- The Wizards also have a pre-draft workout set for Monday, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. The team will work out Brandon Better (Southern Utah), Joe Cremo (Villanova), Jon Davis (Charlotte), Malik Dunbar (Auburn), Paul Eboua (Africa) and Kaleb Johnson (Georgetown).
Zion Williamson, Ja Morant, R.J. Barrett, Darius Garland, De’Andre Hunter, Jarrett Culver, Coby White, Cam Reddish and Jaxson Hayes were the first nine prospects invited to sit in the Green Room at the NBA draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony tweets. There were no surprises on the list, as the first eight comprise Givony’s top 8 prospects and Hayes is ranked No. 11. The invites reinforce that all nine will be selected in the lottery and probably the top 10. Another 11 invites are expected to be made, Givony adds.
We have more draft news:
- Trey Mourning has a workout lined up with the Heat, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel tweets. Mourning, son of longtime Heat star Alonzo Mourning, averaged 6.3 PPG for Georgetown last season. The 6’9” forward previously visited the Wizards and Kings, Winderman adds.
- Guard Justin Simon (St. John’s) will work out for the Thunder on Thursday, Adam Zagoria of the New York Times tweets.
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Givony’s No. 22 overall prospect, worked out for the Pistons on Friday, Rod Beard of the Detroit News tweets. The combo guard, who averaged 16.2 PPG and 4.0 APG for Virginia Tech last season, has already visited the Hornets and Celtics, Beard adds.
- Point guard Tremont Waters, Givony’s No. 49 overall prospect, will visit the Pacers and Spurs, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. Waters will probably not do any on-court work as he’s still rehabbing a right ankle sprain suffered at the NBA combine, Candace Buckner of the Washington Post tweets.
Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington sat down with Wizards rookie Troy Brown Jr. to discuss his first year in the NBA, which began with an overwhelming welcome at the combine and finished with Brown becoming a calmer, wiser, 19-year-old man.
“I wouldn’t say I was lost (in regard to the 2018 NBA Combine), but I didn’t know what to expect,” Brown said. “I was just kind of going about things, trying to do everything the best I could. …I knew I was going to get drafted, but it was more about the work that I put in. Is it going to happen? I want to go this number (in the draft). There’s a lot of stuff running through your brain.”
Immediate expectations for Brown’s rookie season were not very high, as Washington came into the season with playoff aspirations and more. But after a disappointing 2018/19 campaign, Brown may be the most important player on the roster long term after All-Star shooting guard Bradley Beal.
“It’s definitely weird not knowing who is going to be back and knowing our whole roster (might) be different… (but) (a)t the same time, you know it’s a business… I’m kind of use to it now. I had 24 teammates in one year.”
There’s more out of D.C. tonight:
- The Wizards hosted six players for workouts today, per a release from NBA.com. The players are Duke big man Marques Bolden, Houston guard Armoni Brooks, South Carolina guard Tre Campbell, South Sudanese forward Matur Maker, Buffalo forward Nick Perkins, and former Kansas guard Lagerald Vick.
- The Wizards will host six more prospects tomorrow, per NBA.com – LSU big man Kavell Bigby-Williams, Nevada forward Jordan Caroline, UCF guard Aubrey Dawkins, Australian guard William McDowell-White, Virginia Tech guard Justin Robinson, and Clemson big man Elijah Thomas.
- Candace Buckner of The Washington Post speculates that the delay in the search for the Wizards’ new head of basketball operations could be a sign that the team is focused on hiring someone who currently works for the Warriors or Raptors, perhaps even Toronto’s current lead man Masai Ujiri. We discussed the possibility of the Wizards targeting Ujiri on Wednesday.
The Wizards may be delaying their search for a new executive so they can make a run at Raptors president Masai Ujiri, writes Fred Katz of The Athletic.
No permanent head of basketball operations has been hired in Washington since former president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld was dismissed in early April. The Wizards offered the job to Nuggets president Tim Connelly last month, but he elected to stay in Denver. There has been little reported movement since then, leading to speculation that Ujiri is the next target.
Katz notes that owner Ted Leonsis and consultant Mike Forde, who is leading the search team, haven’t reached out to the Raptors to request permission to interview Ujiri, and that likely won’t happen until the NBA Finals have wrapped up. Ujiri is a candidate for Executive of the Year after pulling off bold trades for Kawhi Leonard and Marc Gasol that helped Toronto reach the championship round for the first time.
Katz doesn’t believe Washington can win a bidding war for Ujiri because the Raptors are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which is one of the wealthiest companies in the sports industry and has a pattern of giving Ujiri whatever he has asked for, including a G League team and a new practice facility. The Wizards also can’t compete in terms of basketball success, as they missed the playoffs this season and seem a long way from reaching the Finals.
However, they may be able to appeal to Ujiri with the prospect of living in Washington, D.C., giving him a chance to increase his involvement with Giants of Africa or the NBA’s new pro league in Africa, along with being in the same city as his close friend, former President Barack Obama.
With Ujiri still under contract for the next two seasons, the Raptors could demand a heavy price in exchange for letting him leave. Sources tell Katz that they asked for two first-round picks when Ujiri talked to the Knicks a few years ago and they received a second-rounder from the Magic when former GM Jeff Weltman went to Orlando in 2017.
Team USA’s training camp roster for the FIBA World Cup will be announced next week, but four players have already been confirmed, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times.
