BREAKING: Wisconsin star guard declares for NBA Draft, maintains college eligibility

BREAKING: Wisconsin star guard declares for NBA Draft, maintains college eligibility

Wisconsin star guard A.J. Storr is declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility, according to a post on his X account.

The news comes on the heels of Storr not committing to a second season with the Badgers after the team’s NCAA Tournament loss to James Madison.

Related: If Wisconsin decides to move on from Greg Gard, who could it target as its next head coach?

The former St. John’s guard averaged 28.8 minutes, 16.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 0.6 steals in 2023-24. He was the engine of Wisconsin’s offense for much of the season, especially the team’s run to the final of the Big Ten Tournament.

The NBA hopeful would still be able to return to college if he isn’t satisfied with his draft projection. He would then have a decision to make about whether to return to Madison for another season, or play his third collegiate season elsewhere.

Storr is the second significant member of the 2023-24 Badgers who could be out the door, joining guard Connor Essegian who recently entered the transfer portal.

Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion. Follow Ben Kenney on X.

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Could the Spurs steal the Raptors’ 2024 lottery pick?

The San Antonio Spurs could end up getting the Toronto Raptors’ lottery pick this summer.

The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the worst teams in the league this year. Obviously, that’s not where Victor Wembanyama and company wanted to be in his first year in the league, but they have plenty of room to grow. Wembanyama has been amazing this season, and they are still a very young team.

Most importantly, the Spurs will have a big chance to add more talent this summer. Not only will they have money to spend in free agency, but they will also be able to bring in some new young talent through the draft. They could end up having two lottery picks.

The Spurs could end up getting the Toronto Raptors’ lottery pick, as they landed it in the Jakob Poeltl trade last season. The selection is top-six protected, so if the Raptors end up outside of the top-six, the Spurs will get to steal the pick. The CLAN the SPURS fan recently spoke about this chance.

Getting the Raptors’ pick would allow the Spurs to add two premier young talents to their squad.

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March Madness: The rules for players declaring for the NBA Draft, explained

Declaring for the NBA Draft seems pretty simple.

The NCAA takes center stage every March with the incredible talent featured in the tournament, but many of those players will move on and become studs at the next level in the NBA.

You’ll probably be familiar with many names for years to come in this year’s tournament. Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham, Dalton Knecht, Jakobe Walter, Johnny Furphy. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Before those players move on to the next level, though, they have to decide whether to declare for the NBA Draft. Have you ever thought about how one might go about doing that?

Well, no worries. You’re in the right place. Here are the requirements for players who want to move on to the next level:

  • The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement requires players to be at least 19 years old during the draft year.
  • Players can only enter the draft twice during their careers. So when a player decides to make the jump, there’s a bit of wiggle room to change their mind.
  • If a player goes undrafted during the process, they’ll still be allowed to return to school following the draft.

Declaring yourself for the draft sounds a lot more complicated than it is. On the men’s side, that’s all there is to it. Pretty simple if you ask me.

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Bronny James’ USC season ends, NBA draft intrigue increases

Now that USC’s season is over, the Bronny James debate will intensify.

Now that Bronny James’ USC basketball season is over, the NBA draft speculation will only become more intense. Bronny and LeBron James have decisions to make, and we will see what they choose to do. Part of the intrigue here is that LeBron James might value playing with Bronny sooner rather than later. Does that mean Bronny wants the very same thing, or does Bronny want to wait another year to enter the NBA, in which case he could either return to USC or go to the transfer portal and play for another school? Nothing seems certain. A move to the NBA and the Lakers with LeBron seems to be the most likely outcome, but no one should view that as a guarantee or a stone-cold lock.

Basketball evaluators would tell you that Bronny is not ready for the NBA, partly because his health problems limited his ability to train and build a fitness base this past season. It’s not a verdict on his quality so much as the limited timeline he has had to improve his game. The time he spent with USC and Andy Enfield, of course, did not significantly improve his offense. We all saw that and don’t need to go deep into the weeds on that point.

Bronny might not be ready for the NBA, but as we have written — and as LeBron Wire has noted — if drafting Bronny means keeping LeBron for 2025 and beyond, the Lakers will do so. Bronny’s value as a prospect would be secondary to the value of keeping LeBron on the Laker roster. That is one of many considerations for Bronny, LeBron, and the James family.

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Will the San Antonio Spurs’ tanking strategy pay off?

Will the San Antonio Spurs’ tanking pay off in the long run?

The San Antonio Spurs have been struggling this season. They’ve been one of the worst teams in the league and sit at the bottom of the Western Conference, a place they’ve been in for the majority of the season. But last year, their tanking paid off in the form of 20-year-old Frenchman Victor Wembanyama.

Wembanyama has been nothing short of incredible this season, churning out impressive performances on a nightly basis. With his size and skillset, combined with his personable nature, he should be a great face of the franchise in San Antonio for years to come. But what about moving forward?

The NBA Swish YouTube channel recently discussed whether or not the Spurs’ tanking strategy will pay off for the organization in the long run.

The Spurs already have Wembanyama, so the tank has been worth it for that fact alone. But who else will they be able to snag in future drafts?

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2024 NBA mock drafts, March update: First-round projections for Rockets

With the calendar turning to March, here’s a look at the latest first-round odds and pick projections for the Rockets (via Brooklyn) in the 2024 NBA draft.

