Eric Gaines
10. Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz): Tae Williams
11. Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors): Seth Maxwell (Indiana Wesleyan)
12. Motor City Cruise (Pistons): Cam Martin
13. Austin Spurs (Spurs): Ibrahima Diallo
14. Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets): Justin Moore
15. Raptors 905 (Raptors): Tylor Perry
16. Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers): Kevin Cross
17. Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): Paul Mulcahy
18. Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): Brandon Childress
19. Valley Suns (Suns): Nate Roberts
20. Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors): Tommy Rutherford
21. Maine Celtics (Celtics): London Johnson
22. Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers): Trae Hannibal
23. South Bay Lakers (Lakers): Marlain Veal
24. Texas Legends (Mavericks): Bryce Griggs (Overtime Elite)
25. Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz): Jaylan Gainey
26. Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder): Justyn Hamilton
27. San Diego Clippers (Clippers): Garrett Denbow (Anderson University (SC))
28. Austin Spurs (Spurs): Steven Richardson (Montana State-Billings)
29. Mexico City Capitanes (N/A): Lewis Duarte (Overtime Elite)
30. Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): No pick
31. San Diego Clippers (Clippers): Emmanuel Bandoumel

Round Two:

32. Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves): Sy Chatman
33. Austin Spurs (Spurs): Xavier Johnson
34. Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers): Vonterius Woolbright
35. Texas Legends (Mavericks): Keyon Menifield
36. College Park Skyhawks (Hawks): Terrell Burden
37. Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies): Kamani Johnson
38. Wisconsin Herd (Bucks): Jamal Bieniemy
39. Austin Spurs (Spurs): Charles Pride
    • Note: Pride is being traded to the Raptors 905, per Blake Murphy of Sportsnet (Twitter link).
40. Texas Legends (Mavericks): Bobby Planutis
41. Birmingham Squadron (Pelicans): E.J. Montgomery
42. Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers): No pick
43. Capital City Go-Go (Wizards): DJ Rodman
44. Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz): Dee Barnes
45. Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors): Devine Eke
46. Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers): Sterling Manley
47. Austin Spurs (Spurs): No pick
48. Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers): Olisa Akonobi
49. Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz): Jericole Hellems
50. Valley Suns (Suns): Olin Carter III
51. Osceola Magic (Magic): Cameron Parker
52. Long Island Nets (Nets): No pick
53. Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets): Allonzo Trier
54. Maine Celtics (Celtics): Kavion Pippen
55. Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets): William Kondrat (D’Youville University)
56. Capital City Go-Go (Wizards): Jayden Hardaway
57. Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder): Tray Jackson
58. Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers): Ishmael Lane
59. Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers): No pick
60. Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): No pick
61. Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): No pick
62. San Diego Clippers (Clippers): Mike Scott

Teams will fill out their rosters with affiliate players, returning rights players, tryout players, and players who are assigned to the G League from the NBA roster (including those on two-way contracts).

G League training camps open on Monday, with this year’s NBAGL Tip-Off Tournament getting underway on November 8. The Tip-Off Tournament will be played over about a month-and-a-half and will be followed by the G League regular season, which begins on December 27.