Anthony Davis, James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and Kemba Walker will definitely be part of the team, while the other 14 slots are still being worked out. The roster will be trimmed to 12 when the players gather in Las Vegas in early August to prepare for the tournament, which takes place from August 31 to September 15 in China.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski drops a few more names in a full story on the World Cup tryouts, which sources tell him are also expected to include Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Bradley Beal and Kevin Love. Others planning to be part of the camp include Eric Gordon, Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, LaMarcus Aldridge, Andre Drummond and Kyle Kuzma.
P.J. Tucker will attend training camp as well, tweets ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, and league sources tell Woj that Paul Millsap also plans to be there. Other names leaked for the camp are Tobias Harris (Twitter link from Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer) and Myles Turner (Twitter link from Scott Agness of the Athletic).
Zion Williamson, expected to be the first pick in the draft later this month, has been invited to camp as part of the 10-man select team that will scrimmage against the 18-man roster, Stein tweets. Williamson will be given a chance to play his way onto the final roster if he has a standout performance in that role, according to USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo (Twitter link).
The select team will also include John Collins and Marvin Bagley, tweets Tim Bomtemps of ESPN.
The camp will be held from August 5-8, with exhibition games to follow before the start of World Cup play. Gregg Popovich will serve as head coach.
The Wizards will work out six prospects on Wednesday, according to the team’s website. Bryce Brown (Auburn), Harry Froling (Marquette 2018), Jessie Govan (Georgetown), Frank Howard (Syracuse), Anthony Lee (Kutztown), and Myles Stephens (Princeton) will all participate in drills for Washington.
Here’s more from around the Southeast Division:
- The Heat have invited Jaxson Hayes for a workout, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. However, the big man has no plans to visit Miami, as he’s expected to be selected before the Heat pick at No. 13.
- Charles Cooke has worked out for the Heat, Jackson writes in the same piece. Cooke, who went undrafted out of Dayton in 2017, is in play for the team’s summer league team.
- The Heat gave Duncan Robinson a $250K guarantee and Yante Maten a $100K guarantee in their respective contracts with the team, Jackson relays (same piece). Both players have trigger dates down the line that would bring additional guaranteed salary.
- The Magic have worked out Cameron Johnson (UNC) and Kris Clyburn (UNLV), according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (Twitter link). Orlando has the Nos. 16 and 46 overall picks in the draft.
Former Kentucky Wildcat PJ Washington is fully healthy and will have his first pre-draft workout on Sunday, Jonathan Givony of ESPN.com relays (Twitter link). The first of his five upcoming visits will be with the Heat.
Here are more workout notes on the upcoming draft:
- John Konchar (Purdue) recently worked out for the Suns and Magic, a source tells Jordan Schultz of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Konchar will work out for the Warriors on June 6.
- Elijah Thomas (Clemson) has worked out for the Pacers, Michael Scotto of The Athletic relays. Thomas will participate in drills for the Wizards on Friday.
- Matt McQuaid worked out for the Pistons and Grizzlies, Rod Beard of the Detroit News tweets. The Michigan State product will also work out for the Cavaliers.
- Amir Coffey (Minnesota) has worked out for the Raptors and Hornets, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). Coffey will also work out for the Pelicans and Timberwolves.
Four years after selecting him, the Wizards may be in position to bring draft-and-stash prospect Aaron White stateside this summer, according to Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington, who hears from sources that the team has interest in signing White to an NBA contract.
White, a power forward who played his college ball at Iowa, was drafted 49th overall in 2015 by the Wizards, who have held his NBA rights since then. During his first four professional seasons, White has played in Germany, Russia, and – most recently – Lithuania, where he helped lead Zalgiris Kaunas to a EuroLeague Final Four appearance in 2018 and a EuroLeague playoff berth in 2019.
Although the Wizards are interested in bringing over White, there are potential roadblocks. For one, Washington doesn’t yet have a permanent general manager, so if someone from outside the organization is hired to run the front office, it may affect where the 26-year-old forward falls on the club’s list of priorities.
Additionally, White – who is a free agent this offseason – figures to have other options that may be more favorable when it comes to his salary and/or role. Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relayed a La Gazzetta dello Sport report today indicating that the Wizards’ prospect is drawing interest from Italian club Olimpia Milano. Other European clubs may have him on their radar too.
For his part, White said during an appearance on Zalgiris TV that playing in the NBA would be a “dream,” but he wants to be “realistic in terms of what’s the most important for myself and my family” (Twitter link via Donatas Urbonas). He later tweeted that he’ll be patient in letting his free agency play out.
The Wizards brought in three guards and three forwards during a pre-draft workout on Monday, according to the team’s website. They took a look at backcourt candidates Shannon Bogues (Stephen F. Austin), Shizz Alston Jr. (Temple) and Jamall Gregory (Jacksonville State) and forwards Trey Mourning (Georgetown), Ed Polite Jr. (Radford) and Trey Porter (Nevada).
The Wizards will be looking at six more prospects on Tuesday, including four guards — Matt Morgan (Cornell), Marcquise Reed (Clemson), Garrison Mathews (Lipscomb) and B.J. Stith (Old Dominion), according to another website post. They’ll also work out big men James Thompson IV (Eastern Michigan) and Raasean Davis (N.C. Central).
- The Wizards have a workout scheduled with USC shooting guard Kevin Porter Jr., Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. They’ll also bring in forward Jordan Caroline (Nevada) in the near future, Jordan Schultz of ESPN tweets. Porter ranks No. 20 overall on ESPN’s Jonathan Givony’s draft board.
- Chase Hughes of NBC Sports examines how former Oregon center Bol Bol could fit with the Wizards if the team chooses to select him in the draft later this month. Washington has the ninth overall pick in the draft and could use it on the 7’3″ Bol, a potentially dominant two-way presence at center. Bol is the son of former Washington player Manute Bol, who was drafted by the team back in 1985.