The Suns are believed to be “highly intrigued” by the possibility of adding a center who can space the floor as they continue to look for a starting-caliber big man, writes Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
In addition to their rumored NBA targets, the Suns are also eyeing stretch fives in next week’s draft, according to Fischer, who reports that Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner and Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud are “very much in consideration” with the 29th overall pick, which the team controls. Kalkbrenner recently worked out for Phoenix, Fischer adds.
Raynaud is ranked No. 24 on ESPN’s big board, while Kalkbrenner is No. 33.
Here are a few more rumors and notes on the 2025 NBA draft:
- The Pelicans, who control the seventh pick, hosted Duke’s Kon Knueppel and Washington State’s Cedric Coward for workouts last week, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. As Scotto notes, Knuppel is projected to go No. 7 overall in HoopsHype’s latest aggregate mock draft, with Coward landing at No. 15 (Oklahoma City). The two wings are ranked No. 8 and No. 29, respectively, on ESPN’s board.
- According to Ohm Younmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link), the Nuggets recently brought in Arizona guard Caleb Love, Kansas center Hunter Dickinson, Bradley forward Darius Hannah and Indiana center Oumar Ballo for a pre-draft workout. Of the four prospects, only Love (No. 75) appears on ESPN’s board.
- The Kings hosted a pre-draft workout on Monday featuring two point guards, two wing and two centers, the team announced (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of KCRA News). The six players are Mark Sears (Alabama), Javon Small (West Virginia), Kobe Johnson (UCLA), Dink Pate (G League), Oumar Ballo (Indiana) and Bogoljub Markovic (Mega Basket). Markovic (No. 38) is the top-rated player of the group on ESPN’s board, followed by Small (No. 49) and Pate (No. 56).
Unfortunately for Phoenix they aren’t getting Kristaps, Turner and only get the Frenchman if they move ahead of Boston in the draft. Who I’m sure may have desires of moving up a little too.
Those are two solid talents for Suns. The Creighton center would be solid for Warriors. He is a senior and is more NBA ready. Both are future starters imo. With Raynaud,has more upside.
The Kon is a decent talent. He has size and can shoot. A smart player who can step in and help next year. Depending on team I can see him go top 10. Imo there are better upside talents that could go ahead of him …..
Queen and Sorber sre two solid bigs. Imo have huge upside. They have the potential to be special in NBA. Both have NBA size now. Like them a lot.
Kalkbrenner has measurables, skills and 4 years of 2 way production. Excellent rim protector and all around defender; you don’t win 4 consecutive Big East DPOY awards just by blocking shots. Whether he can switch onto NBA perimeter players is the only issue on that side. Offensively, PHX’s view is noted, but nevertheless he’s not really a floor spacer, at least not yet. His 3 pt shot is a recent addition to his game, and remains a WIP. But he has enough of an offensive game overall to stay on the court. He’d be a good pick at #29. But I’d like to see him go somewhere other than PHX. If Thibs were here, I’d like him for the NYK, but he isn’t and they have no pick in the area.