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Larsson, Hall, Sears Among Latest Draft Early Entrants

April 18th, 2024 at 12:14pm CST by Rory Maher

Arizona guard Pelle Larsson, who is ranked No. 45 on ESPN’s big board, is forgoing his final season of college eligibility and entering the 2024 draft, agent Daniel Poneman told Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link).

A native of Sweden, Larsson averaged 12.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG and 3.7 APG with an impressive .519/.426/.750 shooting line in 36 games as a senior for the Wildcats in 2023/24 (30.1 MPG). Arizona made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, when it lost to Clemson.

Speaking of Clemson, big man PJ Hall, another potential second-round pick who is No. 59 on ESPN’s board, was on a list of college senior early entrants that was sent to NBA teams a couple days ago, according to Givony (Twitter links). As far as we’re aware, Hall did not make an announcement on whether he intends to test the draft waters or forgo his final year of eligibility.

Alabama’s Mark Sears was on that early entrant list as well, and he recently announced (Instagram link) that he’ll be testing the draft waters. The No. 90-ranked prospect on ESPN’s board, Sears helped lead the Crimson Tide to the Final Four before losing to eventual champion UConn.

Here are a few other players who appeared on the senior early entrant list that Givony provided and are not on our own early entrants list:

As with Hall, we haven’t seen announcements from these four players, so we’re not sure if they’re testing the draft waters or intend to stay in the draft. May 29 is the deadline for college early entrants to withdraw from the draft and return to school, Givony notes.

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And-Ones: Clingan, Knecht, Sears, Gambling

April 1st, 2024 at 9:11pm CST by Dana Gauruder

UConn center Donovan Clingan is zooming up the draft boards after his dominant performances in the NCAA Tournament. In the latest ESPN mock draft, Jeremy Woo and Jonathan Givony list Clingan as the No. 3 overall selection to Charlotte.

Clingan is averaging 15.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.5 blocks, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game in the tournament, including an overwhelming defensive effort in the Elite Eight against Illinois. Tennessee forward Dalton Knecht, who scored 37 points against Purdue on Sunday, is projected as the No. 8 pick.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • On a similar topic, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor agrees that Clingan has been the biggest riser on draft boards with his tournament performances. O’Connor projects Clingan as a high-level rim protector with potential All-Defensive team ability. He is also an excellent finisher at the rim, has good hands, and makes smart decisions in the post. In fact, UConn’s entire starting five could get drafted, according to O’Connor, who also sees Alabama’s Mark Sears as a Jalen Brunson clone.
  • In the wake of the Jontay Porter investigation, among other gambling-related controversies in other sports, The Athletic’s Jim Trotter criticizes sports leagues for welcoming legalized gambling. Trotter argues that those leagues have sacrificed the ideal of protecting the integrity of their games in order to rake in more money.
  • In case you missed it, Danuel House has changed agents after failing to hook on with another NBA team. He was traded from Philadelphia to Detroit before February’s deadline, then cut loose by the Pistons.
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Draft Decisions: Murrell, Baker, Broome, Cross, Cryer, More

May 30th, 2023 at 12:45pm CST by Luke Adams

Ole Miss guard Matthew Murrell is pulling out of the 2023 NBA draft and returning to school for at least one more year, reports ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. Murrell, who will be a senior in 2023/24, sounds intent on re-entering the draft next spring.

“After gathering feedback from my workouts and team personnel, I am going to continue to build my game at Ole Miss, so I am in the position I want to be in for the 2024 NBA draft,” he said. “I know who I am as a player and how that can translate to the NBA.”

Murrell’s shooting percentages dipped in his junior season, as he made just 36.5% of his shots from the floor, including 30.4% of his three-pointers. But he established new career highs in points (14.4), rebounds (3.5), and assists (2.6) per game and looks like a potential All-SEC player and 2024 second-round pick, according to Givony, who says the “physically gifted” wing impressed NBA executives at a pro day in Chicago earlier this month.

Like Murrell, several other early entrants have opted to remove their names from this year’s draft as the withdrawal deadline for early entrants nears. Here are several of the other players who are headed back to school:

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50 Prospects Reportedly Invited To G League Elite Camp

May 5th, 2023 at 8:12am CST by Luke Adams

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.

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Draft Notes: McCullar, Cook, Clingan, Early Entrants

April 9th, 2023 at 3:40pm CST by Luke Adams

Kansas guard Kevin McCullar announced this week that he’ll enter his name in the 2023 NBA draft pool while maintaining his NCAA eligibility, as Michael Swain of Phog.net writes.

McCullar, who played his first three college seasons at Texas Tech before transferring to the Jayhawks, averaged 10.7 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 2.4 APG, and 2.0 SPG in 34 games (30.6 MPG) as a senior in 2022/23, earning spots on the All-Big 12 third team and the conference’s All-Defensive squad.

McCullar has one year of college eligibility left due to COVID-19, but is a candidate to be drafted in 2023 if he decides to go pro. He currently ranks 59th overall on ESPN’s big board.

Here are a few more draft-related updates:

  • Junior guard Jalen Cook, who intended to declare for the draft coming off his second consecutive All-AAC season at Tulane, has decided to transfer back to LSU, where he began his college career, tweets Jonathan Givony of ESPN. It sounds like Cook intends to use at least one more season of college eligibility rather than going pro this year.
  • After winning a national championship with UConn as a freshman, center Donovan Clingan will remain at school rather than going pro, he announced on Twitter. Clingan’s numbers as a reserve in 2022/23 were modest (6.9 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 13.1 MPG), but Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link) said multiple NBA evaluators believe the big man would’ve been selected in the 25-40 range if he’d entered the draft.
  • The following players have declared for the 2023 NBA draft and will test the waters as early entrants:
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