Rasmus Larsen

Draft Notes: Larsen, Turner, Russell

Hoops Rumors extends its condolences to those close to European standout Rasmus Larsen, who was found dead at his home, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets. The 20-year-old from Denmark was an early entrant for the 2014 NBA draft before withdrawing, though he didn’t apply for this year’s draft as he’d struggled with injury. The cause of the death has yet to be identified, agent Doug Neustadt told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). He was a mobile big man and versatile scorer reminiscent of Cody Zeller, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Here’s more draft-related news:

  • Myles Turner‘s unusual running style has been cause for concern, but tests through the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York showed his gait is correctable with a series of daily exercises, as Matt Kamalsky of DraftExpress examines. The results of the tests, arranged by agent Andy Miller in concert with Turner’s father and trainer Ken Roberson, have been sent to NBA teams, Kamalsky notes. Turner is the 11th-ranked prospect on DraftExpress, and Eddie Scarito of Hoops Rumors wrote about the way the center from Texas runs in his prospect profile of the draft hopeful whom Eddie lists 10th in the Hoops Rumors Draft Prospect Power Rankings.
  • The Timberwolves will interview D’Angelo Russell at the Chicago predraft combine this week, reports Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). Russell is a candidate for Minnesota’s lottery selection, which will fall between No. 1 and No. 4, as the lottery odds show. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com both rank him as the fourth-best prospect.
  • Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel delivers his mock draft, which has the Heat taking Kelly Oubre at No. 10, given team president Pat Riley‘s affection for players with upside. Miami would lose its pick if it falls out of the top 10 in the lottery, though there’s only about a 9% chance of that happening.

NBA Draft Withdrawal Deadline Updates

Monday was the deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft, and the league has announced the list of those who’ve pulled out. The deadline applied mostly to prospects from overseas, since any collegian who takes his name out of consideration at this point isn’t be able to return to NCAA competition. Mychal Ammons of South Alabama is the only U.S.-based player who withdrew, but he’d already signed a deal with an overseas club.

Yesterday’s reports identified several of the prospects taking their names out of the draft, as well as some high-profile players staying in, and we’ve added the previously unreported names of those pulling out to the top of the list below. For the complete register of early entrants denoting those who’ve withdrawn, click here.

Withdrawing from the draft

  • Ammons, Berkay Candan, Tomas Dimsa, Marko Ramljak, Alejandro SuarezDevon Van Oostrum are all out of the draft, the NBA announced.
  • Joonas Caven has pulled out of the draft, agent K.C. Callero tells Givony (Twitter link).
  • Matias Bortolin is withdrawing from the draft, his agent tells Sportando (Twitter link).
  • Ilja Gromovs will exit the draft, too, agent Arturs Kalnitis says to Givony (Twitter link).
  • Mateusz Ponitka has removed his name from draft consideration, Givony tweets.
  • Moussa Diagne and Guillem Vives will take their names out of the draft, agent Herb Ruboy says to Givony (Twitter link).
  • Rasmus Larsen has decided to exit the draft, as agent Doug Neustadt informs Givony (Twitter link).
  • OKK Spars Sarajevo teammates Nedim Buza and Adin Vrabac have decided to pull out of the draft, agent Alexander Raskovic tweets.
  • Lefteris Bochoridis has withdrawn from the draft, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.

Remaining in the draft

  • Jokic isn’t the only prospect to flip-flop today.  Damien Inglis changed his mind and has decided to keep his name in the draft, agent Pedja Materic tells Jonthan Givony of DraftExpress (via Twitter).
  • Raznatovic, Saric’s agent, took to Twitter to confirm that his client will remain in the draft (hat tip to Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).
  • Nikola Jokic has changed his mind and will remain in the draft after all, Raznatovic tweets (hat tip to Chad Ford of ESPN.com).
  • Dario Saric will stay in the draft, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link).
  • Vasilije Micic remains in the draft, agent Misko Raznatovic tweets.
  • Clint Capela will keep his name in this year’s draft, agent Bouna Ndiaye tells Givony (Twitter link).