The Spurs haven’t entirely shut down trade inquiries on the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, but they still seem likely to end up with Dylan Harper themselves, since no team is expected to meet their high asking price, Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports writes in his latest mock draft.
“They want a ridiculous haul,” one front office executive told O’Connor. “Far more than I’d expect anyone to give up.”
Elsewhere in O’Connor’s mock draft, he cites league sources who say that Georgia forward Asa Newell, the No. 19 prospect on ESPN’s big board, could end up being a lottery pick — O’Connor has him going to Toronto at No. 9.
O’Connor also hears that the Hawks have been exploring a potential move up from No. 13, having even placed calls to teams picking in the top five. They’re targeting a center, O’Connor adds. Based on earlier reporting from Jake Fischer, it sounds like several teams in the back end of the lottery are in the same boat, as Fischer mentioned Phoenix (No. 10), Chicago (No. 12), and San Antonio (No. 14) as clubs eyeing big men.
Here are a few more draft-related notes from around the league:
- French forward Noa Essengue, a potential lottery pick who ranks ninth overall on ESPN’s board, will miss the conclusion of the German League finals in order to travel to New York for this week’s NBA draft, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com. His team, Ratiopharm Ulm, holds a 2-1 lead over Bayern Munich in the best-of-five Basketball Bundesliga championship, though the 18-year-old has been playing a pretty limited role in the series. Essengue’s draft-eligible teammate Ben Saraf has had a bigger hand in Ulm’s two victories and is remaining with the team for Tuesday’s Game 4.
- John Hollinger of The Athletic has published his list of this year’s top 75 draft prospects. While there are no surprises at the very top, Hollinger is higher than the consensus on guys like Collin Murray-Boyles (No. 6), Essengue (No. 7), Thomas Sorber (No. 10), and Saraf (No. 15), with Tre Johnson (No. 11) and Ace Bailey (No. 12) ranked outside of his top 10.
- Law Murray of The Athletic identifies some players that might make sense as targets for the Clippers with their 30th and 51st overall picks this week, including point guards like Saraf and Kameron Jones and centers such as Ryan Kalkbrenner and Maxime Raynaud. Rod Walker of NOLA.com, meanwhile, performs a similar exercise with the Pelicans‘ seventh and 23rd overall picks, suggesting that coming away with a duo like center Khaman Maluach and guard Walter Clayton Jr. would make it a successful draft for the team.
- The Thunder recently worked out potential second-round pick Micah Peavy, according to Rylan Stiles of SI.com. The Georgetown wing ranks 54th on ESPN’s board.
IMO
For the past 6 years, my ranking on trade, draft and free agency
1. Trade (most important)
2. Draft
3. Free Agency
Trade
Thunder trade George for SGA, Jalen Williams and 5 first round picks
Draft
Rockets have 5 top tier useful rookie contracts this season, take the 2nd seed
Free Agent
Knicks sign Brunson, very few teams sign all-stars free agents these years
From Internet rumors
Wizards offer #6 and Sarr to Spurs for #2, Spurs rejected. (Sarr is the 2nd pick last year)
76ers offer #3, McCain, 2 future Firsts to Spurs for #2. Spurs rejected.
Spurs
2024 Rookie of the Year: Wemby
2025 Rookie of the Year: Castle
2026 Rookie of the Year: Harper?
I don’t think the difference between Harper and Edgecombe is worth McCain and 2 future FRPs. I don’t buy that one.
Me neither……. But Sixers should be trying for that second pick. That would be major in East. They become the favorites imo.
I guess
2 future First round picks via Clippers (Harden trade)
Why would Essengue leave his team in the middle of the league finals to feature in what is essentially a glamour event? Whoever advised him to do that did not help him one bit.
I watched Saraf play for Ulm, last game he had 20 points in the finals against Bayern, the best team in Germany. 20 in Germany is like 35 in the NBA. And that was on good 8-12 shooting, but some shots were lucky. He is a main starting PG for a team that’s 1 win away from the title, which is good for a guy who turned 19 two months ago.
He’s rather wild, though. I’m watching game 4 now. His hands and feet work too fast for his brain, which is not a good sign, especially for a point guard.
He reminds me a lot of 2 of my fav pgs, Goran Dragic & Pepe Sanchez. The guys he reminds me of the most is Tyler Kolek & Killian Hayes tho. I don’t really see him having the type of career Dragic had. I see Niko Topic as being more like Dragic with his agility & natural scoring ability. Saraf has similarities to Kolek & my guy Pepe tho in good & bad ways. I think he’ll be better than Kolek but I could def see him back in Europe in a few yrs.
Honestly, I was never good at predicting how guys who play professionally in Europe translate to the NBA.
Unless it’s pretty obvious, when they at 18-19 are the best players in their leagues and lead their teams to wins and titles, like Avdija and Sengun. But mostly they don’t get much time, have small roles. Then get into the NBA and often look very different. So I don’t really know what will become of Saraf. But he’s a pro and will make the most out of his opportunity.
Well, Ulm-Bayern game ended, Bayern won. Pretty ugly low scoring game, with both teams chucking threes. Both teams had massive problems getting inside and into the paint. Saraf had little impact, was not creative, was running into trouble in positional attacks. This game did not raise his stock, that’s for sure. But the coach clearly trusts him, even with that performance he kept him on a court a lot.
It will be decided in game 5, then.
The video I’ve seen of Saraf is super impressive. I think he’s being underrated and will be a great value pick for someone in the 20s.
It’s hard for me to see Malauch still available at 7 and New Orleans just drafted Missi last year. Clayton Jr would be a good fit if Edgecombe or Bailey isn’t available.
1. Cooper
2. Harper
3. VJ
4. Malauch
5. Johnson
6. Fears
7. Knueppel
8. Bailey
9. Kasparas
10. CMB
11. Bryant
12. Queen
13. Sorber
14. Clifford
15. Newell
16. Coward
17. Demin
18. Fleming
19. Richardson
20. Clayton Jr
21. Essengue
22. Traore
23. McNeeley
24. Riley
25. Powell
26. Wolf
27. Gonzalez
28. Kalkbrenner
29. Saraf
30. Raynaud