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Second-Round Prospect Malique Lewis Withdraws From Draft

June 10th, 2025 at 4:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

International prospect Malique Lewis will withdraw from the draft and return to play for the South East Melbourne Phoenix as part of Australia’s NBL Next Stars program, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony tweets.

Lewis was considered a potential second-round pick. He was ranked No. 67 overall on ESPN’s Best Available list.

A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Lewis is a 6’8” wing with a 7’1” wingspan. He’ll try to improve his draft stock for 2026 in the Next Stars program.

The 20-year-old Lewis moved to Spain as a 16-year-old to play for Fuenlabrada in the Liga ACB for two seasons. He joined the Mexico City Capitanes of the NBA G League for the 2023/24 season, where he played in 50 games and averaged 8.3 points and 5.8 rebounds.

Lewis signed with South East Melbourne last summer and averaged 6.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game last season.

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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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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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International Prospects Ruzic, Lewis Declare For Draft

April 22nd, 2025 at 7:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

A pair of international prospects, Croatian power forward Michael Ruzic and South East Melbourne wing Malique Lewis, are entering the draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reports (Twitter links).

The 6’10” Ruzic is just 18 years old. He’s played for Joventut Badalona in Spain the past two seasons, posting modest numbers. He has averaged 5.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game through seven EuroCup contests this season. In Liga ACB action, Ruzic played 14 games and averaged 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per contest.

Ruzic is ranked No. 49 on ESPN’s Best Available list.

Lewis, 20, played for SE Melbourne in Australia’s National Basketball league this season. He averaged 6.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per game while making 34 appearances.

In 2023/24, Lewis played in the NBA G League for the Mexico City Capitanes. He averaged 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals in 27.7 minutes per game while seeing action in 34 contests. He made 37.7% of his 3-point attempts that season, though that success rate dropped in 31.6% in Australia.

Lewis is currently ranked No. 69 by ESPN, making him a possible second-round pick.

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And-Ones: Flagg, 2025 Draft, Hayes, Kaminsky, Records, RoY

March 13th, 2025 at 4:43pm CST by Rory Maher

Duke forward Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick of the 2025 draft, sustained a left ankle injury after corralling a rebound and landing on an opponent’s foot in the first half on Thursday vs. Georgia Tech (YouTube link via ESPN).

Flagg was eventually helped to the locker room with the assistance of teammates, and while he was later ruled out for the remainder of the contest, he was at least able to return to the bench to cheer on the comeback victory.

“He sprained his ankle,” head coach Jon Scheyer said (Twitter link via Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.com). “X-rays were negative, which is great. We just have to understand there’s going to be swelling and to see how he recovers and how he goes from there.”

In their latest 2025 mock draft for ESPN.com, Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo (Insider link) unsurprisingly have Flagg going first overall (to Washington). Two other Blue Devils — center Khaman Maluach and wing Kon Knueppel — also go in the lottery, coming off the board with back-to-back picks (seventh and eighth overall, respectively).

UConn’s Liam McNeeley is the final lottery pick of ESPN’s mock, going 14th to Atlanta (via Sacramento), while South East Melbourne forward Malique Lewis is the last player selected at No. 59 (Cleveland). Lewis, who spent last season in the G League with the Mexico City Capitanes, grew up in Trinidad and Tobago.

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

  • Killian Hayes has rejoined the Long Island Nets following a 10-day contract with Brooklyn, the G League team announced today in a press release. The former lottery pick averaged 9.0 points, 5.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds in six games with Brooklyn from February 20 – March 1. He has spent most of ’24/25 with Long Island.
  • Veteran NBA big man Frank Kaminsky is no longer on the Raptors 905 roster, according to Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca, who points out (via Twitter) that the former Wisconsin star has been battling a knee injury and recently announced he and his wife are expecting a child. Kaminsky, who spent last season in Serbia, last played in the NBA with Houston in ’22/23. The 31-year-old appeared in 23 regular season games with Toronto’s NBAGL affiliate in ’24/25, averaging 12.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 4.1 APG on .483/.349/.769 shooting in 26.8 MPG.
  • ESPN’s Brian Windhorst takes a look at some of the NBA’s most unbreakable records. Some records are season-long (Wilt Chamberlain for multiple statistics in ’61/62), some are career-long (Moses Malone‘s 6,731 offensive rebounds), and some are for a single game.
  • Zach Harper of The Athletic checks in on the underwhelming Rookie of the Year race. Harper currently has Grizzlies wing Jaylen Wells as his top choice for the award, followed by Spurs guard Stephon Castle and Wells’ teammate Zach Edey.
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And-Ones: Shaq, TNT, MVP Race, All-Star Game, 2025 Draft

