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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.