2023/24 NBA G League Draft Results
The NBA G League held its draft for the 2023/24 season on Saturday afternoon.
The 29 G League teams affiliated with NBA franchises participated in the event, as did the unaffiliated Mexico City Capitanes. The G League Ignite, which is made up of top prospects and veteran mentors, doesn’t take part in the draft.
[RELATED: NBA G League Announces Schedule For 2023/24 Season]
The first player selected in today’s G League draft was former Nuggets and Thunder forward Jack White, who recently fell victim to a roster crunch in Oklahoma City.
White spent last season on a two-way contract with Denver, then signed a two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Thunder that included a $600K partial guarantee.
That guarantee made him ineligible to suit up for the Oklahoma City Blue this season, so he entered the G League draft, where the Texas Legends, the Mavericks‘ affiliate, snared him with the No. 1 overall pick.
Outside of White, there was only one other player drafted today who has prior NBA experience. That player is Scottie Lewis, the 56th overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft. He appeared in just two games for the Hornets while on a two-way deal in 2021/22. The Windy City Bulls, Chicago’s affiliate, drafted him today with the No. 32 overall pick.
Former Tulsa wing Brandon Rachal has never appeared in an NBA regular season game, but he was among Saturday’s draftees who has at least signed an NBA contract, having inked a pair of Exhibit 10 deals with Brooklyn in 2021 and 2022. Rachal made G League history today by becoming the first player drafted by the Rip City Remix, the Trail Blazers‘ expansion franchise.
Here are the full 2023/24 G League draft results:
Round One:
- Texas Legends (Mavericks): Jack White
- South Bay Lakers (Lakers): Teafale Lenard Jr.
- Capital City Go-Go (Wizards): David Muoka
- College Park Skyhawks (Hawks): Javonte Perkins
- Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets): Will Richardson
- Birmingham Squadron (Pelicans): Pavel Savkov
- Austin Spurs (Spurs): David Shriver
- Greensboro Swarm (Hornets): Isiaih Mosley
- Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder): Logan Johnson
- Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz): Karolis Lukosiunas
- Raptors 905 (Raptors): Myles Burns
- Mexico City Capitanes (N/A): J.J. Romer Rosario
- Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): Bryson Warren (Overtime Elite)
- Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets): Olisa Akonobi
- Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets): Walter Ellis
- Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors): Marcus Burk
- Texas Legends (Mavericks): Nana Opoku
- Texas Legends (Mavericks): Maxime Carene
- Westchester Knicks (Knicks): Jamal Bey
- Sioux Falls Skyforce (Heat): Manny Camper
- Osceola Magic (Magic): Jaycee Hillsman
- Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers): Brandon Rachal
- Ontario Clippers (Clippers): Elijah Harkless
- Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers): Anthony Nelson
- Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves): Kok Yat (Overtime Elite)
- Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder): Lance Thomas
- Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors): Arinze Chidom
- College Park Skyhawks (Hawks): Jared Wilson-Frame
- Wisconsin Herd (Bucks): Myron Gardner
- Maine Celtics (Celtics): Wendell Green Jr.
Round Two:
- Texas Legends (Mavericks): J.D. Tsasa (North Canyon High School)
- Windy City Bulls (Bulls): Scottie Lewis
- Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers): Eric Williams Jr.
- Osceola Magic (Magic): Tray Maddox
- Grand Rapids Gold (Nuggets): No pick
- Stockton Kings (Kings): Kalob Ledoux
- Wisconsin Herd (Bucks): No pick
- Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies): Sincere Carry
- Stockton Kings (Kings): Alex Hunter
- College Park Skyhawks (Hawks): Sam Daniel (Florida Tech)
- Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves): Nojel Eastern
- Ontario Clippers (Clippers): David Bell
- Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers): Stephan Hicks
- Mexico City Capitanes (N/A): No pick
- Osceola Magic (Magic): Darius Mickens (Cal State San Bernadino)
- Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors): No pick
- Windy City Bulls (Bulls): Keyshawn Bryant
- Rip City Remix (Trail Blazers): Kevin McClain
- Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies): Davion Warren
- Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers): David Sloan
- Indiana Mad Ants (Pacers): No pick
- Westchester Knicks (Knicks): No pick
- Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers): No pick
- Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers): No pick
- Osceola Magic (Magic): Isaiah Wade (Central Oklahoma)
- Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz): Isaac Johnson
- Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves): Denzel Mahoney
- Texas Legends (Mavericks): No pick
- Texas Legends (Mavericks): No pick
- Ontario Clippers (Clippers): No pick
Round Three (supplemental picks):
- Motor City Cruise (Pistons): Robert Johnson
- Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets): Kyree Walker
Teams will fill out their rosters with affiliate players, returning rights players, tryout players, and players who are assigned to the G League from the NBA roster (including those on two-way contracts).
