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Draft Notes: NBAGL Elite Camp, Niederhauser, Combine, Ruzic

May 10th, 2025 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

Malique Lewis (South East Melbourne), Amari Williams (Kentucky), Caleb Love (Arizona), Caleb Grill (Missouri), and Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Penn State) are among the top prospects teams will be watching at this weekend’s G League Elite Camp in Chicago, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

The standout players at the G League event typically earn invitations to the full-fledged combine that will take place this coming week. Givony expects about five-to-eight prospects to move on, noting that players like Terance Mann, Cody Martin, and Aaron Wiggins have gotten “called up” from the Elite Camp to the combine in the past before going on to establish themselves in the NBA.

According to Jon Chepkevich of Rookie Scale (Twitter link), Niederhauser has been the “early star” of the G League Elite Camp, racking up 17 points, four rebounds, and a pair of blocks in the first scrimmage. The Penn State forward looks like a safe bet to be among the players who advance to the combine, Chepkevich adds.

Missouri’s Tamar Bates led all scorers in the first Elite Camp scrimmage with 19 points. The full stats can be viewed here (via Twitter).

Here are a few more draft-related notes:

  • Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com identifies Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB), Boogie Fland (Arkansas), Darrion Williams (Texas Tech), Rocco Zikarsky (Brisbane), and Miles Byrd (San Diego State) as five prospects to monitor at the combine, noting that they still have the option of withdrawing if they don’t have strong showings this week.
  • Lendeborg, the No. 26 prospect on ESPN’s big board, has committed to transferring to Michigan and may only decide to turn pro if he draws serious first-round interest from a specific NBA team or teams, Woo writes, since he can make “excellent” money if he spends 2025/26 with the Wolverines.
  • PJ Haggerty, Jamir Watkins, and RJ Luis Jr. are three more NCAA prospects whose performances at the combine will be of particular interest to college teams, Givony notes in the same story. In addition to testing the draft waters, all three players are in the transfer portal and haven’t yet committed to a new school, so they’ll be popular targets if they opt not to remain in the draft pool.
  • Although Joventut Badalona’s season isn’t over yet, Croatian power forward Michael Ruzic, who plays for the Spanish club, has been cleared to attend the NBA’s draft combine this week and will be a full participant in 5×5 scrimmages, agent Bill Duffy tells Givony (Twitter link). Ruzic missed significant time due to a thumb injury this season and has played a limited role when healthy, so the Chicago combine will give NBA evaluators an opportunity to take an extended first-hand look at a prospect who ranks 49th overall on ESPN’s board.
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Pacific Notes: Post, Jackson, Kings Draft Workout, Frank, Redick

May 7th, 2025 at 9:30am CST by Dana Gauruder

Quinten Post went from a second-round rookie on a two-way contract to a regular contributor on a standard deal this season with Warriors. Post, who only played six minutes in the Game 1 win over Minnesota on Tuesday, is grateful for how his rookie campaign unfolded.

“It’s always a bunch of factors combined. Obviously, you need to have self-belief,” he told Mark Medina of Sportskeeda. “Even when I was in the G League, I had this belief in myself that this would work out. I had a lot of things that I did in the best of my career so far.

Then you just need an opportunity. They were struggling a little bit during the regular season. I’m very grateful because coach (Steve Kerr) let me play through some mistakes, especially early on. I definitely didn’t play perfect. It wasn’t like I came out and was a game changer at all. That wasn’t the case at all. But he let me play through some mistakes. Then I think Jimmy being traded to us also helped me out.”

We have more from the Pacific Division:

  • Bobby Jackson is returning to the Kings coaching staff as an assistant to Doug Christie, radio reporter Sean Cunningham tweets. Jackson, who has been on the Sixers‘ staff for the past two seasons, was previously the head coach of the NBA G League’s Stockton Kings for two seasons.
  • Missouri guard Tamar Bates, Florida center Rueben Chinyelu, Georgia guard Silas Demary, Villanova guard Wooga Poplar and Kentucky center Amari Williams were among the draft prospects who worked for the Kings on Monday, Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee writes. Williams is ranked 59th on ESPN’s top-100 list. Demary transferred to UConn but is testing the draft waters.
  • Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank will focus on adding frontcourt help – especially at the center position – and younger players this offseason, according to Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. “I think we need to add (players),” Frank said. “The West is a bear. It doesn’t get easier. It gets harder because each of these teams that either were playing or are currently playing – look at their top players, they are studs, they’re great players, some are in their prime, some are pre-primed, some are also comparable ages to our guys.”
  • Lakers coach J.J. Redick believes certain members of the team need to do a better job of conditioning and improving their stamina, according to Khobi Price of the Orange County Register. “I’ll start with the offseason and the work that’s required in an offseason to be in championship shape,” he said. “And we have a ways to go as a roster. And certainly, there are individuals that were in phenomenal shape. There’s certainly other ones that could have been in better shape. That’s where my mind goes immediately is we have to get in championship shape.”
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44 Prospects Invited To G League Elite Camp

