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Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder came out of last Tuesday&rsquo;s NBA Draft Lottery as the night&rsquo;s runner-up, taking home the No. 2 overall pick.&nbsp;
The Thunder have never received the first-overall pick in their franchise history, which technically goes back to 1967 when they were still the Seattle Supersonics. They have selected second on two occasions though, and both worked out really well (Kevin Durant in 2007 and Gary Payton in 1990).
The Thunder have a war-chest of draft picks in the coming years, but those picks are meaningless if they don&rsquo;t select a franchise-altering talent. Fortunately, the No. 2 pick should provide an opportunity to do so. The 2022 draft class features a few &ldquo;can&rsquo;t-miss&rdquo; prospects, including Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith, Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren and Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero. All three have their pros and cons, but adding any of them to the existing core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey should work out beautifully.
In the 2021 NBA Draft, the Thunder made six selections, but they traded three of those players. They added Giddey (who was named to the 2021-22 All-Rookie Second Team), Tre Mann and Aaron Wiggins &ndash; none of whom are bigs. The Thunder did trade for a seven-footer in the 2020 draft (Aleksej Pokusevski), but he&rsquo;s still extremely raw and is not the same caliber of player as the top-three prospects.
Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done through the scouting process to effectively evaluate all three of this draft's most-coveted prospects, but a look back at the last 10 NBA drafts reveals a murkier history than one might assume. After <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-the-success-of-teams-selecting-first-in-the-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">examining the success of teams selecting No. 1 in the NBA Draft</a> last week, let's look at how recent No. 2 overall picks have fared.&nbsp;
2012 NBA Draft: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets
The Hornets bombed with the second pick in 2012. Kidd-Gilchrist had a fine career, averaging 12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game across eight seasons in the NBA. The thing is, Bradley Beal was selected third and Damian Lillard was selected fifth, and both of those guys are All-NBA-caliber players annually. Comparatively, that&rsquo;s a huge miss for Charlotte.
Verdict: Failure.
2013 NBA Draft: Victor Oladipo, Orlando Magic
The Cavaliers certainly surprised many of us by picking Anthony Bennett with the first overall pick, but the Magic stuck to the script. Oladipo was universally seen as a top-three player in this draft, and he became the second-best player in the class before knee and quad injuries derailed his career.
As much as injuries have robbed much of what Oladipo was, he is still an intriguing player, and he&rsquo;ll probably command some decent free-agent offers this offseason. Obiously, CJ McCollumn (selected 10th) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (selected 15th) are better players, but neither was being considered by the Magic. Considering that Oladipo is a two-time All-Star, an All-Defensive selection and a one-time All-NBA selection, I&rsquo;d say the Magic did a fine job in picking Oladipo.
Verdict: Success
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2014 NBA Draft: Jabari Parker, Milwaukee Bucks
The 2014 draft was a weird one. Neither the first nor the second pick ended up being the best player from this draft class. Andrew Wiggins found a good role, even if he is far less successful than most thought he&rsquo;d be, but Jabari Parker really underwhelmed. Granted, Parker stuck around in the league for eight seasons, including some of the current one, but his career simply never materialized even if it&rsquo;s not his (nor Milwaukee&rsquo;s) fault.
Parker tore his ACL twice. He looked like he was becoming a pretty darn good player (even if he was a defensive liability) before the second ACL injury, averaging 20.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 2016-17. However good Parker could have been, the fact of the matter is that Joel Embiid was intriguing enough as of draft night to be taken one pick later, and that stings.
Verdict: Failure
2015 NBA Draft: D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers
Here&rsquo;s an instance where a player actually was worth a top-three pick. The problem is that the Lakers had the second pick, and there&rsquo;s a big difference between Karl-Anthony Towns or Devin Booker and Russell. Making matters worse, the Lakers sent Russell to Brooklyn before he matured. His immaturity was part of the reason he was traded, but that doesn&rsquo;t change the fact that the Lakers picked him and moved on very quickly. Russell may or may not end up being a franchise-altering talent, but he hasn&rsquo;t realized his full potential yet, and he clearly won&rsquo;t do so for the Lakers.
Verdict: Failure
2016 NBA Draft: Brandon Ingram, Los Angeles Lakers
Ingram is one of the best No. 2 picks in the last 10 drafts. He&rsquo;s a true number one option on a playoff team, a career 18.5 points-per-game scorer and a one-time All-Star. It&rsquo;s debatable that Jaylen Brown (selected third) and/or Jamal Murray (selected seventh) are as good or better players, but both have played alongside more talented teammates throughout their careers.
Ingram has been the best player on the New Orleans Pelicans for a few years now, and we shouldn&rsquo;t take for granted the fact that Ingram led a playoff team this season. Sure, the Lakers didn&rsquo;t cash in on him specifically, but he was part of the package that led to Anthony Davis landing in Los Angeles. So, it worked out for them too.
Verdict: Success
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2017 NBA Draft: Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers picked second overall again in 2017. They weren&rsquo;t as successful this time around. First, there&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum to consider. Tatum was selected third and is the best player in the 2017 draft class. Being selected by the Lakers wouldn&rsquo;t have changed that, and that should be enough. But there&rsquo;s also Ball&rsquo;s rough shooting mechanics to consider. Sure, he&rsquo;s grown into a good shooter, but the Lakers didn&rsquo;t benefit from that. It&rsquo;s hard to categorize Ball&rsquo;s selection as an outright failure because like Ingram, he helped facilitate Davis to the Lakers. Still, it's tough to classify his selection a success.
Verdict: Push
2018 NBA Draft: Marvin Bagley III, Sacramento Kings
Bagley might be the worst second pick in the last 10 years. The 2018 NBA Draft will forever be remembered as the Luka Doncic class. The Kings could have drafted Doncic, as he was still on the board, but they chose to go with Bagley instead. Bagley isn&rsquo;t even on the Kings any longer, and his time in Sacramento was not memorable.
Bagley is a sub-par defender and three-point shooter. He&rsquo;s scored the ball at a decent pace, averaging 19.5 points per-36 minutes, but he&rsquo;s never earned a big enough role to demonstrate what he can really do, and he&rsquo;s exclusively been on losing teams. Comparatively, Doncic and Trae Young (selected No. 5 in 2018) have turned their franchises around.
Verdict: Failure
2019 NBA Draft: Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
Ingram was the best second pick in the last 10 years, until 2019. Morant stole that made-up accolade almost immediately in his rookie season. The thing is, the 2019 NBA Draft was supposed to be all about Zion Williamson. However, unlike Williamson, Morant has backed up all the hype and then some. So, while Williamson has dealt with injuries for much of his young career, Morant has brazenly become the face of his draft class.
Morant is drawing comparisons to numerous superstars, and he was named to the 2021-22 All-NBA Second Team. No one selected after him comes close to making the Grizzlies think twice about their decision.
Verdict: HUGE success
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2020 NBA Draft: James Wiseman, Golden State Warriors
Unlike his brother Lonzo, LaMelo Ball was deserving of the second pick in 2020. Instead, the Golden State Warriors went with James Wiseman, though the logic behind the pick is clear, even in retrospect. The Warriors already had two All-NBA guards. The thing is, Jordan Poole looks pretty good alongside Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, doesn&rsquo;t he? So, it&rsquo;s feasible to assume that Ball would have fit too.
After two seasons, Ball is a significantly better player, but he&rsquo;s also had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate that fact. Wiseman has had terrible health-related luck. He played in 39 of the Warriors' first 53 games in 2020-21, but he tore his meniscus in Golden State&rsquo;s 53rd&nbsp;game of the season and hasn&rsquo;t been seen since. Wiseman could still be a serious contributor, as his per-36 numbers were impressive for a rookie (19.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.1 assists on .542/.316/.628 shooting). This is one we&rsquo;ll have to continue monitoring.
Verdict: Unclear
2021 NBA Draft: Jalen Green, Houston Rockets
Basing the success of a pick on only a rookie season is tough. Green posted an impressive rookie campaign, but his defensive deficiencies were clear. That&rsquo;s an understandable flaw for a rookie. Green was the assumed second-best player in the class. Having the luxury of hindsight, we now know that Scottie Barnes (selected fourth) and Evan Mobley (selected third) translated to the NBA incredibly well. But wing scorers have a tougher time making the jump, as they must shoot deeper three-pointers and compete against far more athletic competition. Green&rsquo;s floor may be lower than that of Barnes and Mobley, but I'd argue that his ceiling is still higher. Let&rsquo;s give him a little more time.
Verdict: Unclear&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;
In the last 10 drafts, the second overall pick has clearly been one of the best players in the draft class just three times (2013, 2016 and 2019).&nbsp;
A deeper examination of No. 2 overall picks reveals a limited number of franchise-altering talents. For every Kevin Durant, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Earl Monroe and Bill Russell, there are a number of players who didn't live up to expectations. Sometimes, there isn't a generational player on the board; other times, the team picking No. 2 overall just overthinks it or goes in the wrong direction. Either way, No. 2 hasn&rsquo;t produced as many all-time greats as you might expect, but there have been quite a few significant contributors.
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Oklahoma City will pick No. 2 in the 2022 draft. A look back at the last 10 drafts reveals that there are no guarantees for No. 2 picks.

