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And-Ones: 2025 Draft, Flagg, All-Star Game, Coaches

November 12th, 2024 at 9:17am CST by Luke Adams

With the NCAA men’s basketball season underway, draft experts Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo have updated their 2025 NBA mock draft at ESPN.com (Insider link), projecting next June’s top 30 picks based on their own scouting and intel from executives around the league.

There are no surprises at the top of ESPN’s latest mock draft. The projected picks at No. 1 (Cooper Flagg), No. 2 (Ace Bailey), and No. 3 (Dylan Harper) remain unchanged since Givony and Woo published a mock in June, and V.J. Edgecombe and Nolan Traore are still in the top five.

Still, there are some notable risers or fallers elsewhere in the first round. Duke freshman Kon Knueppel (No. 17 in June) is up to No. 6, while Ratiopharm Ulm guard Ben Saraf comes in at No. 13 after not showing up in June’s mock draft. Conversely, Real Madrid wing Hugo Gonzalez has slipped from seventh to 12th, while Miami freshman Jalil Bethea is down to 25th after having placed 13th in June.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • In a separate story for ESPN.com, Baxter Holmes takes a closer look at Flagg’s journey from growing up in a small town in Maine to becoming a Duke Blue Devil and basketball’s top prospect. Holmes’ feature includes several entertaining anecdotes, including one about how a 13-year-old Flagg “dominated” a Boston-area pickup game run by former NBA forward Brian Scalabrine.
  • While commissioner Adam Silver recently acknowledged that the NBA is weighing the idea of using a new format for this season’s All-Star Game, veteran NBA insider Marc Stein (Substack link) says he doesn’t expect the league to opt for a U.S. vs. the World matchup in February. Still, sources tell Stein that format is a possibility that has been discussed within the league office, so it may still be in play for future seasons.
  • Michael Scotto of HoopsHype spent 24 hours this fall behind the scenes with the Pacers‘ coaching staff and shares his takeaways and insights on what a day in the life of an NBA coach looks like.
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And-Ones: 2025 Draft Big Board, Tanking, NBAGL Trade

October 10th, 2024 at 7:01pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Now through June 2025, writers across the globe will eagerly anticipate an exciting upcoming draft class headlined by Duke forward Cooper Flagg, alongside other top talents. Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN recently paired to provide an early look at the top 100 prospects before the college season tips off (Insider link).

Flagg ranked first, but Rutgers guards Ace Bailey (No. 2) and Dylan Harper (No. 3) aren’t far behind. Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe (No. 4) and France’s Nolan Traore (No. 5) remain among the top options as well, while Duke’s Kon Knueppel (No. 6) is an early riser after an impressive offseason and preseason.

UNC’s Drake Powell, Duke’s Khaman Maluach, Spanish guard Hugo Gonzalez and UConn’s Liam McNeeley round out the remainder of the top 10.

Collin Murray-Boyles is the draft’s highest-ranked returner after making the decision to come back to South Carolina, with the ESPN duo ranking him at 12.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • The top five of Sam Vecenie’s recent mock draft for The Athletic matches ESPN’s big board to a tee, with Brooklyn being slated to be the ones to land Flagg’s services in June’s draft. However, Vecenie’s mock draft deviates from there, with Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis coming off the board at No. 6 due to his ball and scoring skills. Vecenie mocks Georgia’s Asa Newell to the Hornets at No. 7 and Ratiopharm Ulm’s Ben Saraf at No. 8 to the Raptors, while ESPN has those players at No. 31 and No. 16, respectively.
  • With such a talented draft class on deck, The Athletic’s John Hollinger suspects teams will return to tanking in 2024/25. While some teams greatly underperformed in 2023/24, as in any year, there wasn’t as much incentive to lose since there wasn’t a consensus top pick like in next year’s draft. Hollinger likens the 2025 class to the 2018 class that produced the likes of Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson and Trae Young in terms of the depth of talent. Hollinger’s story addresses this, but I’d contend that while teams may be blown away by the talent of the 2025 class, the Hawks had a better record than nine teams but still landed the No. 1 overall pick. Meanwhile, the Pistons had their worst season in franchise history but didn’t pick until No. 5.
  • The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Houston’s G League affiliate, executed a six-team trade on Wednesday, per the team (Twitter link). Several picks swapped hands, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll focus on the player rights that were moved. The Vipers acquired the returning player rights to Jermaine Samuels, who is currently in camp with the Rockets. The Valley Suns acquired Cassius Stanley‘s rights, the Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers) received Dakota Mathias‘s rights, the Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies) got both Malachi Smith and Devin Cannady‘s rights, the Mexico City Capitanes obtained Loudon Love, and Gary Clark‘s rights were re-routed to the Wisconsin Herd (Bucks). Mathias was already signed and waived by the Pacers, so this is an indication he’ll play for the Mad Ants this season as an affiliate player. It remains to be seen whether Stanley, Smith, Cannady or Clark will sign camp deals to be later waived and set up as affiliates. The Capitanes aren’t an NBA team’s direct affiliate, so while Love could still sign anywhere as an NBA free agent, his rights being moved aren’t directly correlated with him potentially being an affiliate player.
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And-Ones: 2025 Draft, Team Assets, Top 100 Players

