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And-Ones: 2025 Draft, Snell, G League, Garuba, Parker

October 2nd, 2024 at 12:53pm CST by Luke Adams

The 2025 draft class is stronger at the top than 2024’s class was, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Insider link), but there still isn’t a clear-cut No. 1 pick in this group like there was in 2023 with Victor Wembanyama.

Cooper Flagg has long been viewed as the best bet to be next year’s top pick, but that’s not yet a lock, Givony writes, putting the odds of the Duke forward coming off the board first at just slightly above 50%. Rutgers wing Ace Bailey is Flagg’s top competition at this point, per Givony, who has Bailey’s odds of going No. 1 at 25%. Rutgers guard Dylan Harper, Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe, and French guard Nolan Traore are also in the mix for the first overall spot, Givony adds.

“I’m going into this year with an open mind about who the No. 1 pick might be,” one NBA executive told ESPN. “This is how mistakes are made: getting anchored to an opinion and then closing yourself off to new, much more important information that we’ll be receiving in the coming months seeing how the season plays out.

“I need to see if Cooper Flagg is indeed a No. 1-type offensive option who can be expected to carry a team at some point in his career, or if he’s more of a superstar role player who is better suited as your second- or third-best player. Every year there are surprises, new players pop up and others take an unexpected leap.”

Mock drafts from last fall illustrate that potential for in-season surprises. ESPN’s November 2023 mock had Isaiah Collier first overall, Ja’Kobe Walter fourth, and Reed Sheppard 25th — they were eventually drafted 29th, 19th, and third, respectively.

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

Nine-year NBA veteran Tony Snell, who last played in the NBA during the 2021/22 season, will join the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the G League this fall, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. The Heat‘s affiliate will need to acquire Snell’s returning rights from the Maine Celtics, the team he played for last season. Snell won’t be signed to Miami’s preseason roster at all, notes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald (Twitter link).
The Rio Grande Valley Vipers (Rockets) traded Jarrett Culver‘s G League returning rights to the Osceola Magic in exchange for Jared Butler‘s rights, per the Vipers (Twitter link). Culver is with Orlando on an Exhibit 10 contract, so it appears he’ll play for the Magic’s G League team this season. Butler remains under contract with the Wizards and would need to be waived and sign an NBAGL contract for Houston’s affiliate to take advantage of his rights.
Speaking to Eurohoops’ Javier Molero and Alex Molina, respectively, former NBAers Usman Garuba and Jabari Parker expressed that they’re comfortable no longer playing in the league. Garuba, who returned to Real Madrid this summer after three seasons with Houston and Golden State, said his NBA experience wasn’t quite what he expected and that he’d be “more selfish” if he were doing it all over again. “I left as a kid and grew up,” said Garuba, the 23rd overall pick in the 2021 draft. “I had a lot of ups and downs and learned a lot of lessons over there. I got traded, I got cut, I saw a lot of things, the dark side of the business. I think that made me mature a lot as a player.”

And-Ones: Beverley, Second Apron, 2025 Mock, Egan, Plumlee

July 14th, 2024 at 9:50pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Could Patrick Beverley play overseas next season? The longtime NBA point guard has garnered the interest of Israel’s Hapoel Tel Aviv, according to a Walla report (hat tip to Sportando).

Beverley, 36, is an unrestricted free agent. He played for the Bucks last season and made highlights for the wrong reasons in the playoffs. He fired a basketball multiple times at Indiana spectators and received a four-game suspension that he’ll serve at the start of the 2024/25 season if he’s in the NBA. Beverley had stated a preference to re-sign with Milwaukee.

The veteran guard played in the Ukraine, Greece and Russia before setting roots in the NBA in 2013.

We have more from around the basketball world:

While many NBA observers have noted the second apron restrictions during this offseason, The Ringer’s Howard Beck makes a case that the negative impact of those aprons has been somewhat overblown. It should benefit the smaller market teams who don’t have the ability to go deep into the luxury tax, as the Warriors and Clippers have in recent years, Beck writes, noting that could help the league overall in its aim of competitive balance.
Yes, highly-touted Cooper Flagg ranks No. 1 in The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s 2025 mock draft, but there are plenty of other standout prospects, in Vecenie’s estimation. Rutgers guard Dylan Harper and forward Ace Bailey, France’s Nolan Traore and Baylor guard V.J. Edgecombe are the other prospects who make Vecenie’s early top five.
Longtime NBA assistant Hank Egan is the recipient of this year’s Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award, the National Basketball Coaches Association announced (Twitter link). Egan, 86, most recently coached in the league with Cleveland from 2005-10.
Suns center Mason Plumlee has been elected as a Secretary-Treasurer for the Players’ Association, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets. Plumlee will begin a three-year tenure as part of the union’s leadership.

Draft Notes: 2024 Mocks, Withdrawals, Sheppard, Traore

June 1st, 2024 at 3:34pm CST by Rory Maher

Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN (Insider link) recently published a new 2024 mock draft that features lots of interesting information.

Former Dayton star DaRon Holmes II has canceled several upcoming workouts, sources tell Woo, “raising strong suspicions that he has secured a guarantee in the back part of the first round.” The mock has Holmes, who is ranked No. 45 on ESPN’s big board, going No. 28 overall to the Nuggets.

According to Givony, rival teams think the Trail Blazers, Grizzlies and Bulls have interest in moving up in the draft — possibly to No. 3, a pick the Rockets control — to select UConn center Donovan Clingan.

While the Hawks haven’t made their intentions known regarding the No. 1 pick, each team in the top five has “significant interest” in French forward Zaccharie Risacher, who looks “highly unlikely” to fall past the Wizards at No. 2, per Givony. ESPN’s mock has Atlanta selecting Risacher first overall.

The entire mock draft is worth reading in full for those who subscribe to ESPN+.

Here are a few more draft notes:

In a separate article for ESPN (Insider link), Givony and Woo answer questions related to the early-entrant withdrawal deadline for college players to maintain their NCAA eligibility. That deadline passed on Wednesday night. Of the players who withdrew from the draft, Givony thinks Michael Ajayi (transferring to Gonzaga) has a great chance to improve his stock in 2025, while Woo views Alabama’s Jarin Stevenson as a player who could move up boards next year.
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report also updated his mock draft after the withdrawal deadline. While the top-three picks (Risacher, Alexandre Sarr and Reed Sheppard) are the same on both mocks, there are also some major differences. For example, ESPN’s mock has Colorado’s Cody Williams landing with Portland at No. 14, but Wasserman has Detroit selecting Williams at No. 5. Kel’el Ware (No. 23 in ESPN’s mock, No. 14 in Bleacher Report’s) is another player with a seemingly wide draft range.
Kentucky guard Sheppard recently sat down for an interview with Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter video link), answering questions about his family background, NBA players he looks up to, and more.
French guard Nolan Traore, who spent this season with Saint-Quentin in France’s top basketball division, has signed a two-year extension, the team announced (via Twitter). ESPN’s Givony was the first to report the news, writing that Traore was being recruited by major colleges as well as other professional teams from around the world. “Basketball-wise, it’s the best situation for me,” Traore told Givony. “I can play with a coach that I know, that gave me the confidence to play in the playoffs. I liked the first experience that I had with them. Playing in the FIBA Champions League [BCL] group stage next season will be exciting and was a big positive.” The 17-year-old is a projected lottery pick in 2025, according to Givony, who adds that Traore will be ranked in the top five when ESPN updates its mock draft for next year.