Examining the success of teams selecting No. 2 in the NBA Draft

May 5, 2006. That was the last time the Sacramento Kings <a href="https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200605050SAC.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">played in a playoff game</a>. That contest took place 5,863 days ago.&nbsp; To put that into context: During that 2005-06 season, Chris Paul was a rookie and Bruce Bowen, who was born in 1971, was named to the NBA's All-Defensive First Team. Steve Nash won his second consecutive MVP award and Boris Diaw was named the league's Most Improved Player.
The Kings made history last month, the type of history that no organization wants to be known for. Sacramento, who finished the 2021-22 campaign with a 30-52 record, failed to qualify for the postseason for the 16th straight season, breaking the NBA record for the longest playoff drought. (The Kings had been tied with the Buffalo Braves and Los Angeles Clippers prior.)
So, while <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-draft-lottery-teams-who-should-trade-to-win-now-or-at-least-sooner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many teams in this year's draft lottery</a> are rumored to be interested in potentially trading their pick, arguably no team is more motivated to add an established player (as opposed to an unproven rookie) in hopes of avoiding a return trip to the all-too-familiar lottery dais next May than the Kings.
As proof of their urgency to win now, the Kings shocked pundits back in February by trading away Tyrese Haliburton, one of the league's most promising young point guards, to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for a package that included Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb and two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis.&nbsp;
Thus, it isn't shocking to learn that Sacramento, who jumped up to land the No. 4 overall pick in last week's lottery, is reportedly willing to wheel and deal if presented with the right offer.&nbsp;
<a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10036369-nba-draft-buzz-insiders-explain-why-chet-holmgren-makes-sense-at-no-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report</a>, "there's a strong belief among rival teams that Sacramento will explore trading the fourth selection, either out of the draft entirely for an impact veteran or down later in the lottery to net a contributing rotation player in the process."
The other issue likely factoring into the Kings' thought process is that the top tier of the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Draft</a> consists of three players (Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren and Paolo Banchero), with a bit of a dropoff after those elite prospects. Nonetheless, "the uncertainty of the fourth selection could prompt eager teams to leap up to secure their prized prospect" which puts the Kings' front office in a "<a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10036369-nba-draft-buzz-insiders-explain-why-chet-holmgren-makes-sense-at-no-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strong trade position</a>," per Fischer.&nbsp;
Additionally, Mike Scotto of HoopsHype recently <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/aggregate-nba-mock-draft-lottery-jabari-smith-chet-holmgren-paolo-banchero-trade-rumors/">reported</a> that NBA executives "are monitoring the Sacramento Kings" as a team that could trade their pick "in search of player(s) that can help immediately." Scotto added that after acquiring Sabonis, the Kings have "made it clear the goal is to end the franchise's playoff drought" and that "rival teams are keeping an eye on Sacramento to trade this pick."
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So, let's examine some deals that might make sense for both the Kings and a potential trading partner.
Detroit Pistons send Jerami Grant, Saben Lee, Isaiah Livers and a second-round pick (No. 46 overall) to the Kings in exchange for the No. 4 overall pick, Richaun Holmes, Maurice Harkless and Alex Len
Earlier this offseason, Sacramento general manager Monte McNair <a href="https://account.sacbee.com/paywall/subscriber-only?resume=260358905&amp;intcid=ab_archive">conceded</a> that the team needs to add players who can knock down shots and fit in alongside the franchise's cornerstones, Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox.
"I think shooting, we can clearly acknowledge, will be a huge priority," McNair declared. "Length, athleticism, versatility &mdash; we've talked about all that as well. Obviously, you want the whole package, but shooting will be a big priority for us."
Grant most certainly checks those boxes. During his two years in Detroit, he has averaged 20.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 made treys and 1.1 blocks per game. He has shot over 37% from downtown on 4.5 attempts over the past four seasons and is a versatile, plus defender. As a stretch-4, Grant &mdash; who just turned 28 and is in the heart of his prime &mdash; could conceivably fit in well in the frontcourt alongside Sabonis, who likes to operate on the low block and is a good passer from the post. Moreover, Fox-Grant pick-and-rolls would be difficult to defend.&nbsp;
The issue in this potential trade is that Grant has just one season left on the three-year, $60 million deal he signed in 2020. However, as long as Grant is traded before Aug. 9, he is eligible to sign an extension with his new team for up to $112 million over four years. After previously spurning the Nuggets to sign with the Pistons, we know that Grant is not afraid to join a team that hasn't enjoyed recent success. Would he be willing to commit to Sacramento long-term? If so, a Big Three of Fox, Grant and Sabonis might be talented enough to finally push the Kings into the postseason.&nbsp;
For the Pistons, they would add Holmes (a quality center on a team-friendly contract) and enter next month's draft with 2 of the top 5 picks, which would allow them to add a pair of promising prospects to a core centered around Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey, Isaiah Stewart and Killian Hayes. 
Washington Wizards send Kyle Kuzma and the No. 10 overall pick to the Kings for the No. 4 pick, Justin Holiday and Terence Davis
After a disappointing end to his tenure as a Los Angeles Laker, Kuzma bounced back with a very productive season for the Wizards in 2021-22. He averaged 17.1 points and 1.9 made three-pointers while setting career-highs in rebounds (8.5), assists (3.5) and blocks (0.9) per game. He led the Wiz in double-doubles with 24 (which ranked tied for the sixth-most among all forwards in the NBA). Adding Kuzma's offensive versatility would provide Sacramento with some much-needed depth at forward. In addition, the Kings would still have a lottery pick, dropping back just six spots, which would allow them to add another young asset to the roster.&nbsp;
