Draft Rumors: Parker, Wiggins, Nuggets

Jabari Parker called his college career “incomplete” after Duke’s upset loss in the NCAA tournament Friday, and the Blue Devils’ early exit could affect his decision about whether to enter the draft this year, he tells Andy Katz of ESPN (Twitter link). Scouts had held the belief that Parker was leaning toward declaring for the draft, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Here are more draft rumors:

  • Sean Highkin of USA Today doesn’t think Parker will skip the draft based on his disappointing tournament. Highkin says the farthest Parker could fall is to the third overall pick, so the small forward has more certainty of his selection (and payday) than players like Marcus Smart or Jared Sullinger had when deciding to return to school for another year.
  • Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton of ESPN Insider [subscription only] offer some analysis of Andrew Wiggins‘ upside, using both scouting information and advanced metrics. Both Ford and Pelton see Wiggins as a potential Paul George-type player.
  • Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post thinks that Gary Harris, Nik Stauskas, and James Young are three players who would make sense for the Nuggets to draft this year. Kiszla notes that the Knicks‘ recent winning streak has hurt the Nuggets’ odds of landing a high lottery pick. The Nuggets will have the better of their own pick and New York’s pick.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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