September 15th, 2024 at 3:55pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With training camp now two weeks away and 2024 rookies set to embark on their debut seasons, Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN are taking a look at the next chapter of NBA rookies. The duo unpacks some top players and storylines to watch ahead of the NBA’s 2025 draft.

Although rising stars Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, and Dylan Harper are expected to be the top three picks next year, Givony and Woo note that sleeper prospects have been carving out a niche for themselves over the summer in various competitions.  According to the ESPN tandem, Baylor freshman shooting guard V.J. Edgecombe would probably be the top selection in a less loaded draft.

There’s more from around the basketball world:

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And-Ones: Cousins, Murray, Draft Prospects, Hot Seats

September 9th, 2024 at 9:48pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Former NBA center DeMarcus Cousins won’t reach out to NBA teams to get another chance to play in the league, he said on the Club 520 podcast (hat tip to Hoops Hype).

“I’m not going to go out trying to convince these guys anymore,” he said. “You know what I bring to the floor. It’s been proven. If you really wanted to know who I am, you’d take the time to get to know me instead of listening to somebody else. I’m past trying to reach out. If an opportunity comes that makes sense, I’ll consider it, but I’m done with the convincing.”

Cousins recently joined Wuxi WenLv, a Chinese team on the FIBA 3×3 World Tour. Cousins, who has been out of the NBA since 2022, has played for professional teams in Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and the Philippines since that point.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • Jamal Murray‘s contract extension agreement with the Nuggets is good news for Canada’s basketball program, Michael Grange of Sportsnet opines. Murray took a lot of criticism during the Paris Olympics for his subpar performances and there were long-term concerns about his health. The possibility that Murray’s performances for Canada would be used against him in contract negotiations was a scenario the program didn’t want or need. It could have been the kind of cautionary tale that could create obstacles regarding team-building in the future, according to Grange.
  • Several prospects in the NBA’s next two draft classes have boosted their stock this summer and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report takes a look at some of those risers. That group includes Baylor freshman guard V.J. Edgecombe and Illinois swingman Kasparas Jakucionis, as well as Cameron Boozer (draft-eligible in 2026).
  • Bulls top executive Arturas Karnisovas and head coach Billy Donovan, Bucks GM Jon Horst and coach Doc Rivers, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, and Nuggets GM Calvin Booth are among the GMs, presidents and coaches who have the most to prove this NBA season, according to ESPN’s Insiders.
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And-Ones: Flagg, In-Season Tourney, Escrow Payments, Broadcasting Deals

August 12th, 2024 at 10:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Cooper Flagg goes No. 1 overall to the Nets. Dylan Harper is selected No. 2 by the Wizards. Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman has released his latest 2025 mock draft in the aftermath of major AAU tournaments, NBA camps, FIBA competition and the Paris Olympics.

It will be difficult for any prospect to recreate the buzz that enveloped Victor Wembanyama in 2023. However, there’s no doubt Flagg is the target right now for all rebuilding teams, according to Wasserman.

Rounding out the top five are Ace Bailey (Trail Blazers), V.J. Edgecombe (Pistons) and Drake Powell (Jazz).

