Pacific Notes: Bagley, Kings, Lakers, Wiggins
During an episode of the Halfway Decent Pod, Kings forward/center Marvin Bagley III expressed no regrets about causing a stir on Twitter by liking a tweet that read “we gotta get @MB3FIVE outta Sac” and removing mentions of the Kings from his social media profiles, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“First of all, it’s my Twitter, bro,” Bagley said. “It’s my Twitter. It has my name on it. I can like whatever I choose and please, and whatever I feel like liking.”
According to Anderson, Bagley explained that he liked the aforementioned tweet out of frustration after watching Trae Young – who was selected three spots after Bagley in the 2018 draft – score 48 points against Milwaukee in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals.
“As a competitor, that just makes me want to get to that and I need to be there. I want to be there bad,” Bagley said. “… For me, my personal goals and where I’m trying to get to in my career, I’ve got to make it happen. I’ve got to do everything I’ve got to do to make it happen.
“I think liking that tweet, that’s where that came from and it is what it is. People (are) going to take it and run with it. It is what it is. I did it. It’s my Twitter. I can like and do whatever I want on my account. I’m not hurting nobody. I’m not harming nobody, but you already know how the fans take stuff and want to run with something.”
Bagley, who is extension-eligible this offseason, has one year left on his rookie contract with Sacramento.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Senegalese big man Biram Faye, who has been playing professionally in Spain, will participate in a pre-draft workout with the Kings on Thursday, tweets Jason Jones of The Athletic. Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee takes a more in-depth look at some of the prospects Sacramento has either interviewed or worked out so far in the pre-draft process.
- The Lakers hosted a group workout on Wednesday, auditioning Jason Preston, Cody Riley, Alan Griffin, LJ Figueroa, Matt Coleman III, and Giorgi Bezhanishvili, tweets ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Los Angeles has just one pick in this year’s draft, at No. 22.
- Andrew Wiggins‘ name frequently pops up in Warriors-related trade rumors, but the forward’s strong showing for Canada at the recent Olympic qualifying tournament will give the franchise more to consider as it weighs Wiggins’ future, writes Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Jared Butler, Others Enter 2021 NBA Draft
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):
- Mert Akay, G, Serbia (born 2000)
- Ibou Badji, C, Spain (born 2002)
- Kenny Baptiste, F, France (born 2000)
- Juhann Begarin, G/F, France (born 2002)
- Hugo Besson, G, France (born 2001)
- Tarik Biberovic, G/F, Turkey (born 2001)
- Vrenz Bleijenbergh, G/F, Belgium (born 2000)
- Tom Digbeu, G/F, Lithuania (born 2001)
- Biram Faye, F/C, Spain (born 2000)
- Gregor Glas, G, Serbia (born 2001)
- Haowen Guo, F, China (born 2000)
- Ariel Hukporti, C, Lithuania (born 2002)
- Jovan Kljajic, G, Spain (born 2001)
- Yoan Makoundou, F, France (born 2000)
- Zsombor Maronka, F/C, Spain (born 2002)
- Ivan Perasovic, F, Croatia (born 2002)
- Ziga Samar, G, Spain (born 2001)
- Pavel Savkov, G/F, Russia (born 2002)
- Amar Sylla, F/C, Belgium (born 2001)
- Bojan Tomasevic, F, Serbia (born 2001)
- Uros Trifunovic, G, Serbia (born 2000)
- 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.
Latest On Early Entrants List For 2019 NBA Draft
The deadline for early entrants to declare for the 2019 NBA draft fell on Sunday night, with plenty of NCAA underclassmen and international prospects entering their names into the draft before that deadline.
News continues to trickle in on players making draft decisions, and it will just be a matter of time before the NBA issues an official list of the players who declared for the 2019 NBA draft as early entrants. Once that group is set, the next key deadline to watch will be May 29 — that’s the last day for NCAA players to withdraw from draft consideration while retaining their college eligibility.
Here are many of the early entrants who have declared for the draft within the past couple days (our full list can be found here):
NCAA early entrants:
- James Banks III, F, Georgia Tech (junior) (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of SI.com)
- Phil Bledsoe, F, Glenville State (junior) (link via Ryan Decker of 12 WBOY)
- Marques Bolden, C, Duke (junior) (press release via Duke)
- Jarron Cumberland, G, Cincinnati (junior) (press release via Cincinnati)
- Note: Cumberland is the No. 91 prospect on Jonathan Givony’s big board at ESPN.com.
- Tulio Da Silva, F, Missouri State (junior) (press release via Missouri State)
- Silvio De Sousa, F, Kansas (sophomore) (Twitter link via De Sousa)
- Javin DeLaurier, F, Duke (junior) (press release via Duke)
- Kevon Harris, G, Stephen F. Austin (junior) (via agent Jerry Dianis)
- Malik Maitland, G, Bethune-Cookman (junior) (Twitter link via Maitland)
- Jermaine Marrow, G, Hampton (junior) (link via Dave Johnson of The Daily Press)
- Zach Norvell Jr., G, Gonzaga (sophomore) (press release via Gonzaga)
- Joel Ntambwe, F, UNLV (freshman) (Twitter link via Rothstein)
- Jalen Pickett, G, Siena (freshman) (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony)
- Nick Richards, F, Kentucky (sophomore) (press release via Kentucky)
- Xavier Sneed, F, Kansas State (junior) (link via KWCH.com)
- Killian Tillie, F, Gonzaga (junior) (press release via Gonzaga)
- Note: Tillie is the No. 82 prospect on Givony’s big board.
International early entrants:
- Dikembe Andre, C, Brazil (born 1999) (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jonathan Givony)
- Kevin Cham, G, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Leo Cizmic, F, Croatia (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Digue Diawara, F, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Nenad Dimitrijevic, G, Macedonia (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Felipe Dos Anjos, C, Brazil (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Yago Mateus Dos Santos, G, Brazil (born 1999) (link via Cancha Latina)
- Paul Eboua, F, Cameroon (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Osas Ehigiator, C, Spain (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Biram Faye, F, Senegal (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Ivan Fevrier, F, France (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Aleix Font, G/F, Spain (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Kadre Gray, G, Laurentian (Canada) (junior) (Twitter link via Barry Hayes)
- Lukasz Kolenda, G, Poland (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Muhaymin Mustafa, G, Turkey (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Joshua Obiesie, G, Germany (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Note: Obiesie is the No. 46 prospect on Givony’s big board.
- Zoran Paunovic, G, Serbia (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Dino Radoncic, F, Montenegro (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Sander Raieste, F, Estonia (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Neal Sako, C, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Luka Samanic, F, Croatia (born 2000) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Note: Samanic is the No. 39 prospect on Givony’s big board.
- Njegos Sikiras, F, Bosnia (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Borisa Simanic, F, Serbia (born 1998) (Twitter link via agent Misko Raznatovic)
- Khadim Sow, C, Senegal (born 1999) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Michael Uchendu, C, Brazil (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Bastien Vautier, C, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
- Warren Woghiren, C, France (born 1998) (Twitter link via Givony)
