Guillem Vives

NBA Draft Withdrawal Deadline Updates

Monday was the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft, and the league has announced the list of those who’ve pulled out. The deadline applied mostly to prospects from overseas, since any collegian who takes his name out of consideration at this point isn’t be able to return to NCAA competition. Mychal Ammons of South Alabama is the only U.S.-based player who withdrew, but he’d already signed a deal with an overseas club.

Yesterday’s reports identified several of the prospects taking their names out of the draft, as well as some high-profile players staying in, and we’ve added the previously unreported names of those pulling out to the top of the list below. For the complete register of early entrants denoting those who’ve withdrawn, click here.

Withdrawing from the draft

  • Ammons, Berkay Candan, Tomas Dimsa, Marko Ramljak, Alejandro SuarezDevon Van Oostrum are all out of the draft, the NBA announced.
  • Joonas Caven has pulled out of the draft, agent K.C. Callero tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Matias Bortolin is withdrawing from the draft, his agent tells Sportando (Twitter link).
  • Ilja Gromovs will exit the draft, too, agent Arturs Kalnitis says to Givony (Twitter link).
  • Mateusz Ponitka has removed his name from draft consideration, Givony tweets.
  • Moussa Diagne and Guillem Vives will take their names out of the draft, agent Herb Ruboy says to Givony (Twitter link).
  • Rasmus Larsen has decided to exit the draft, as agent Doug Neustadt informs Givony (Twitter link).
  • OKK Spars Sarajevo teammates Nedim Buza and Adin Vrabac have decided to pull out of the draft, agent Alexander Raskovic tweets.
  • Lefteris Bochoridis has withdrawn from the draft, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.

Remaining in the draft

  • Jokic isn’t the only prospect to flip-flop today.  Damien Inglis changed his mind and has decided to keep his name in the draft, agent Pedja Materic tells Jonthan Givony of DraftExpress (via Twitter).
  • Raznatovic, Saric’s agent, took to Twitter to confirm that his client will remain in the draft (hat tip to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
  • Nikola Jokic has changed his mind and will remain in the draft after all, Raznatovic tweets (hat tip to Chad Ford of ESPN.com).
  • Dario Saric will stay in the draft, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).
  • Vasilije Micic remains in the draft, agent Misko Raznatovic tweets.
  • Clint Capela will keep his name in this year’s draft, agent Bouna Ndiaye tells Givony (Twitter link).

And-Ones: O’Neal, Sterling, Jackson

Jonathan Abrams of Grantland examines the resurgence of Jermaine O’Neal with the Warriors. O’Neal feels like his years with the Celtics were lost seasons, per the article. O’Neal said, “Those two years [in Boston] were very difficult for me, because not only did I feel like I was wearing down physically, I was wearing down mentally. That was the first time in my life I felt myself starting to break away a little bit.”

More from around the league:

  • With Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s recent lifetime ban being announced, the legal battle will now begin. In an article by Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News, legal and business experts from USC analyze the situation involving the possibility of the league forcing Sterling to sell the team.
  • Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group examines some of the issues that have arisen between the Warriors front office and coach Mark Jackson.
  • Nine NBA teams — the Spurs, Clippers, Bucks, Heat, Lakers, Hawks, Bobcats, Suns, and Rockets — sent personnel to Spain recently to scout point guard Guillem Vives and center Walter Tavares, reports David Sardinero of Kia en Zona (translation by Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype). Both will be in this year’s draft.
  • Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) has released his most recent Big Board rankings for the upcoming NBA Draft.
  • The Bobcats announced (Twitter link) that Josh McRoberts’ surgery to remove bone spurs from his left big toe was successful. Roberts won’t be able to do any basketball related activity for a minimum of four weeks.
  • Mike Bianchi of The Orlando Sentinel examines if Magic owner Rich DeVos might be the next one Adam Silver will target for inappropriate comments. DeVos is alleged to have made anti-gay comments in the past.

Behanan, Dimsa, Diagne, Vives To Enter Draft

A flurry of second-round prospects are headed into this year’s draft field. A source tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv that former Louisville power forward Chane Behanan has hired an agent and will declare for the draft this week. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress hears Lithuanian shooting guard Tomas Dimsa, Senegalese big man Moussa Diagne and Spanish guard Guillem Vives are entering the draft, too (All Twitter links). Dimsa’s agent, Sarunas Broga, confirms the news on his client to Givony. None of the four fall within Givony’s top 100 prospects, while Chad Ford of ESPN.com has Behanan at No. 100 and Dimsa at No. 111,

Behanan, a junior, was set to transfer to Colorado State for his senior season after Louisville dismissed him from the team in December, but it appears he won’t suit up for the Rams. He’d be ineligible to return to play in the NCAA after declaring for the draft and signing with an agent. He averaged 7.6 points and 6.3 rebounds in 18.6 minutes per game over 12 appearances for the Cardinals this past season.

Dimsa plays for Zalgiris in his home country, averaging just 3.8 points in 16.1 minutes per game this season. Diagne is with Baloncesto Fuenlabrada in Spain, where he’s notched 3.3 PPG in 14.7 MPG, though he has come away with 4.8 rebounds per contest. Vives, who’s with Joventut Badalona in Spain, sees more playing time, averaging 28.2 MPG and 8.1 PPG. He also dishes out 4.2 assists per game against 2.3 turnovers.