Draft Notes: Crawford, Jakimovski, Uzan, Scheierman, Carter
Louisiana Tech’s Isaiah Crawford is planning to stay in the draft, he told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein (Twitter link).
The 6’6” forward averaged 16.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.1 SPG and 1.7 BPG last season for the Bulldogs. He’s currently listed at No. 81 on ESPN’s Best Available rankings.
Crawford has already worked out for the Timberwolves after participating in the G League Elite Camp.
We have more draft-related news:
- Andrej Jakimovski plans to withdraw from the draft and play for Colorado next season, Rothstein tweets. The forward is transferring from Washington State, where he played for four seasons. He averaged 9.7 PPG and 5.6 RPG in 2023/24.
- Taking a similar approach, Milos Uzan is withdrawing from the draft and transferring to Houston, Rothstein adds in another tweet. Uzan played two seasons at Oklahoma, averaging 9.0 PPG and 4.4 APG last season.
- Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman, who racked up 26 points, four assists and four steals across two games, was probably the one prospect who did the most to improve his stock in the on-court sessions at the draft combine, according to The Athletic’s John Hollinger. Scheierman will turn 24 by the time training camp opens, Hollinger notes, but his ability to be a plug-and-play wing could make him a popular target in the top half of the second round. Providence’s Devin Carter, who displayed superior leaping ability and bested all of his peers with his sprint time, likely moved into the top 20 of the draft, Hollinger adds.
NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2024 Draft
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.
- Achor Achor, F, Samford (senior)
- Jesse Bingham II, G/F, Indianapolis (senior)
- Jaden Bradley, G, Arizona (sophomore)
- Nimari Burnett, G, Michigan (junior)
- Isaiah Crawford, G/F, Louisiana Tech (senior)
- Anthony Dell’Orso, G/F, Campbell (sophomore)
- Noah Farrakhan, G, West Virginia (senior)
- RJ Felton, G, East Carolina (junior)
- Rasheer Fleming, F, St. Joseph’s (sophomore)
- Tyler Harris, G/F, Portland (freshman)
- Meechie Johnson, G, South Carolina (senior)
- Ryan Kalkbrenner, C, Creighton (senior)
- Toibu Lawal, F, VCU (sophomore)
- Kino Lilly Jr., G, Brown (junior)
- Javian McCollum, G, Oklahoma (junior)
- Igor Milicic Jr., F, Charlotte (junior)
- Shahid Muhammad, C, Southern Idaho (sophomore)
- Matthew Murrell, G, Mississippi (senior)
- Baye Ndongo, F, Georgia Tech (freshman)
- Carlos Nichols, G, Southern Crescent Tech (GA) (freshman)
- Wooga Poplar, G, Miami (FL) (junior)
- Jason Spurgin, C, Bowling Green (senior)
- A.J. Staton-McCray, G, Samford (junior)
- Jarin Stevenson, F, Alabama (freshman)
- Milos Uzan, G, Oklahoma (sophomore)
- Jaykwon Walton, G/F, Memphis (senior)
- Deshawndre Washington, G/F, New Mexico State (junior)
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.
- Miguel Allen, F, Spain (born 2003)
- Gael Bonilla, F, Spain (born 2003)
- Michael Caicedo, G/F, Spain (born 2003)
- Milhan Charles, F, Holland (born 2004)
- Brice Dessert, C, France (born 2003)
- Ruben Dominguez, G, Spain (born 2003)
- Ugo Doumbia, G, France (born 2003)
- Lucas Dufeal, F, France (born 2003)
- A.J. Johnson, G, Australia (born 2004)
- Gustav Knudsen, G/F, Denmark (born 2003)
- Konstantin Kostadinov, F, Spain (born 2003)
- Liutauras Lelevicius, G/F, Lithuania (born 2003)
- Eli Ndiaye, F/C, Spain (born 2004)
- Ousmane Ndiaye, C, Spain (born 2004)
- Musa Sagnia, F/C, Spain (born 2003)
- Cezar Unitu, G, Romania (born 2005)
- Fedor Zugic, G, Germany (born 2003)
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.
- Jabri Abdur-Rahim, G/F, Georgia (senior)
- Marchelus Avery, F, UCF (senior)
- Aaron Bradshaw, C, Kentucky (freshman)
- Mikeal Brown-Jones, F, UNC Greensboro (senior)
- Walter Clayton Jr., G, Florida (junior)
- David Coit, G, Northern Illinois (junior)
- Malik Dia, F, Belmont (sophomore)
- Terrence Edwards Jr., G/F, James Madison (senior)
- Elijah Fisher, G, DePaul (sophomore)
- BJ Freeman, G, Milwaukee (junior)
- Vladislav Goldin, C, Florida Atlantic (senior)
- Dominick Harris, G, Loyola Marymount (junior)
- Jordan Ivy-Curry, G, UTSA (senior)
- Kobe Johnson, G/F, USC (junior)
- Chris Ledlum, G/F, St. John’s (senior)
- Caleb Love, G, Arizona (senior)
- Zeke Mayo, G, South Dakota State (junior)
- Selton Miguel, G, South Florida (senior)
- Kylen Milton, G, Arkansas-Pine Bluff (senior)
- Dillon Mitchell, F, Texas (sophomore)
- Ugonna Onyenso, C, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Micah Parrish, G/F, San Diego State (senior)
- Micah Peavy, G/F, TCU (senior)
- Noah Reynolds, G, Green Bay (junior)
- Hunter Sallis, G, Wake Forest (junior)
- Adou Thiero, G, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Aboubacar Traore, G/F, Long Beach State (junior)