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The Wizards would likely entertain such a deal if they fell in love with a prospect &mdash; such as Keegan Murray, Jaden Ivey or Shaedon Sharpe &mdash; whom they feel relatively sure won't still be on the board at 10.
Kuz has two years left on his current contract but can opt out in the summer of 2023. However, he will be eligible to sign a four-year extension for up to $70 million this October if his $13 million player option for 2023-24 is declined.&nbsp;
A similar package featuring one of the Wizards' other young forwards (Rui Hachimura, Deni Avdija or Corey Kispert) instead of Kuzma might also be feasible, depending on the value the Kings/Wizards place on the respective players.&nbsp;
Houston Rockets send the No. 3 overall pick and Eric Gordon to the Kings for the No. 4 pick, a (protected) future first-round pick, a 2022 second-round pick, Richaun Holmes and Justin Holiday
Is it possible that Sacramento views Smith, Holmgren or Banchero as talented enough to make a substantial impact as a rookie? If so, would the team be willing to pony up sufficient capital to move up one spot?
The Kings would snag one of this draft's three most prized prospects in this hypothetical scenario. The 7-foot Holmgren is one of the most versatile prospects to enter the draft in recent history. Banchero possesses a freakish combination of size, strength and athleticism. Smith projects as a lethal stretch-4 who could fit in nicely alongside Sabonis.&nbsp;
Gordon is a respected, established veteran with just one year of guaranteed money left on his contract. He shot a scorching 41.2% from three-point territory this past season, the second-best mark of his career.&nbsp;
Such a deal would make sense for the Rockets if they feel whichever of the top-tier prospects that falls to them isn't significantly better than the next highest-ranked player on their board. During a post-lottery press conference last week, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone said Houston is <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/1526739178557517824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1526739178557517824%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F10036145-rockets-open-to-trading-3rd-pick-in-2022-nba-draft-if-a-deal-makes-sense-gm-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">open to trading the No. 3 pick</a>.
"I'm definitely not gonna block them out," Stone <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/1526739178557517824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1526739178557517824%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F10036145-rockets-open-to-trading-3rd-pick-in-2022-nba-draft-if-a-deal-makes-sense-gm-says">told reporters</a>. "If they wanna talk, I'm always available to talk... If it's the case that they're interested in doing something, we're always available to listen. If there's something that makes sense for both teams, something will get done."
Adding a quality young center in Holmes would give the Rockets leverage in negotiations with Christian Wood, or potentially enable them to trade him out of Houston.&nbsp;
New York Knicks trade Julius Randle and the No. 11 overall pick to the Kings for Harrison Barnes, the No. 4 pick and a second-round pick (No. 37 overall)&nbsp;
Randle playing alongside Sabonis could be viewed as a clunky fit, but Sabonis did play 80% of his minutes at center for Sacramento after arriving via the midseason trade. The pairing would undoubtedly be problematic defensively, but the duo would be dynamic on the offensive end. Over the past two seasons, Randle and Sabonis were 2 of only 4 NBA players to average double-digit boards and more than 5 assists per contest. (The other two players in this club were Nikola Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo.)
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After being named to the All-NBA Second Team in 2020-21, Randle's offensive inefficiency regressed dramatically this past season. In addition, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/julius-randle-and-the-knicks-should-part-ways-this-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the relationship between Randle and Knicks fans turned toxic</a> at various points during the year. Yet, even in a "down year," he averaged 20.1 points, 9.9 boards and 5.1 dimes per game. A fresh start in California might help Randle regain his All-Star form. Also, he is under team control for at least three more years (he has a player option for 2025-26), which means the Kings wouldn't have to worry about their key players entering free agency anytime soon.&nbsp;
From the Knicks' perspective, this move would allow them to jump up and snag a highly-touted prospect, possibly combo guard Jaden Ivey, who New York was rumored to be interested in. And, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/julius-randle-and-the-knicks-should-part-ways-this-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as I wrote last month</a>, moving Randle would enable the Knicks to insert Obi Toppin (who averaged 27.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.8 made three-pointers per game in April) into the starting lineup while also clearing Randle's contract off their books. Barnes will celebrate his 30th birthday next week, but is still playing at a high level and has just one year left on his current deal.&nbsp;
Atlanta Hawks trade John Collins and the No. 16 pick to the Kings for Harrison Barnes and the No. 4 pick
After signing a massive five-year contract worth $125 million last summer, Collins struggled with injuries and inconsistency in 2021-22. His disappointing production was one of the reasons Atlanta failed to meet lofty expectations this season. One year after advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Hawks spent much of this past season below .500 and were easily eliminated by the Miami Heat in the first round.
Would they be willing to part way with Collins (and his contract) to jump 12 spots in the draft?&nbsp;
Much like the aforementioned Randle/Knicks deal, the Kings would have to decide if Collins could mesh with Sabonis and Fox.&nbsp;
Charlotte Hornets trade Gordon Hayward, the No. 13 pick and the No. 15 pick (via NOLA) to the Kings in exchange for Harrison Barnes, Maurice Harkless, Alex Len and the No. 4 pick
Attempting to determine Hayward's value league-wide is difficult. When healthy, he's been remarkably productive throughout his career. However, he's been plagued by injury issues and has missed 58 games since signing a four-year, $120 million pact with the Hornets in 2020. He has two years and $61.5 million left on his current contract, which also contains a 15% trade kicker.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer highlights a number of possible trades that the Kings could execute to improve their roster this summer.