The Brooklyn Nets (23-36) endured another difficult month in February 2024, with eight losses in their final 11 games.

Now, as the 2023-24 season winds down in March and April, the biggest beneficiaries of the Nets’ recent downfall are arguably the Houston Rockets, who own Brooklyn’s 2024 first-round draft pick as part of the blockbuster James Harden trade in January 2021.

Though the Rockets (25-34) are likely to lose their own first-round draft pick to Oklahoma City as part of the 2019 Chris Paul-Russell Westbrook trade, it’s worth noting that unlike the Harden-Brooklyn deal, the conveyance of Houston’s pick is top-four protected.

So, if the Rockets miss the 2023-24 Western Conference playoffs, they will actually have multiple chances — both with their own pick, and the one from Brooklyn, which they will receive no matter what — at securing a top-four pick in the first round 2024 NBA draft.

And if Houston loses its pick to the Thunder due to not winning the lottery, it’s becoming increasingly likely the pick they receive from Brooklyn will be higher in the first-round order, anyway.

With that in mind, here’s a look at who draft experts have going to Houston (with the Brooklyn pick) in the latest wave of mock drafts. Keep in mind that the projected pick slot varies based on the exact date of each mock’s publication, since the standings change daily.

Isaiah Collier feels the pressure before the 2024 NBA draft

Isaiah Collier, injured midway through the season, tries to make up for lost time at USC.

The 2024 college basketball season has not gone the way Isaiah Collier hoped it would. USC has lost a lot of games and fallen to the bottom of the Pac-12 standings. The Trojans and Collier will not play in the NCAA Tournament, barring a surprising and remarkable run at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas next month. Collier himself got hurt midway through the season. He and his teammates were unable to develop momentum. Lost time is a difficult setback to deal with.

Losing the time to develop on the court and play with teammates over several weeks has limited Collier’s evolution as a player. It’s not his fault, but it’s something which has deprived him from encountering a greater and wider variety of situations, which leaves him slightly less prepared for the NBA than he would like to be. With the 2024 NBA draft rapidly approaching this summer — it is roughly four months away — Collier knows he needs to make these next few weeks, the last of the season, count in a big way for him and USC. Collier, a projected lottery pick, wants to make sure he enters the draft having put his best foot forward. Beating UCLA on Saturday night with some tough drives to the basket in traffic offered a good start. Those drives to the rim reminded scouts of what makes Collier such a promising pro prospect. The ability to finish in traffic through contact should serve Collier well in the NBA.

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Three Wildcats in first round of latest CBS NBA mock draft

Three Kentucky Wildcats are selected in the first round of the latest CBS NBA mock draft.

NBA mock drafts are a fun exercise, and there will be many of them written over the upcoming months. Fans love them and it’s always interesting to see where players are projected to be selected. CBS released a new one on Thursday, and they have predicted three Kentucky Wildcats to be picked in round one.

Reed Sheppard is first off the board, going to the Portland Trail Blazers fifth overall. He has quickly risen up draft boards due to his intelligent play and his ability to shoot from deep. He plays hard, and he does all the little things as well as anyone.

With the sixth pick, the Toronto Raptors are given Rob Dillingham. The shifty guard is one of the great playmakers in the country. He is a terrific shooter, but passes the ball well too. His ability to blow by defenders is unmatched in college basketball.

The final Wildcat selected in the CBS mock draft is also a guard. D.J. Wagner goes 27th to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who also picked his father Dajuan Wagner in the first round 22 years ago. The younger Wagner needs to become a better shooter, but has great quickness and is a good defender.

Five Kentucky Wildcats chosen in latest ESPN NBA mock draft

ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft features five Kentucky players to be selected this year.

The NBA Draft is still months away, but speculating about where players will be drafted is a year-round activity for some. Fans love to read about who their favorite teams might pick, and where their favorite players might wind up. On Tuesday, ESPN released a new NBA mock draft that features five Kentucky Wildcats being drafted in the two-round process.

The Wildcats talent level is well-known. It’s loaded with top Freshman talent, and there could be multiple players that wind up as one-and-done in Lexington. Other mock drafts have had as many as seven Kentucky players taken.

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo took at look this year’s class and projected five Wildcats to be selected (story requires subscription). Obviously, it will largely depend on who winds up declaring and who doesn’t. Some could decide to return to school and improve their chances at being a first round pick.

Here’s a look at which Kentucky players ESPN sees being picked in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Where are Filipowski, McCain in latest ESPN NBA mock draft?

The Blue Devils two biggest underclassmen stars both went in the first 20 picks of the latest ESPN mock draft on Tuesday. See where they ended up here.

The NCAA Tournament hasn’t happened yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to think about the upcoming NBA draft.

ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo released a two-round mock draft on Tuesday morning, and Duke’s two biggest underclassmen stars heard their names called within the first 20 picks.

Forward Kyle Filipowski went ninth overall to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The 7-footer and preseason All-American is averaging 17.0 points and 8.3 rebounds on 49.7% shooting this season, and his quickness and competency from beyond the arc offer an enticing combination with his size.

Jared McCain, the first-year guard who tied a program freshman record with 35 points against Florida State on Saturday, went 20th overall to the Philadelphia 76ers. The 19-year-old is averaging 13.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game this season, and he’s pulled off three double-doubles in his last five games despite his 6-foot-3 frame.

No other Blue Devils were selected in the 58-pick mock draft.