February 14th, 2025 at 12:58pm CST by Luke Adams

NBA studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal has reached an agreement on a new long-term deal with TNT Sports that will be worth in excess of $15MM per year, reports Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports.

Although TNT Sports will no longer have the right to broadcast NBA games after the 2024/25 season, the show’s popular Inside the NBA studio show will remain on the air, with the company licensing it to ESPN beginning this fall. O’Neal’s agreement with TNT ensures that he’ll still be part of the show’s panel going forward.

O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith have each reportedly talked to new NBA media rights partners NBC and Amazon, who will begin broadcasting games next season. However, Barkley and O’Neal have deals in place to remain with TNT and the expectation is that Smith will sign a new multiyear contract with the network too, according to McCarthy. As for host Ernie Johnson, he’s considered a “TNT lifer,” McCarthy writes.

We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic earned the top two spots on 99 of 100 ballots submitted by media members to Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Insider link) in his latest Most Valuable Player straw poll. Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo claimed a single second-place vote, with Jokic coming in third on that voter’s ballot. However, it’s clearly a two-player MVP race between Gilgeous-Alexander, who received 70 first-place votes and 910 total points, and Jokic, who got 30 and 788, respectively.
  • The NBA and NBPA will speak to this year’s All-Stars this weekend to stress the importance of competing hard in Sunday’s All-Star event for the sake of both fans and the business, league sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter video link). The All-Star game has been a low-intensity affair for years, but the league is hopeful that a new mini-tournament format featuring three shorter games will help address that issue.
  • The 2025 NBA draft class continues to look stronger, according to Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN, who write in an Insider-only story that NBA executives are enthusiastic about the overall depth in the class, not just the potential difference-makers at the top of their boards. The international class also may be better than initially believed, with as many as nine possible first-round picks in that group, Givony and Woo say. The ESPN duo has updated its full mock draft, from Duke freshman Cooper Flagg at No. 1 to South East Melbourne forward Malique Lewis at No. 59.
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Draft Notes: Jelavic, Lewis, De Ridder, Ndiaye, Darlan, Cui, Green Room Invites

June 16th, 2024 at 8:45pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Croatian big man Andrija Jelavic is withdrawing from the draft, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony tweets. He had been considered a fringe second-round prospect, ranked No. 77 overall on ESPN’s Best Available list.

A trio of other international prospects — Timotej Malovec, Luka Bogavac and Bogoljub Markovic — are also pulling their names from draft consideration. The deadline for international prospects to withdraw came on Sunday afternoon.

We have more draft-related news:

  • Trinidad and Tobago wing Malique Lewis, ranked No. 76 by ESPN, has also decided to pass on the draft, Givony tweets.
  • Forward Thijs De Ridder will withdraw from the draft, Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress.com tweets. He’ll look to build upon a strong ACB and FIBA Europe Cup season with Bilbao Basket and will be automatically eligible for next year’s draft.
  • Senegalese big man Eli Ndiaye and Central African Republic guard Thierry Darlan (G League Ignite) are also pulling out of the draft, according to Givony (Twitter links). Darlan was ranked N0.  84 overall by ESPN.
  • Chinese wing Yongxi Cui kept his name in the draft, Chepkevich tweets. Cui participated in the G League Elite Camp.
  • There have been 21 green room invitations extended to first-round prospects thus far. There will be four more green room invites made this week, according to Givony (Twitter link). The only player to decline an invitation is two-time National Player of the Year Zach Edey, who will watch from Purdue with family, friends and coaches.
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44 Prospects Invited To G League Elite Camp

May 4th, 2024 at 11:57am CST by Earnest Marshall

Forty-four prospects for the 2024 NBA draft were invited to the NBA’s G League Elite Camp, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link).