Breaking down 6 hypothetical trades for the Kings' fourth draft pick

The Orlando Magic came out of Tuesday&rsquo;s NBA Draft Lottery as the big winners, winning the No. 1 overall pick for the fourth time in franchise history.
Winning the lottery is a big deal for any team, as it gives them a tremendous opportunity to add an elite young talent. The <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 draft class</a> features a few &ldquo;can&rsquo;t-miss&rdquo; prospects who have already adequately separated themselves from the other top youngsters. Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith, Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren and Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero are easily the most electrifying players in the 2022 class.
All three of these prospects are versatile big men, which is a role that the Magic would be well-served in addressing. Orlando had two lottery picks in 2021, which they used on Gonzaga point guard Jalen Suggs and Michigan small forward Franz Wagner. If the Magic add a big man who grows into a superstar, their roster will be mostly set for the foreseeable future.
Of course, the allure of prospects wears off almost immediately after the draft. Ignoring the scouting process and all the work that goes into prosect evaluation, a look back at the last 10 NBA drafts reveals that first-overall picks are far from the sure things we make them out to be:
2012 NBA Draft: Anthony Davis, New Orleans Pelicans
Ten years ago, the New Orleans Pelicans selected Anthony Davis with the No. 1 pick. Davis grew into a superstar quickly, and his impact on the Pelicans was clear almost immediately. He led the Pelicans to the playoffs twice, in 2014-15 and 2017-18. The 2017-18 team was particularly good, winning 48 games in the regular season with a core of Davis, DeMarcus Cousins and Jrue Holiday. Cousins&rsquo; injury played a major role in Davis departing the Pelicans, as New Orleans failed to replace Davis&rsquo; friend and running mate. Had Cousins stayed healthy, who knows how good New Orleans could have been?
Still, Davis is clearly a great player who was absolutely worthy of the No. 1 pick. He has become an eight-time All-Star and earned a spot on the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team. Davis helped the Los Angeles Lakers win a championship in 2020, and he has career averages 23.8 points, 10.2 rebounds 2.3 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.4 steals.
Verdict: Success, although not necessarily for New Orleans.
2013 NBA Draft: Anthony Bennett, Cleveland Cavaliers 2014 NBA Draft: Andrew Wiggins, Cleveland Cavaliers 
The Cleveland Cavaliers picked first overall in 2013 and 2014. The strange thing about both picks is that neither Anthony Bennett nor Andrew Wiggins made an impact in Cleveland. Both were sent to Minnesota in a package for Kevin Love. Bennett played one uneventful season with the Cavaliers, and Wiggins was sent out prior to the start of his rookie season. So, which team do we assess? Cleveland or Minnesota? Let&rsquo;s review both.
Technically, getting two consecutive first overall picks and trading them to the Timberwolves helped Cleveland win their first championship in franchise history. That&rsquo;s a big win for the Cavaliers, even if it cost them both players. Cleveland&rsquo;s championship was more so a product of LeBron James (and Kyrie Irving to a lesser extent), but Love was impactful and the trade worked out.
Conversely, Minnesota did not fare well with Wiggins and Bennett. They qualified for the playoffs only once in Wiggins&rsquo; five-and-a-half seasons in Minnesota, and Bennett was off the team after only one season. Wiggins seems to have found a home in Golden State, but he's the team&rsquo;s fourth-best player, which is not what most people expect from No. 1 picks (especially one with Wiggins' hype).
Verdict: Both are failures relative to expectations, but Wiggins has become a significant contributor.
2015 NBA Draft: Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves
Speaking of Minnesota, they fared so poorly following the aforementioned Love-for-Wiggins-and-Bennett trade that they received the No. 1 overall pick in 2015. Yes, that means they technically had the first overall picks from three consecutive drafts on their roster, at least for a short period of time.
The pick in 2015 turned out to be Karl-Anthony Towns, who has now played seven seasons in Minnesota. Until recently, the Timberwolves' front office failed to surround him with the talent needed to compete. Towns has led Minnesota to the playoffs only twice, but regardless how one views the lack of team success, Towns was a good pick. He's a career 20-and-10 guy who shoots an unbelievable 40% from three-point range. The 26-year-old is a perfect big man for today's NBA.
Verdict: The Towns pick is a relative success.
2016 NBA Draft: Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers 2017 NBA Draft: Markelle Fultz, Philadelphia 76ers
We can&rsquo;t really discuss the first overall picks of the past 10 seasons without diving into Sam Hinke&rsquo;s Philadelphia 76ers. Hinke led the &ldquo;Trust the Process&rdquo; 76ers from 2013-2016, during which time he received significant scorn from the NBA, media and basketball purists who felt he was cheapening the game by blatantly losing to increase the odds of being awarded the first overall pick.
Thoughts on Hinke&rsquo;s philosophy aside, he picked first overall in two consecutive seasons. Philadelphia won the draft lottery in 2016, selecting Ben Simmons. Then, they traded up to No. 1 overall in 2017 to nab the rights to Markelle Fultz.
Neither Simmons nor Fultz fulfilled their potential in Philadelphia. Fultz had a misdiagnosed shoulder injury, which resulted in an awkward shooting motion. After two sub-par seasons in Philadelphia, he was traded to Orlando, where he&rsquo;s played better but still nowhere near what's expected from a No. 1 pick.
Simmons was better for the 76ers, co-leading them to the playoffs in four consecutive seasons. But Simmons&rsquo; time in Philadelphia ended infamously last season, culminating with him forcing his way to Brooklyn after a lengthy holdout.
Verdict: Degrees of failure, though Fultz was considerably more disappointing than Simmons. At least Simmons became a three-time All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year runner-up.
2018 NBA Draft: Deandre Ayton, Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns picked first in the 2018 NBA Draft, which is another strange case. Objectively, Deandre Ayton is a major piece on Phoenix&rsquo;s roster. In his fourth NBA season, he averaged an impressive 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.
Can we really analyze players in a vacuum though? Ayton was picked a few selections before Luka Doncic, who received serious first-overall-pick buzz that June. Imagine if the Suns had paired Doncic with Devin Booker? Like the Rockets and Trail Blazers both did in 1984, the Suns simply overthought this one.
2018 is too recent to accurately judge the long-term impact of this pick. Ayton could very possibly end up being a major contributor on a championship team. Still, this is a push at best, and if he ends up signing elsewhere this offseason, that makes the Ayton selection look even worse.
Verdict: Who the hell knows?
2019 NBA Draft: Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
New Orleans also picked first overall in 2019, selecting the electric athlete, Zion Williamson, who is the toughest first pick to grade in the last 10 years. In his lone injury-free season, he averaged 27 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 62% on two-point attempts.
But injuries make it far more difficult to grade him. Williamson has played in only 85 of a possible 202 career games, missing the entire 2021-22 season.
Verdict: Time will tell.
2020 NBA Draft: Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota is experiencing a major resurgence, and the credit belongs to Towns and the 2020 first overall pick Anthony Edwards. Edwards had a good rookie season, but he exploded in his sophomore campaign.
This season, he helped lead Minnesota to the playoffs, averaging 21.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 3.0 threes and 1.5 steals on 44.1/35.7/78.6 shooting splits. In the postseason, he took his game to another level, contributing 25.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.8 threes, 1.2 steals and 1.2 blocks on 45.5/40.4/82.4 shooting splits.
Verdict: After only two seasons, Edwards looks like a huge win for Minnesota.
2021 NBA Draft: Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
Last but not least, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham first overall in 2021. Despite playing alongside less talent than most of his peers, Cunningham's rookie campaign was successful. He averaged 17.4 points, 5.6 assists and 5.5 rebounds, was named a unanimous All-Rookie First Team selection and placed third in Rookie of the Year voting.
One season is too small of a sample size to grade a young player, but Cunningham looks like the absolute right pick.
Verdict: Success (so far).&nbsp; &nbsp;
In the last 10 drafts, the first overall pick has clearly been one of the best players in the draft class just four times (2012, 2015, 2020 and 2021). He has been a complete dud twice (2013 and 2017), a good player twice (2014 and 2018), a malcontent once (2016) and an injury-prone player once (2019). Five of the last 10 first picks were traded too. If Ayton is allowed to leave this offseason, then six of the last 10 are no longer with the team that drafted them, erasing the benefit of player development.
For every franchise-changing No. 1 overall pick &mdash; such as LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar &mdash; there are a handful of players who didn't work out in the long run. Sometimes, there isn't a generational player on the board; other times, the team picking No. 1 overall just overthinks it or goes in the wrong direction.&nbsp;
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
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The Orlando Magic came out of Tuesday’s NBA Draft lottery with the first overall pick. How successful does history suggest they will be?