May 5th, 2025 at 7:19am CST by Luke Adams

A total of 44 college and international prospects have been invited to the 2025 G League Elite Camp, aka the G League Combine, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

The list of invitees, as reported by Scotto, is as follows:

  1. Jabri Abdur-Rahim (Providence)
  2. Brooks Barnhizer (Northwestern)
  3. Tamar Bates (Missouri)
  4. Nathan Bittle (Oregon)
  5. Dylan Cardwell (Auburn)
  6. Rueben Chinyelu (Florida)
  7. Thierry Darlan (Delaware Blue Coats – G League)
  8. Johnell Davis (Arkansas)
  9. Jyare Davis (Syracuse)
  10. RJ Davis (UNC)
  11. Dawson Garcia (Minnesota)
  12. Keshon Gilbert (Iowa State)
  13. Caleb Grill (Missouri)
  14. Chucky Hepburn (Louisville)
  15. Chase Hunter (Clemson)
  16. Kobe Johnson (UCLA)
  17. Curtis Jones (Iowa State)
  18. Arthur Kaluma (Texas)
  19. Miles Kelly (Auburn)
  20. Viktor Lakhin (Clemson)
  21. Malique Lewis (South East Melbourne – Australia)
  22. Caleb Love (Arizona)
  23. Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh)
  24. Jahmai Mashack (Tennessee)
  25. Chance McMillian (Texas Tech)
  26. Mackenzie Mgbako (Indiana)
  27. Igor Milicic Jr. (Tennessee)
  28. Jacksen Moni (North Dakota State)
  29. Eli Ndiaye (Real Madrid – Spain)
  30. Ryan Nembhard (Gonzaga)
  31. Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Penn State)
  32. Isaac Nogues (Rip City Remix – G League)
  33. Lachlan Olbrich (Illawarra – Australia)
  34. Sean Pedulla (Ole Miss)
  35. Jonathan Pierre (Belmont)
  36. Jaron Pierre Jr. (Jacksonville State)
  37. Will Richard (Florida)
  38. Kadary Richmond (St. John’s)
  39. Joson Sanon (Arizona State)
  40. Nate Santos (Dayton)
  41. Brandon Stroud (South Florida)
  42. Wade Taylor IV (Texas A&M)
  43. Amari Williams (Kentucky)
  44. Chris Youngblood (Alabama)

These prospects will meet with NBA evaluators and scrimmage for two days in Chicago starting on May 9, ahead of the league’s annual draft combine. A small group of standout players from this event are generally invited to stay in Chicago for the full-fledged combine that takes place immediately following the G League Elite Camp. Typically, at least a half-dozen players move on.

While the May 11-18 combine focuses on the top-ranked players in each draft class, the G League Elite Camp offers opportunity to prospects further down boards who are more likely to go undrafted.

None of the 44 players invited to the G League Elite Camp show up in the top 50 of ESPN’s list of this year’s top prospects. Williams (No. 58) and Lewis (No. 59) are the top-ranked prospects for the event, per ESPN.

The G League Elite Camp will give invitees who declared for the draft as early entrants an opportunity to see where they stand ahead of the draft withdrawal deadline on May 28. Not all of the players who participate in this event will remain in the draft pool.

Jose Alvarado, Terance Mann, and Jaylen Martin are among the current NBA players who once took part in the G League Elite Camp. Last year’s list of invitees was highlighted by Jaylen Wells, though he ultimately received a combine invite before either event tipped off.

Keion Brooks, Isaiah Crawford, Yongxi Cui, Enrique Freeman, Emanuel Miller, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, and Anton Watson were among the other 2024 participants who signed two-way contracts with NBA teams this past year, while Isaac Jones finished the 2024/25 season on a standard contract in Sacramento.

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Draft Notes: Early Entrants, T. Johnson, C. Bryant, Combine

May 2nd, 2025 at 8:44pm CST by Luke Adams

When the NBA announced its initial early entrant list for the 2025 NBA draft, there were just 106 names on that list. As Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic writes, that’s the lowest total since 91 players declared early in 2015, which was the last year before college players were granted permission to test the draft waters while maintaining their NCAA eligibility.

According to Vorkunov, a handful of factors contributed to the major drop-off in early entrants this season, but the money now available to college players is easily the No. 1 factor. Prospects increasingly have opportunities to earn higher “salaries” playing college basketball than they would if they were a second-round pick in the NBA, Vorkunov points out.

The name, image, and likeness (NIL) money available to NCAA players isn’t just reducing the number of American-born players entering the draft. As Vorkunov details, international prospects have also become increasingly inclined to leave top teams and developmental programs in Europe in order to play college basketball, lowering the number of international early entrants.