G League training camps open on Monday, with this year’s NBAGL Showcase Cup tournament tipping off on November 10. The Showcase Cup will be played over about a month-and-a-half and will be followed by the G League regular season, which begins on December 27.
Nets Notes: Simmons, Irving, Durant, Workout
Nets guard Ben Simmons has made a significant step following back surgery in early May, reports Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Simmons has moved from the recovery phase to the rehab phase and remains on schedule to be ready well before the start of training camp in September, a source close to the player tells Lewis.
“Microdiscectomy is probably one of the best procedures we do. Most patients recover really fast,” said Dr. Neel Anand, director of spine trauma at Cedars-Sinai Spine Center. “Ten days to six weeks, rehabbing. Six weeks to three months, pretty much getting back to the field. And then three months I’d say most athletes will be back on the field, back doing everything.”
The Nets are hoping Simmons can become the versatile defender they were missing during a first-round sweep by the Celtics. He was the centerpiece of the James Harden trade in February, but wasn’t able to return to the court in time for the postseason.
There’s more from Brooklyn:
- In the same piece, Lewis shoots down a rumor that Nets guard Kyrie Irving has changed his representation. Irving, who faces an offseason decision on his player option for 2022/23, will continue to be represented by his stepmother, Shetellia Riley Irving. Lewis states that there was an erroneous report that Irving had signed with Donda Sports, which was founded by Kanye West.
- TNT commentator Charles Barkley believes Kevin Durant‘s legacy has been tarnished somewhat by Brooklyn’s early exit and Golden State’s run to the finals, per Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Durant has long been criticized for joining a championship-level Warriors team where he won his only two rings. “You know it has an effect on his legacy,” Barkley said during a public appearance Wednesday. “If you go back and look, and I talked about it on the [TNT] show, LeBron [James] has said it before — he said, ‘I had to win a championship without Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.’ And Kobe’s said it before, Rest in Peace, ‘I’ve got to win a championship without Shaq.’ So Kevin and Kyrie, before we elevate them among the old guys, they’re not going to get the credit they deserve until they win a championship by themselves and be The Guy.”
- The Nets currently don’t have a pick in this year’s draft, but they hosted six players for a workout today, tweets Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog. On hand were Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr., Kentucky’s Davion Mintz, Michigan State’s Marcus Bingham Jr., Providence’s Justin Minaya, Texas Tech’s Davion Warren and Fordham’s Chuba Ohams.
Southeast Draft Notes: Murray, Hawks, Wizards, Hornets
The Magic hold the No. 1 pick and Iowa’s Keegan Murray isn’t expected to go higher than No. 4 in the lottery. That didn’t prevent Orlando from doing its due diligence on the high-scoring wing. Murray came in for a pre-draft workout on Thursday, Khobi Price of the Orlando Sentinel tweets. The two sides also had a discussion during the draft combine in Chicago, Price adds.
We have more developments from the Southeast Division:
- The Hawks have been busy looking at prospects. They brought in Teddy Allen (New Mexico St), JD Davison (Alabama), Henri Drell (Windy City Bulls), Malik Osborne (Florida St.), Matteo Spagnolo (Vanoli Cremona, Italy) and Davion Warren (Texas Tech) on Thursday, Chris Kirschner of The Athletic tweets. The parade of draft prospects will continue on Friday, as they’ll look at Jimmy Boeheim (Syracuse), Christian Braun (Kansas), Eli Brooks (Michigan), R.J. Cole (UConn), Lester Quinones (Memphis) and Kai Sotto (Adelaide, Australia) on Friday, Kirschner adds in another tweet.
- The Wizards will also be evaluating six prospects on Friday, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington tweets. That group includes Alex Barcello (BYU), Josh Carlton (Houston), Makur Maker (Howard), Jean Montero (Overtime Elite), Charlie Moore (Miami, Fla.) and JD Notae (Arkansas).
- The Hornets hosted six prospects on Wednesday — Ochai Agbaji (Kansas), James Akinjo (Baylor), Luka Brajkovic (Davidson), Kofi Cockburn (Illinois), Trevor Keels (Duke) and Montero – the team’s PR department tweets. They brought in a handful of players on Thursday — Dhieu Deing (UTSA), Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (Florida), Both Gach (Utah), Jalen Johnson (Mercer) and Tommy Kuhse (Saint Mary’s), the team tweets. Villanova guard Collin Gillespie will be coming in soon, Josh Robbins of The Athletic tweets.