Examining the success of teams selecting No. 1 in the NBA Draft

TyTy Washington Jr. remembers being in awe gazing at the banners in Madison Square Garden as he watched the New York Knicks meet the Cleveland Cavaliers and the feeling he had two days later when Kentucky faced Duke at the famed arena.
Something else he won&rsquo;t forget? The reaming he got from coach John Calipari when the team watched video in the Hall of Famer&rsquo;s basement the next day.
&ldquo;He came up to me, he was like, &lsquo;Kid, you don&rsquo;t play hard enough&rsquo; and just started going in on me,&rdquo; Washington said Thursday at the NBA draft combine. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had coaches go in on me, but I&rsquo;ve never had a coach tell me I don&rsquo;t play hard.&rdquo;
Those experiences were invaluable to Washington, whether it was the feeling he had just being at The Garden or the feedback he got from Calipari after playing poorly in Kentucky&rsquo;s season-opening loss. And he&rsquo;s banking on them to help him make the jump to the NBA.
The college game can offer opportunities that aren&rsquo;t available through other avenues, with the exposure through TV deals and the NCAA Tournament and all that comes with it. The burgeoning name, image and likeness chances that were created last year when the NCAA&rsquo;s Board of Directors cleared the way for college athletes to start earning money without endangering their eligibility or putting their schools in jeopardy of rules of violations are another incentive for top prospects.
Options remain overseas and in the G League Ignite. A new basketball league called Overtime Elite offers top high school players a path to the pros along with six-figure salaries. Two from there &mdash; Dominick Barlow and Jean Montero &mdash; got invitations to the combine compared to three from NCAA champion Kansas.
Though the winners of the NBA&rsquo;s Most Valuable Player Award the past four years did not play college ball, with Denver&rsquo;s Nikola Jokic repeating after Milwaukee&rsquo;s Giannis Antetokounmpo won it two years in a row, the top prospects in the draft next month went the NCAA route. Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren, Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero, Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith and Purdue&rsquo;s Jaden Ivey are likely to go in the top four.
&ldquo;The NCAA is changing a lot,&rdquo; Wisconsin All-America guard Johnny Davis said.
The NIL is a major game-changer.
Banchero worked with Creative Artists Agency and got deals that included becoming the first player featured in the latest NBA 2K video game as well as a basketball trading card from Panini as part of a multi-year agreement. He&rsquo;s about to make more money in the NBA, and he&rsquo;s hardly the only one.
&ldquo;I think college basketball is in a good state right now,&rdquo; said Michigan State guard Max Christie, a Chicago-area product.
He mentioned the quality of the players as well as the impact the NIL is having, even if it wasn&rsquo;t a big factor for him.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to turn down money at some point,&rdquo; he said.
Washington said this year&rsquo;s draft shows, &ldquo;You can still go to college, still do your academic stuff and still be in the same position as everybody else who didn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;
The NIL, he said, helps &ldquo;a lot.&rdquo;
&ldquo;With us being able to make money off our names now, it should encourage more people to go to college,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;If you are an outgoing person, you can also succeed in (NIL), in school and in basketball. I feel like that&rsquo;s three huge wins in life.&rdquo;
Washington had opportunities to play in Australia and the G League. But once Calipari and Kentucky entered the picture, he couldn&rsquo;t see himself going anywhere else.
Washington averaged 12.5 points, 3.9 assists and 3.5 rebounds while starting 29 of 31 contests in his lone college season. The play-making guard also broke John Wall&rsquo;s single-game school record for assists with 17 against Georgia.
Washington missed three Southeastern Conference games because of injuries and scored just five points in Kentucky&rsquo;s loss to Saint Peter&rsquo;s in the NCAA Tournament East Region first round. But he also smoothed things out after a bumpy beginning.
Washington flashed back to that video session following the Duke game and how the energy changed once Calipari entered the basement. He said he never had a coach tell him he wasn&rsquo;t playing hard. But Calipari backed it up by showing clips of him walking up the court.
The next practice wasn&rsquo;t much fun, either.
Calipari pushed the team hard and made sure everyone knew exactly who was responsible.
&ldquo;He was like, &lsquo;Y&rsquo;all know why I&rsquo;m doing this, y&rsquo;all know who I&rsquo;m doing this for.&rsquo; Everybody&rsquo;s just looking at me,&rdquo; Washington said. &ldquo;From that day on, I felt that definitely helped me because that just opened up my eyes.&rdquo;

College can offer opportunities unavailable through other avenues, with the exposure through TV and the NCAA Tourney and more.

NBA prospects see value of college despite other options

The Orlando Magic have won the NBA Draft Lottery and now have the top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
LFG!! <a href="https://t.co/6xaKTDrtsp">pic.twitter.com/6xaKTDrtsp</a>
&mdash; Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) <a href="https://twitter.com/OrlandoMagic/status/1526721039090196480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 18, 2022</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Going into the lottery, the Magic had the best chance to win it at 14% along with the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
It's the third time in franchise history that the Magic have the first selection in the draft. The previous times were in 1992 (Shaquille O'Neal), 1993 (Chris Webber) and 2004 (Dwight Howard).
ANALYSIS:&nbsp;The Magic now have its choice of talented players to add to its young core that includes Franz Wagner and Jalen Suggs who just finished their first seasons in the league.
Those choices include Auburn forward Jabari Smith, Gonzaga forward/center Chet Holmgren, Purdue guard Jaden Ivey, Duke forward Paolo Banchero, and Iowa forward Keegan Murray.
BasketballNews.com currently has <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/jabari-smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Smith ranked as the top selection</a> in the upcoming 2022 NBA Draft.
&nbsp;

The Orlando Magic have won the Draft Lottery and now have the top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Orlando Magic win draft lottery, get No. 1 pick in 2022 NBA Draft

Time for the NBA draft lottery, where some team will get a nice reward for a miserable season.
Not the Los Angeles Lakers, though. Their misery is set to make a good year even better for the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Pelicans are the lone playoff team among the clubs who can get a boost from lotto luck when the drawing is conducted Tuesday night in Chicago.
The Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons all share a 14% chance of winning the lottery and the No. 1 pick for the June 23 NBA draft in New York. Auburn's Jabari Smith, Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren and Duke's Paolo Banchero are among the top college players available.
The Rockets, Magic and Pistons were young teams who finished at the bottom of the league, the kinds of teams the lottery is supposed to benefit.
Then there's the Pelicans.
They were just like most other observers in and around the NBA this season, expecting the Lakers to be a winning team, possibly a championship contender. But when the Lakers instead flopped to a 33-49 finish, eighth-worst in the league, it left New Orleans in position to cash in one of its chips from the 2019 trade that sent Anthony Davis to Los Angeles.
The Pelicans will make the pick from the Lakers as long as it lands in the top 10 &mdash; and there's about a 99.6% chance of that.
Executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said nobody on the Pelicans was expecting to get a top-10 pick from the Lakers this season, in which New Orleans rebounded from a 1-12 start to make the playoffs led by All-Star Brandon Ingram &mdash; acquired in the trade with Los Angeles.
&ldquo;So we got very lucky and as is often the case in our business, it&rsquo;s better to be lucky than good,&rdquo; Griffin said after the playoffs. &ldquo;And if you can be both, you can achieve something and so we&rsquo;re grateful we&rsquo;re a playoff team that&rsquo;s holding a lottery pick. It&rsquo;s a highly unusual thing.
&ldquo;So we got lucky there for sure.&rdquo;
That's what Tuesday is all about.
The Pistons had the luck last year, when they won the lottery and eventually chose guard Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 pick. He went on to finish third in the voting for rookie of the year.
Houston and Orlando also have plenty of young talent and are prepared to add to it. All three have a better than 52% chance of landing a top-four selection.
The lottery sets the top four picks. The remainder of the non-playoff teams pick in reverse order of their finish. Besides the Rockets, Magic, Pistons and Pelicans, the other teams participating Tuesday are Oklahoma City, Indiana, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio, Washington, New York, Charlotte and Cleveland.
There are only 13 teams instead of the 14 that missed the postseason, because the Thunder also own the Clippers' selection, which goes into the lottery in the No. 12 position.
Hall of Famer David Robinson will be sitting on stage to represent the Spurs, a reminder of the type of franchise-changing player that could be available to a lottery winner. The Spurs took Robinson No. 1 after winning the 1987 lottery.
The Rockets ended up with a dominant big man of their own in the lottery 20 years ago, when they selected Yao Ming of China. Now digging out from the end of the James Harden era, they finished 20-62 this season, worst in the NBA.
Houston had the No. 2 pick last year and took Jalen Green, who showed plenty of promise as a rookie. Now they might be able to add two talented young players to their roster, a top-five pick of their own and the No. 17 selection from Brooklyn that they acquired when they dealt Harden in January 2021.
&ldquo;I do think we&rsquo;ll be a more talented team next year than we were this year and I actually think, just in terms of talent, we were a pretty talented team,&rdquo; general manager Rafael Stone said. We were just extraordinarily young. Chances are we&rsquo;ll be even younger next year, but you never know."

The Pelicans are the lone playoff team among the clubs who can get a boost from lotto luck when the drawing is conducted Tuesday night.

