And-Ones: Mbah A Moute, Draft, Second-Round Picks, Cap Room

Former NBA forward Luc Mbah a Moute, a 12-year veteran who last played in the league in 2020, has joined CAA as an agent, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. According to Shelburne, Mbah a Moute’s work as a player rep will focus on Africa.

Mbah a Moute has been hosting basketball camps in his home country of Cameroon since his NBA playing days ended, Shelburne writes. Through those camps and his new role with CAA, the 36-year-old is hoping to unearth more African talent that might otherwise have slipped through the cracks.

“I’m not saying we’ll find another Joel (Embiid) or Pascal (Siakam),” he said. “But from what I’m seeing, Africa’s not benefiting from its athletes the way it should. There’s a lot more players who need to get an opportunity, whether it’s becoming a pro or a coach or even a GM, like Masai Ujiri.”

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

• Sam Vecenie of The Athletic explores how the 2023 NBA draft will be impacted by the deals made at last week’s trade deadline. Among his other observations, Vecenie points out that the swap rights the Pelicans have with the Lakers don’t appear nearly as valuable as they did earlier in the season. The two teams were separated by 8.5 games near the end of December, but there are only three games between them now, and L.A. has upgraded its roster while New Orleans continues to play without star forward Zion Williamson.
• After second-round picks changed hands in trades at an unprecedented rate this season, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports considers what we learned about those picks and their value — and whether we should expect teams to continue to play “hot potato” with second-rounders going forward.
• Which teams project to have cap room this summer and which ones are already into tax territory? Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype takes a look at all 30 NBA clubs and breaks down their salary commitments for 2023/24.