Southeast Notes: Larsson, Young, Bane, Johnson
Pelle Larsson has thrived in a starting role for the Heat this season, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald notes. The second-year player has made 26 starts this season and the Heat are 16-10 in those contests.
“We trust Pelle,” Heat center Bam Adebayo said. “Pelle is the guy that we can incorporate him in our starting lineup, and you instantly see the difference. For organizations and players around the league, you want a guy like Pelle. If he gets 15 [points], that just adds to your offense. But you know what he’s bringing day in, day out.”
Coach Erik Spoelstra says Larsson keeps the offense humming by playing within his role.
“Pelle helps our offense so much,” Spoelstra sai. “This kind of style that I’m talking about, like Pelle helps everybody because he cuts when you need to cut, he spaces with energy, he drives it hard, he runs hard. He does all the things that keep the engine of our offense going.”
The Heat hold a $2,296,271 club option on his contract for next season, which becomes guaranteed on opening night.
We have more on the Southeast Division:
- Heat two-way player Jahmir Young has been named the NBA G League Player of the Week for games played Jan. 19-25, according to the league (Twitter link). Young averaged 32.3 points, 10.3 assists and 2.3 steals in three games last week for the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
- Magic guard Desmond Bane has changed representation, Orlando Sentinel beat reporter Jason Beede tweets. He will now be represented by Glushon Sports Management — the same agency that represents Franz Wagner and Moritz Wagner. Bane was previously repped by Gersh Basketball. Bane is in the second year of a five-year, $197.2MM contract.
- The Athletic’s Mirin Fader takes an in-depth look at how Hawks wing Jalen Johnson worked his way into an All-Star level player. He’s averaging 23 points, 10.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists this season as the team’s new franchise player.
NBA Announces 88 Early Entrants Withdrawing From Draft
The NBA issued a press release today announcing that 88 prospects who declared for the 2021 draft as early entrants earlier this year have withdrawn their names from the draft pool.
We’ve passed along updates on most of these players in recent weeks, but the following names on today’s list are ones that we hadn’t written about yet. They’ve pulled out of the 2021 NBA draft and will retain their NCAA eligibility for at least one more year:
- Josiah Agnew, G, Denmark Technical College (SC) (freshman)
- Dalonte Brown, F, Miami (Ohio) (senior)
- D.J. Burns Jr., F, Winthrop (sophomore)
- Lydell Elmore, F, High Point (senior)
- Patrick Greene Jr., G, National Park College (AR) (sophomore)
- Ron Harper Jr., G/F, Rutgers (junior)
- Trevor Hudgins, G, NW Missouri State (junior)
- David Jean-Baptiste, G, Chattanooga (senior)
- Jalen Johnson, F, Mississippi State (senior)
- Jaizec Lottie, G, Flagler (FL) (senior)
- Loudon Love, F, Wright State (senior)
- Issa Muhammad, F, Daytona State (FL) (sophomore)
- Jordan Phillips, G/F, UT Arlington (junior)
- Antonio Reeves, G, Illinois State (sophomore)
- Shawn Royal Jr., G/F, Victory Rock Prep (FL) (post-graduate)
- Maleek Taylor, F, Allen University (SC) (senior)
- Alonzo Verge Jr., G, Arizona State (senior)
- Richard Washington Jr., G/F, San Jose State (senior)
- Keith Williams, G, Cincinnati (senior)
Our unofficial list of early entrants is now up to date, to the best of our knowledge. While the NCAA’s early entrant withdrawal deadline came and went this past Wednesday, the NBA’s own deadline is on July 19, so there will still be a number of early entrants removing their names from the draft in the next nine days — especially international prospects, since the NCAA deadline didn’t apply to them at all.
We’ll continue updating our list of early entrants through the NBA’s withdrawal deadline on July 19, and will eventually provide an official list of this year’s draft-eligible early entrants.