The list of players is as follows:

The field of draft prospects scrimmage for two days in Chicago starting on May 11 ahead of the NBA’s annual draft combine. If players perform well enough, they’re often promoted to the larger combine immediately following the G League Elite Camp. Typically, at least a half dozen players move on.

While the combine usually 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. Of the 44 names invited to the G League Elite Camp, only 16 rank among ESPN’s top 100 prospects. No prospect ranks higher than No. 48 (Onyenso) on ESPN’s board.

Nine of ESPN’s top 100 prospects have not been invited to Chicago for either event: Armel Traore (France), Zacharie Perrin (France), Andrija Jelavic (Croatia), Yannick Kraag (Netherlands), Tre Mitchell (Kentucky), Ilias Kamardine (France), Dylan Disu (Texas), Riley Minix (Morehead State) and Jonas Aidoo (Tennessee). According to Givony (Twitter link), the NBA might not announce the official list until Monday, so there’s a chance it’s amended.

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 29. Not all of the players who participate in this event will remain in the draft pool.

Last year, future NBA players like Hornets forward Leaky Black, Pistons forward Tosan Evbuomwan, Mavericks forward Alex Fudge, Celtics guard Drew Peterson and Nets guard Jaylen Martin all participated in the event. Other recent notable alums of the event include Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado and Clippers guard Terance Mann.

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NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2024 Draft

April 30th, 2024 at 12:32pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2024 NBA draft, announcing in a press release that 195 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 138 are from colleges, 43 had been playing for teams internationally, and 14 were playing non-college ball stateside (ie. the G League or Overtime Elite).

While that early entrant total obviously far exceeds the number of players who will be selected in this year’s draft (58), it’s down significantly from the figures we’ve seen in recent years. A record 353 early entrants initially declared for the draft in 2021, but that number dropped to 283 in 2022 and 242 a year ago. The NCAA’s NIL policy, which allows college athletes to be paid based on their name, image, and likeness, has presumably been a major factor in that trend.

This year’s total of 195 early entrants figures to decline significantly by May 29 and again by June 16, the two deadlines for players to withdraw their names from the draft pool. But it’s still likely that the eventual number of early entrants will exceed 58 players. That group will join the college seniors with no remaining eligibility and other automatically eligible players in this year’s draft pool.

Our tracker of early entrants for the 2024 draft is fully up to date and can be found right here.

Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:

Newly added players

College players:

These players either didn’t publicly announce that they were entering the draft or we simply missed it when they did.

International players:

These players weren’t previously mentioned on our list of international early entrants. The country listed here indicates where they last played, not necessarily where they were born.

Other players:

  • Abdullah Ahmed, C, Westchester Knicks (born 2003)
  • Somto Cyril, C, Overtime Elite (born 2005)
  • Reynan Dos Santos, G, Overtime Elite (born 2004)
  • Djordjije Jovanovic, F, Ontario Clippers (born 2003)
  • Jalen Lewis, F/C, Overtime Elite (born 2005)
  • Malique Lewis, F, Mexico City Capitanes (born 2004)
  • Babacar Sane, F, G League Ignite (born 2003)

Players removed

Despite reports or announcements that the players below would declare for the draft, they didn’t show up on the NBA’s official list.

That could mean a number of things — they may have decided against entering the draft; they may have entered the draft, then withdrawn; they may have had no NCAA eligibility remaining, making them automatically draft-eligible; they may have incorrectly filed their paperwork; or the NBA may have accidentally omitted some names.

It seems that last possibility is a real one, as Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets that a “miscommunication or mishap’ at the league office may result in a dozen or more additional names being added to the NBA’s early entrant list.

We’ve still removed the following names from our early entrant list for the time being, but it sounds like some could be re-added soon.

Note: Some of these players may also be transferring to new schools.

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