Before NBA Draft lottery, Lakers already made Pelicans lucky

The NBA announced the 76 players who are expected to attend the 2022 NBA Draft Combine, which is scheduled for May 18-20 at Wintrust Arena and the Marriott Marquis in Chicago.
The 2022 NBA Draft Combine is an important step in the draft process for NBA prospects, leading up to 2022 NBA Draft on June 23.&nbsp;
Players will have interviews with NBA teams and participate in five-on-five games, shooting drills and strength-and-agility drills from May 18-20. Coverage of the 2022 NBA Draft Combine begins Thursday, May 19 on ESPNews from 3-5 p.m. ET and transitions to ESPN2 from 5-7 p.m. ET. The coverage continues on Friday, May 20 from 1-2 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and 2-5 p.m. ET on ESPNews.
Additionally, a select number of standout players from the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-announces-field-of-44-draft-prospects-for-g-league-elite-camp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA G League Elite Camp</a>, which takes place May 16-17 at Wintrust Arena, will be invited to participate in the 2022 NBA Draft Combine.
Here is the complete list of expected attendees for this year's NBA Draft Combine (and check out <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 NBA Mock Draft</a> to see where each player is projected to go):&nbsp;
<table style="font-weight: 400;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" width="832">
Player (College/Club)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ochai Agbaji (Kansas)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jake LaRavia (Wake Forest)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Patrick Baldwin Jr. (Milwaukee)
</td>
<td width="442">
Justin Lewis (Marquette)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Paolo Banchero (Duke)
</td>
<td width="442">
E.J. Liddell (Ohio State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Dominick Barlow (Overtime Elite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Bennedict Mathurin (Arizona)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Marjon Beauchamp (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Matthew Mayer (Baylor)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Hugo Besson (New Zealand Breakers)
</td>
<td width="442">
Bryce McGowens (Nebraska)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Malaki Branham (Ohio State)
</td>
<td width="442">
Leonard Miller (Fort Erie Intl. Academy [Canada] )
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Christian Braun (Kansas)
</td>
<td width="442">
Josh Minott (Memphis)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Kendall Brown (Baylor)
</td>
<td width="442">
Aminu Mohammed (Georgetown)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
John Butler Jr. (Florida State)
</td>
<td width="442">
Iverson Molinar (Mississippi State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Julian Champagnie (St. John&rsquo;s)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jean Montero (Overtime Elite)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Kennedy Chandler (Tennessee)
</td>
<td width="442">
Wendell Moore Jr. (Duke)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Max Christie (Michigan State)
</td>
<td width="442">
Keegan Murray (Iowa)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Kofi Cockburn (Illinois)
</td>
<td width="442">
Andrew Nembhard (Gonzaga)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Dyson Daniels (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Scotty Pippen Jr. (Vanderbilt)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Johnny Davis (Wisconsin)
</td>
<td width="442">
Gabriele Procida (Fortitudo Bologna [Italy] )
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
JD Davison (Alabama)
</td>
<td width="442">
Orlando Robinson (Fresno State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Moussa Diabate (Michigan)
</td>
<td width="442">
David Roddy (Colorado State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ousmane Dieng (New Zealand Breakers)
</td>
<td width="442">
Ryan Rollins (Toledo)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Khalifa Diop (Gran Canaria [Spain] )
</td>
<td width="442">
Dereon Seabron (North Carolina State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Jalen Duren (Memphis)
</td>
<td width="442">
Shaedon Sharpe (Kentucky)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Tari Eason (LSU)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jabari Smith (Auburn)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Keon Ellis (Alabama)
</td>
<td width="442">
Terquavion Smith (North Carolina State)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Michael Foster Jr. (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jeremy Sochan (Baylor)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Collin Gillespie (Villanova)
</td>
<td width="442">
Matteo Spagnolo (Cremona [Italy] )
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
AJ Griffin (Duke)
</td>
<td width="442">
Julian Strawther (Gonzaga)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Jaden Hardy (G League Ignite)
</td>
<td width="442">
Dalen Terry (Arizona)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ron Harper Jr. (Rutgers)
</td>
<td width="442">
Drew Timme (Gonzaga)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Chet Holmgren (Gonzaga)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jabari Walker (Colorado)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Harrison Ingram (Stanford)
</td>
<td width="442">
TyTy Washington Jr. (Kentucky)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Jaden Ivey (Purdue)
</td>
<td width="442">
Peyton Watson (UCLA)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana)
</td>
<td width="442">
Blake Wesley (Notre Dame)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Nikola Jovic (Mega [Serbia] )
</td>
<td width="442">
Alondes Williams (Wake Forest)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Johnny Juzang (UCLA)
</td>
<td width="442">
Jalen Williams (Santa Clara)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Ismael Kamagate (Paris [France] )
</td>
<td width="442">
Jaylin Williams (Arkansas)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Trevor Keels (Duke)
</td>
<td width="442">
Mark Williams (Duke)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Walker Kessler (Auburn)
</td>
<td width="442">
Trevion Williams (Purdue)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="390">
Christian Koloko (Arizona)
</td>
<td width="442">
Fanbo Zeng (G League Ignite)
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

The NBA announced the 76 players who are expected to attend the 2022 NBA Draft Combine, which takes place May 18-20 in Chicago.

