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Amar Sylla

Draft Notes: Early Entrants, Bleijenbergh, Sengun, Hurt, Reaves

July 19th, 2021 at 7:13pm CST by Luke Adams

Senegalese center Ibou Badji and German big man Ariel Hukporti have withdrawn from the 2021 NBA draft, according to a pair of reports from Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter links).

Both players were considered potential second-round picks, ranking 59th and 63rd respectively on ESPN’s big board of 2021 prospects. However, Givony notes that Hukporti – like a number of international players who withdrew before today’s deadline – wasn’t interested in being a draft-and-stash prospect. It’s unclear if Badji felt the same way, but both players will be looking to boost their stock ahead of the 2022 draft.

Another potential second-round pick, Senegalese big man Amar Sylla, will be keeping his name in the draft, Givony tweets. The 19-year-old, who ranks 81st on ESPN’s board, is a strong draft-and-stash candidate, Givony adds.

Here’s more on the 2021 draft:

  • Belgian wing Vrenz Bleijenbergh, another one of the international prospects keeping his name in the draft, indicated (via Twitter) that he completed a workout with the Mavericks and has a meeting with the Raptors up next.
  • Turkish League MVP Alperen Sengun, who visited the Kings over the weekend, had a workout this morning with the Spurs and is on his way to meet with the Magic, reports Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link). Sengun could be a lottery pick next Thursday.
  • Duke forward Matthew Hurt worked out for the Sixers today and has the Clippers, Nets, and Magic on tap later this week, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link), who adds that Hurt also recently impressed in workouts with the Rockets and Bucks.
  • Oklahoma guard Austin Reaves is keeping busy during the pre-draft process — Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer tweets that Reaves is working out for a total of 18 NBA teams, including the Hawks, Knicks, Sixers, Nets, and Hornets.
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Jared Butler, Others Enter 2021 NBA Draft

May 31st, 2021 at 11:24am CST by Luke Adams

Ahead of Sunday’s early entry deadline, Baylor junior guard Jared Butler announced (via Twitter) that he was declaring for the 2021 NBA draft. While his announcement doesn’t explicitly state that he’s forgoing his remaining NCAA eligibility, it strongly suggests he intends to go pro.

While it took a while for him to make it official, Butler was always considered a good bet to enter this year’s draft following an impressive 2020/21 campaign in which he averaged 16.7 PPG, 4.8 APG, and 2.0 SPG on .471/.416/.780 shooting in 30 games (30.3 MPG) for the eventual national champs.

A consensus first-team All-American, Butler was named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player after the Bears defeated Gonzaga in the championship game. He’s the No. 23 prospect on ESPN’s big board, making him a strong candidate to be a first-round pick in July.

Here are a few more draft-related updates:

  • Fresno State sophomore guard Deon Stroud is testing the draft waters while maintaining his NCAA eligibility, according to an announcement from the school (Twitter link). Stroud, who began his college career at UTEP, averaged 12.2 PPG on .482/.357/.613 shooting in 23 games (23.1 MPG) in 2020/21.
  • Italian wing Gabriele Procida has declared for the draft, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, who tweets that the 18-year-old is a projected second-round pick.
  • Givony also published a series of tweets listing several more international players who have entered the 2021 NBA draft pool. Those players are as follows (the countries listed represent where they last played, not where they were born):
  • Since the NBA’s early entry deadline has now passed, we should get a full, official list of early entrants from the league on Tuesday. In the meantime, our unofficial tracker is here.
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Draft Notes: Nakic, Sylla, Alocen, Williams

April 26th, 2020 at 11:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Today marks the deadline for early entrants to declare for the NBA draft, and three overseas players have decided to wait another year, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Potential second-round picks Mario Nakic (Twitter link), Amar Sylla (Twitter link) and Carlos Alocen (Twitter link) will all bypass this year’s draft.

Nakic, 18, is a former MVP of the Adidas Next Generation Tournament. The 6’8″ wing played for Real Madrid this season, and Givony considers him a “breakout draft candidate” for 2021.

Sylla. a 6’9″ center from Senegal, played for the Belgian/BCL team Oostende this season. The 18-year-old could be a first round-pick next year, according to Givony.

Alocen is 6’5″ and is the starting point guard with Zaragoza in the Spanish ACB at age 19.

There are more draft decisions to pass along:

  • LSU sophomore Emmitt Williams has declared for the draft, tweets Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. Williams, who also tested the draft waters last year, made the announcement on his Instagram page. He averaged 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this season.
  • Northern Iowa’s AJ Green has decided to enter the draft while keeping his college eligibility, according to basketball analyst Jeff Goodman (Twitter link). Green was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore, averaging a league-best 19.7 PPG.
  • Tennessee’s Yves Pons has also declared for the draft and will hold onto his eligibility, Goodman adds (Twitter link). The junior forward was Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC.
  • Brazilian guard Caio Pacheco has opted to enter the draft, tweets Raúl Barrigón of HoopsHype. Pacheco averaged 19.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game this season with Bahía Blanca Basket in Argentina.
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And-Ones: Paul, Sylla, Tampering, Canada

July 18th, 2019 at 6:27pm CST by clarkcrum

In an interesting piece regarding Chris Paul‘s role as the head of the NBA Players Union, Tom Ziller of SB Nation opines that Paul’s reported insistence and hand in incorporating the Over-38 Rule into the 2017 CBA has now ironically landed him with one the most untradeable contracts in the NBA.

Paul, who is admittedly now under contract to make more money because of the rule change, is also stuck on the Thunder, a non-contending team, with no real way out until later this year when the latest crop of free agents become trade eligible.

Ultimately, Ziller opines that the tradeoff (non-contending team vs. an extra $45MM) was worth it for Paul, but wonders whether CP3, as union president, sacrificed the good of many (mid-level earners) for the benefit of few.

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

  • Amar Sylla, the No. 23 prospect for the 2020 NBA Draft, has signed a three-year contract containing NBA out clauses with Belgian league champions BC Oostende, reports Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
  • Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer writes that many executives believe the penalty for tampering needs to be harsher, including the removal of first-round picks or even as severe as being barred from trading any picks for some amount of years in addition to the loss of picks. “Basketball operations needs to get hit the hardest, not an owner’s wallets,” said another executive.
  • Canada Basketball has announced the 29 players invited to attend the Senior Men’s National Team training camp ahead of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. The list includes R.J. Barrett, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cory Joseph, Jamal Murray, and Tristan Thompson.
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