Here’s more on the 2025 NBA draft:

  • Sam Vecenie of The Athletic has published a new mock draft ahead of this year’s lottery and combine, with Texas wing Tre Johnson among his big risers — the No. 7 pick in Vecenie’s March mock draft, Johnson moves up to No. 3 this time around, with Ace Bailey slipping to No. 5. Arizona’s Carter Bryant is among the other notable risers on Vecenie’s board, moving up to No. 9 after coming in at No. 23 in his previous mock draft. According to Vecenie, Bryant has a “ton of juice when you talk to front offices” and has moved into the No. 7 to No. 16 range of the draft.
  • Although Cooper Flagg is considered a high-end talent at No. 1 overall and Dylan Harper looks locked in at No. 2, teams around the NBA have “real questions” about the average value of this year’s draft class starting at No. 3, Vecenie notes within that new mock draft. While there are solid prospects to be had in the middle of the lottery and into the teens, those players come with significantly more question marks, so the results of the lottery will be especially important for teams seeking a cornerstone player, Vecenie explains.
  • According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link), all 75 prospects invited to this month’s NBA combine in Chicago are among the top 100 players on ESPN’s big board. ESPN’s top 56 prospects all made the cut, with No. 57 Mouhamed Faye of Reggio Emilia representing the site’s highest-ranked player who didn’t get a combine invite. Kentucky’s Amari Williams (No. 58) and Malique Lewis of South East Melbourne (No. 59) are the others in ESPN’s top 60 who weren’t invited to the event.
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Villanova’s Dixon Among Several Players Withdrawing From Draft

May 28th, 2024 at 12:09pm CST by Luke Adams

The deadline is looming for early entrants to withdraw from the 2024 NBA draft and retain their NCAA eligibility. Those players have until the end of the day on Wednesday to formally remove their names from this year’s draft pool if they hope to resume their college careers.

A number of prospects are taking that route, according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, who tweets that two-time All-Big East Villanova forward Eric Dixon is among those who are withdrawing from the draft to return to school. Dixon averaged 16.6 points and 6.5 rebounds with a .465/.346/.862 shooting line in 30.6 minutes per game across 34 appearances for the Wildcats in 2023/24 and will rejoin the club for his super-senior season in ’24/25.

Former Tulane guard Sion James, who is transferring to Duke (Twitter link), and former Drexel big man Amari Williams, who is transferring to Kentucky (Twitter link), are among the other seniors will who will take advantage of their year of extra eligibility due to COVID and play college ball for another season, per Rothstein. Cincinnati center Aziz Bandaogo, who will remain with the Bearcats after being named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2023/24, is also withdrawing from the draft (Twitter link).

Here are several more of the latest draft withdrawals, via Rothstein:

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And-Ones: Scoring Rate, McGruder, A. Williams, Sheppard

March 13th, 2024 at 1:58pm CST by Luke Adams

There has been a noticeable dip in points and fouls per game across the NBA since the All-Star break. According to Marc Stein at Substack, entering Tuesday’s games, teams were averaging 111.7 points and 19.9 free throws per game since the All-Star game, compared to 115.5 points and 22.7 free throws per contest prior to the break.

As Stein notes, there has been some speculation that – following a record-setting first half and an embarrassing All-Star game that saw nearly 400 points scored – the NBA quietly instructed its officials to call fewer shooting fouls in recent weeks.

However, a league spokesperson told Stein that the league office hasn’t given any directive to referees to call games any differently. The NBA’s position, then, is that the recent trend is a statistical anomaly, though those numbers are worth watching down the stretch, Stein writes.

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

  • Olimpia Milano and veteran guard Rodney McGruder have parted ways, the Italian club announced today (via Twitter). Milano’s statement indicates that McGruder was granted permission to return to the U.S. for personal reasons. The 32-year-old wing, who has appeared in over 300 NBA regular season games and was in camp with the Warriors last fall, averaged 7.6 PPG and 2.6 RPG in seven EuroLeague games this season.
  • Drexel big man Amari Williams has opted to enter the NCAA transfer portal while declaring for the 2024 NBA draft, agent George Langberg tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link). Williams, who has year of NCAA eligibility remaining, has been named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Defensive Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons, though he’s not on ESPN top-100 prospect list for ’24.
  • John Hollinger of The Athletic names the nine NCAA prospects he’ll be watching most closely in March, starting with Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard. Hollinger jokingly suggests that NBA evaluators have been trying to avoid reaching the conclusion that Sheppard is this year’s best college prospect “despite having the evidence punch them in the face every day.” Providence’s Devin Carter and Iowa’s Payton Sandfort are among the less obvious names on Hollinger’s list of players to monitor.
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