NBA announces 76 prospects who will attend 2022 NBA Draft Combine

In the 2020 Summer Olympics, which took place in 2021 due to COVID, France matched up with Team USA in the men&rsquo;s basketball gold-medal game for the third time.
The first gold-medal meeting between the two nations took place was in 1948, with France <a href="https://www.usab.com/history/national-team-mens/games-of-the-xivth-olympiad-1948.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">losing 65-21 in that final</a>.
Despite having been historically good since then, it took another 52 years for the Frenchmen to return to that stage for a second time; unfortunately, Team USA awaited again. The game was much closer in 2000 than in 1948, but the Americans &mdash; led by Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning and Ray Allen among others &mdash; outlasted Antoine Rigaudeau, Laurent Sciarra, Frederic Weis and France, 85-75.
(No, that wasn&rsquo;t the game Carter <a href="https://youtu.be/WihbbVEmppI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dunked on Weis</a>; that was earlier in The Games.)
And in last year&rsquo;s gold-medal game, in the countries' third meeting on that stage, France <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-olympics-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401347899" target="_blank" rel="noopener">got even closer</a>.
France's best Olympic team ever was defeated by the Americans, 87-82. Team USA started Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bam Adebayo, answering the French quintet of Nando De Colo, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Guerschon Yabusele and Rudy Gobert.
Contributions from the U.S. bench came from Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine, Draymond Green and Khris Middleton, while Timoth&eacute; Luwawu-Cabarrot, Frank Ntikilina, Thomas Heurtel and Moustapha Fall were key components of France's second unit. The Frenchmen trailed by as little as 3 points with just eight seconds remaining before Durant iced the game with two free throws.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8YSrNfcKvA0" width="100%" height="325" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Now imagine that game with Joel Embiid... playing for France.
The 28-year-old NBA MVP candidate, who was born and raised in Cameroon and has never played for his home national team (despite <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/things-to-monitor-as-the-next-fiba-world-cups-next-qualifying-window-arrives">coming close in 2017</a>), is reportedly <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/05/02/joel-embiid-could-change-nationality-play-french-national-team-report">eyeing an opportunity to suit up for France</a>.
Embiid has family in France, and is <a href="https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/basket/basket-joel-embiid-superstar-de-nba-se-rapproche-de-l-equipe-de-france_AV-202205020664.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considering changing his nationality</a> in order to play for the Frenchmen in the 2024 Olympic Games, where they&rsquo;d enter as one of the favorites to challenge Team USA again for the gold. According to French basketball general manager Boris Diaw, Embiid is <a href="https://actucameroun.com/2022/05/03/boris-diaw-manager-general-de-lequipe-de-france-confirme-les-demarches-entamees-par-joel-embiid-pour-jouer-avec-les-bleus-en-vue-des-jo-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taking the necessary steps</a>.
(Looks like we won't ever see the Embiid-Pascal Siakam tandem for Cameroon, unfortunately.)
In FIBA, each team is allowed one naturalized player on its roster. Current and recent instances of this include American-born players to suit up for different countries, such as Javonte Green (Montenegro), Matt Costello (Ivory Coast), Anthony Randolph (Slovenia) and Andray Blatche (Philippines). Non-American examples include Congolese center Serge Ibaka playing for Spain, Cuban native Ismael Romero playing for Puerto Rico and French-born Aaron Cel playing for Poland. Another famous occasion where this occurred saw Hakeem Olajuwon playing with Team USA in the 1990s.
Regarding American-born WNBA players, known examples include Bria Hartley representing France, Becky Hammon representing Russia and Leilani Mitchell representing Australia. Non-American examples in the women&rsquo;s game include Bahamian Jonquel Jones playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Senegal native Astou Ndour playing for Spain.
Now, it may be long before we see Embiid actually playing for France if this process gets finalized, or less than we think if he decides not to wait for the Olympics.
The next major European basketball tournament is EuroBasket 2022, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2022">which will run from Sept. 1-18 later this year</a> across Italy, Germany, Georgia and the Czech Republic. France will be one of 24 teams competing, but seeing Embiid there would be surprising.
The 2023 FIBA World Cup, which France is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/where-things-stand-after-the-second-window-of-fiba-world-cup-qualifiers">currently attempting to qualify for</a>, will take place from Aug. 25 through Sept. 10, 2023. Qualifying for the World Cup will run through next February before the final pool of 32 teams gets decided.
And the 2024 Summer Olympics, assuming we avoid another global pandemic, is expected to actually run that summer. The host of the Games? France, who will automatically qualify for the tournament <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/pr-n34-brazils-national-teams-granted-automatic-places-at-2016-olympic-basketball-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by rule</a>. Embiid will be 30 years old by the next Olympics.
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Since Embiid is reportedly targeting the 2024 Games, let&rsquo;s look at some players who might be his teammates.
The oldest players from the silver-medal-winning squad last summer were De Colo and Batum, who&rsquo;ll be 37 and 35 by the 2024 Games, so expect many of the same players to run it back if possible. One name that could join the fray is Boston Celtics second-round pick Juhann Begarin, who is just 19 years old and was the No. 45 overall selection last summer. Isma&euml;l Kamagate and Hugo Besson, both of whom are 21, are in the 2022 NBA Draft pool; the same goes for 18-year-old Ousmane Dieng, who is quickly rising up draft boards. There's also plenty of hype surrounding fellow 18-year-old, ASVEL star and 7-foot-2 sensation Victor Wembanyama &mdash; a lock to be a high draft pick in 2023.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft">BasketballNews.com Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock</a> has Dieng going No. 21 overall, Kamagate at No. 40 and Besson at No. 51.
But really, there&rsquo;s one question we need to answer, and it has to do with a three-time Defensive Player of the Year already on the roster who holds down the 5 position. Could an Embiid and Gobert frontcourt lead France over Team USA?
If you haven&rsquo;t realized, the American pool of bigs is slighter than you think.
Many of the best centers in the NBA aren&rsquo;t American and don&rsquo;t represent America internationally. Examples include Embiid, Gobert, Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Nikola Vučević (Montenegro), Kristaps Porziņģis (Latvia), Clint Capela (Switzerland) and Jonas Valančiūnas (Lithuania).
The best centers that have represented Team USA, and/or have Team USA eligibility, have been Adebayo, Green, Jarrett Allen and JaVale McGee. Deandre Ayton (Bahamas) is a player to watch <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2021/06/22/suns-big-deandre-ayton-ideal-team-usa-2024-summer-olympics-paris/5307682001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who could represent Team USA in the future</a>, along with younger bigs like Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren.
Assuming health, so the 2024 American team could start either Adebayo, Ayton or Allen, if not 2 of the 3. Team USA is generally harder to guess in advance, but your starting lineup could look like some combination of Ja Morant, Anthony Edwards, Booker, Tatum and Adebayo. Maybe, to match size, Ayton gets in there instead of Edwards.
Maybe a Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Bradley Beal, Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell sneak into the backcourt instead. Maybe someone we&rsquo;re not projecting to make another huge leap does &mdash; like Jordan Poole, Tyler Herro or Tyrese Maxey &mdash; or maybe Jaden Ivey or Jabari Smith are more ready than we think by 2024. Even so, you&rsquo;d throw, at best, Adebayo, Ayton, Allen, and Mobley at the Embiid-Gobert combo, and that tandem could be backed up by Dieng, Yabusele, and Vincent Poirier for France.
It&rsquo;s a lot to project, no doubt, but giving <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/rankingmen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the No. 4 team in the world</a> a top-four player in the world could be what it takes for someone to snatch the gold medal away from Team USA in the Olympics for the first time since 2004.
But a lot can happen in two years, so we'll table this... for now.&nbsp;
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Bryan Fonseca looks at the potential of Joel Embiid joining France in international competition.