Wasserman used FanDuel’s latest projected win totals to determine a draft order.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • The NBA will unveil the schedule for the second annual in-season tournament on Tuesday afternoon via NBA Today on ESPN, the network’s PR department tweets. Officially called the Emirates NBA Cup, the six groups for the early rounds of the tournament were revealed last month.
  • NBA players had 5.25% of their salaries taken out of their paychecks for escrow payments for the 2023/24 season after the league finished its annual financial audit, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports. The escrow program was established in 2011 to ensure that players don’t receive more than their contractual agreement with the team. The NBA normally takes out 10% of player’s salaries throughout the season to put into escrow to allow for the possibility that aggregate salaries outpace the players’ share of BRI, Vorkunov explains. It then returns money to players if its audit shows it had withheld too much.
  • NBA officially struck rights deals with ESPN, Amazon and NBC that will provide the league with $77 billion over 11 years, beginning in 2025/26. The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand details how those agreements came about and how they’ll impact the league.
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And-Ones: Media Rights, Seattle, Vegas, 2025 Draft, Offseason

July 19th, 2024 at 8:50pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA’s new media rights agreements with Disney (ESPN/ABC), NBC, and Amazon won’t give those partners matching rights during the next round of negotiations in 11 years, industry sources tell Mike Vorkunov and Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. For instance, if the NBA were to reach an agreement on a rights deal with Netflix in 2035, Amazon wouldn’t be given the right to match Netflix’s offer.

The league presumably didn’t want to deal with that complication again in its next media rights negotiation period, given how Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching rights have affected this year’s talks. Warner Bros. Discovery (the parent company of TNT Sports) reportedly intends to exercise its matching rights on Amazon’s new package of games. The league, in turn, is expected to challenge WBD’s interpretation of those rights, which could result in a legal battle.

The NBA’s new media deals will go into effect at the start of the 2025/26 season and will run through ’35/36.

We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • If Seattle gets a new NBA team in the next round of expansion, the ownership group that controls the NHL’s Seattle Kraken is considered the significant frontrunner, but the bidding for a Las Vegas franchise looks more wide open, according to Randall Williams and Kim Bhasin of Fortune.com, who hears from two sources that the total price tag – including building a new arena – could reach $7 billion. The company that owns the Red Bull brand is among the groups with interest in a Las Vegas team, per Williams and Bhasin.
  • Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has published his “way-too-soon” mock draft for 2025, with Duke forward Cooper Flagg at No. 1, followed by Rutgers guard Dylan Harper. Baylor wing V.J. Edgecombe, Rutgers swingman Ace Bailey, and UNC guard Drake Powell round out Wasserman’s top five.
  • In an Insider-only story for ESPN.com, Bobby Marks takes a look at each team’s most impactful transaction of the offseason so far and what moves might still be coming before the regular season tips off.
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And-Ones: Beverley, Second Apron, 2025 Mock, Egan, Plumlee

July 14th, 2024 at 9:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Could Patrick Beverley play overseas next season? The longtime NBA point guard has garnered the interest of Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv, according to a Walla report (hat tip to Sportando).

Beverley, 36, is an unrestricted free agent. He played for the Bucks last season and made highlights for the wrong reasons in the playoffs. He fired a basketball multiple times at Indiana spectators and received a four-game suspension that he’ll serve at the start of the 2024/25 season if he’s in the NBA. Beverley had stated a preference to re-sign with Milwaukee.

The veteran guard played in the Ukraine, Greece and Russia before setting roots in the NBA in 2013.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • While many NBA observers have noted the second apron restrictions during this offseason, The Ringer’s Howard Beck makes a case that the negative impact of those aprons has been somewhat overblown. It should benefit the smaller market teams who don’t have the ability to go deep into the luxury tax, as the Warriors and Clippers have in recent years, Beck writes, noting that could help the league overall in its aim of competitive balance.
  • Yes, highly-touted Cooper Flagg ranks No. 1 in The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s 2025 mock draft, but there are plenty of other standout prospects, in Vecenie’s estimation. Rutgers guard Dylan Harper and forward Ace Bailey, France’s Nolan Traore and Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe are the other prospects who make Vecenie’s early top five.
  • Longtime NBA assistant Hank Egan is the recipient of this year’s Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced (Twitter link). Egan, 86, most recently coached in the league with Cleveland from 2005-10.
  • Suns center Mason Plumlee has been elected as a Secretary-Treasurer for the Players’ Association, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Plumlee will begin a three-year tenure as part of the union’s leadership.
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