Johnell Davis

50 Prospects Reportedly Invited To G League Elite Camp

A total of 50 prospects for the 2023 NBA draft have been invited to the NBA’s G League Elite Camp, according to reports from Adam Zagoria of Forbes and Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter links).

Those players are as follows:

The name of the G League Elite Camp is a bit of a misnomer — when first introduced, the event showcased NBAGL players, but the field of participants now consists exclusively of draft prospects. The event will take place on May 13 and 14 in Chicago, ahead of this year’s draft combine.

Like the combine, the Elite Camp brings young players to Chicago to meet NBA teams and participate in drills and scrimmages. While the combine focuses on the top prospects in a given draft class, the Elite Camp generally features prospects who are trying to break into that upper echelon of prospects but are more likely to go undrafted. The top performers at the event typically receive invites to the combine.

Of the 50 G League Elite Camp invitees, 15 show up on Jonathan Givony’s list of this year’s top 100 prospects at ESPN.com. However, no Elite Camp invitee ranks higher than No. 58 (Hart) on ESPN’s board.

The G League Elite Camp will give the invitees who declared for the draft as early entrants an opportunity to see where they stand ahead of the draft withdrawal deadline on May 31. Not all of the players who participate in this event will remain in the draft pool.

Some NBA players who have participated in past G League Elite Camps include Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado, Pacers forward Oshae Brissett, Clippers guard Terance Mann, and Heat wing Max Strus.

Villanova’s Cam Whitmore Enters 2023 NBA Draft

Villanova freshman forward Cam Whitmore is entering the 2023 NBA draft, he said in an interview with Shams Charania of Stadium (Twitter video link).

Whitmore projects as a top-10 pick in this year’s draft, currently coming in at No. 7 on ESPN’s big board.

As Jonathan Givony of ESPN notes in his scouting report of Whitmore, the 6’7″ forward had an up-and-down freshman year, finishing the season with averages of 12.5 PPG, 5.3 RPG, and 1.4 SPG on .478/.343/.703 shooting in 26 games (27.3 MPG). However, he doesn’t turn 19 until July and is viewed as one of the higher-upside players in the 2023 draft class.

There’s no indication, based on Whitmore’s conversation with Charania, that he’s leaving the door open for a return to Villanova, so it appears he intends to forgo his remaining NCAA eligibility and go pro.

Here are a few more draft-related updates:

  • After averaging 15.1 points and 9.0 rebounds per game as a freshman, Duke center Kyle Filipowski announced on Tuesday that he’ll return to the Blue Devils for at least one more season (Twitter video link). Filipowski ranked at No. 16 on ESPN’s top-100 list, but wasn’t ready to leave college yet and is dealing with an injury, according to Givony (Twitter link), who believes that Filipowski could be a top-five pick in 2024 with a strong sophomore showing.
  • Texas Tech senior guard De’Vion Harmon (Twitter link), Florida Atlantic junior guard Johnell Davis (Instagram link), and San Diego State junior guard Lamont Butler (Twitter link) announced that they’re entering the 2023 draft. Davis and Butler are maintaining their NCAA eligibility, but Harmon said he’s “immersing myself in the pursuit of a pro basketball career.”
  • We’ve added a few more seniors to our early entrant list: Oral Roberts center Connor Vanover, TCU guard Damion Baugh, Dayto forward Toumani Camara, and UCLA guard Tyger Campbell all have a year of college eligibility left, but are on the list of participants for the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, signaling that they’re at least testing the draft waters (hat tip to Jon Chepkevich of Rookie Scale).