We’re not talking enough about Joel Embiid possibly playing for France

With March Madness behind us and the NBA Draft lottery odds set, we're now into the next phase of the scouting season.
BasketballNews.com Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock transitioned our 2022 NBA Draft Big Board into <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our first NBA Mock Draft of the year</a>. As teams, scouts and analysts gather intel, this mock serves as an early peek into what draft night could look like in June.
Babcock discussed his latest projections, some early storylines to monitor in the spring, prospects who shined in the NCAA Tournament, and more in the following Q&amp;A.
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What makes Jabari Smith the pick for the Rockets at No. 1?
The Houston Rockets only won 20 games this season, but it's not all doom and gloom. They're in rebuild mode, and they've already gotten a good group of young players together. In last year's NBA Draft, they selected Jalen Green with the second pick, and it looks as if he could emerge into a primetime scorer who they can build around. 
They also drafted Alperen Sengun, Usman Garuba and Josh Christopher,&nbsp; selected KJ Martin with a late second-round pick the year before, and added Kevin Porter Jr. via trade. All of the players mentioned above are younger than 21 years old. They've struggled to win games up to this point, but they have a young nucleus to work with as they look to build for the future.
Regarding this year's draft, it's pretty close among the top prospects, and it seems as if everyone has their unique argument as to who are the top prospects and why &mdash; which I appreciate, as I think there usually tends to be too much groupthink in the draft space. Anyway, Jabari Smith Jr. is my No. 1 guy, and he has been for a while now. At 6-foot-10, Smith is an absolute sniper from the perimeter as a stretch four, and with time I think he will also prove that he has much more in his bag as a scorer. 
On the defensive end, Smith has a chance to be special. He's about as switchable as it gets, and he's tough. His versatility on both ends of the ball will provide a lot of lineup flexibility to whatever team selects him. In addition to possessing perhaps the most upside of any player projected to be in the 2022 NBA Draft, he can essentially co-exist with just about any group of players. Therefore, I believe that Jabari Smith Jr. would be the right pick for the Rockets if they indeed win the NBA Draft Lottery.&nbsp;
Which teams could shake up the draft selections if lottery luck lands them in the top-3?
My first tier includes Jabari Smith Jr., Jaden Ivey, Chet Holmgren and Paolo Banchero this year. Of that group, Jaden Ivey is the only guard. Due to his style of play, I'm not sure he's a great fit with several teams potentially selecting towards the top, including Houston, Orlando, Indiana and San Antonio -- they're all pretty guard-heavy at the moment. If any combination of these teams lands in the top-3, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ivey sliding back a touch. 
Another thing worth noting is that I'm also not sure Paolo Banchero would fit well with teams like New York or New Orleans. On the flip side, Jabari Smith Jr. and Chet Holmgren fit in pretty seamlessly with most teams. I think these are a few elements that could potentially dictate how the first few picks unfold.
What inspired Mark Williams' rapid rise to the No. 12 overall pick?
I'll admit the 12th pick is on the high side for Mark Williams, but I like the fit, and I don't think it's too much of a stretch. Williams had a terrific season at Duke this year, and he's continued to grow on me. His performance versus Gonzaga in Las Vegas in November was one of the best showings I saw in-person all season. I think he has a chance to develop into becoming a solid starting center as a rim running and rim-protecting 5-man. I wouldn't be surprised to see him have a long and productive NBA career. 
In our most recent simulated mock draft, Oklahoma City selected Paolo Banchero with the fourth pick and Mark Williams with the 12th pick, coincidentally Duke's frontcourt this past season. The Thunder have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander locked up on a long-term deal and Sam Presti's lottery selection last year, Josh Giddey, looks like a star in the making. So it seems their backcourt of the future is solid. Adding Bancero and Williams would bolster their frontcourt, giving OKC's roster shape moving forward.
Which other prospects benefited most from their March Madness performances?
He was already rated super high, but I think Paolo Banchero finished strong. Ochai Agbaji was terrific versus Villanova in Kansas' Final Four game. Benedict Mathurin had a couple of outstanding games in the tournament, and Kennedy Chandler was good for Tennessee. I think all of those players helped themselves in March.
What is one of your favorite later-round team-player fits?
A few picks in the second round that stand out are David Roddy from Colorado State to the Pacers, Jake LaRavia from Wake Forest to the Hawks, and Colin Gillespie from Villanova to the Pelicans. None of those players necessarily blow me away with their talent or tools, but I think all three could become excellent complementary players.
What makes G League Ignite prospects Dyson Daniels, MarJon Beauchamp and Jaden Hardy worthy of first-round status?
They're all very different players from one another, but they're all talented in their own right. Daniels and Beauchamp showed well this season and have moved up the ranks. Hardy came into the season projected to be a high pick and the highest of this group, but he didn't do quite as well as most people had hoped, myself included.&nbsp;
Daniels has terrific size and versatility on both ends of the ball, Beauchamp is very athletic, plays with a great pace, and makes a lot happen. Hardy might have struggled a bit this season, however, he still has a lot of raw talent as a scorer and shot-maker with deep range. I expect all three to be selected in the first round.
While many of us were focused on March Madness, have any draft-eligible international players made waves recently?
Ousmane Dieng, a player from France currently playing for the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian League, is the player that comes to mind in regards to someone who has been making waves recently on the international scene. Dieng has terrific size for an on-ball playmaker, and I think he possesses a lot of upside as a versatile point forward. He has a good chance of becoming a first-round pick.
After the success of last year's first Tampa Bay Pro Combine, what should we expect from the event this spring?
It's been great to see some of our guys who participated in the Tampa Bay Pro Combine last year find success quickly in their careers. I mean, Terry Taylor and Brandon Williams signed NBA contracts, but they also played significant minutes for their teams. Jordan Goodwin and Micah Potter had opportunities with NBA teams too. It was incredible to see!&nbsp;
We've changed the format this year. First, we cut the number of invited players from nearly 50 to 24 this year. Instead of just playing five-on-five games all week, we decided to host simulated NBA pre-draft workouts the first two days, where we'll have six players on the court at a time and 12 per day. The main reason for this change was to comply with NBA guidelines so that NBA scouts could attend. Anyway, we have another great group of guys set to fly out and compete. It should be a great week!
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Ethan Fuller checks in with Matt Babcock after the unveiling of his first 2022 NBA Mock Draft.

2022 NBA Draft: Q&A with Matt Babcock on first mock, notable risers

Gonzaga freshman <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-nba-mock-draft/players/chet-holmgren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chet Holmgren</a> &mdash; the No. 2 prospect in <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 Big Board</a> &mdash; announced that he's entering the 2022 NBA Draft.
The 19-year-old center&nbsp;averaged 14.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.7 blocks for the Bulldogs while shooting 60% from the field and 39% on 3-pointers this past season. Holmgren was named the West Coast Conference's Defensive Player of the Year and Newcomer of the Year while also earning All-WCC first team honors.
"After a season where we accomplished a lot of great things as both a team and an individual, I feel like I'm in a position to be able to chase my lifelong dream to play in the NBA," <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33779548/gonzaga-chet-holmgren-no-1-prospect-espn-100-entering-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Holmgren told ESPN</a>.
Matt Babcock, BasketballNews.com's Sr. NBA Draft Analyst, believes Holmgren is a unique prospect and deserves to be one of the top picks in this year's NBA draft.
"He stands 7-feet tall with a reported 7-foot-6 wingspan, and he's incredibly skilled," said Babcock. "However, he is rail-thin, weighing only 195 lbs. so his lack of physicality is somewhat concerning. Nevertheless, Holmgren is one of the top players in this year's draft and will likely be one of the first players selected on draft night."

Gonzaga freshman Chet Holmgren announced that he's entering the 2022 NBA Draft.

Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren declares for the 2022 NBA Draft

For a third of the NBA, summer break comes early.&nbsp;
Though 10 teams didn't make the playoffs, it's not all doom and gloom. Several NBA bottom-feeders took tangible steps forward in their rebuilding efforts, while others &mdash; well, they're not supposed to be here.
Every franchise enters the offseason with summer plans. As teams get eliminated from the postseason, I'll be rounding up every team's offseason outlook and posing one question they must answer over the summer. You'll see each squad's 2022 NBA Draft chest, plus their potential free agents, along with the central question.&nbsp;
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Let's get started!
DETROIT PISTONS 
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick (via Brooklyn)
Potential free agents:&nbsp;Marvin Bagley III (restricted), Cory Joseph (player option), Hamidou Diallo (team option), Frank Jackson (team option), Luka Garza (team option), Carsen Edwards (team option), Rodney McGruder 
Central question: How do the Pistons build an offense around Cade Cunningham?
This was a pretty solid season for Detroit as far as rebuilding efforts go. Cade Cunningham emerged as a Rookie of the Year front-runner and two-way centerpiece who has fans ecstatic about his ceiling. The Pistons finished a solid 10-14 after the All-Star break, and have shown flashes of an improving defense. They did still finish with the 28th-ranked offense, per Cleaning the Glass, and one of the worst shooting rates in the NBA.
Cunningham had to carry a ridiculous offensive load in the latter stages of the season. Detroit has the power to change that in 2022-23, starting with its high draft pick. Maybe Jabari Smith's lights-out scoring means he's an ideal secondary option? Perhaps Paolo Banchero thrives as an additional creator, or maybe Chet Holmgren makes sense as a finisher and spot-up threat? The fun part about Cunningham is that his versatility creates so many pathways for the Pistons in the draft &mdash; whether or not the ping pong balls fall their way.
Detroit wields a cap hold of approximately $28 million on Bagley, and once that lifts (either via a new contract or letting him walk), the Pistons should have a solid chunk of cap space to add to the supporting cast.
HOUSTON ROCKETS
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), better of Brooklyn/Miami first-round picks
Potential free agents: John Wall (player option), Dennis Schroder, Bruno Fernando (restricted), Jae'Sean Tate (team option), Anthony Lamb (qualifying offer), Trevelin Queen (qualifying offer)
Central question: How patient is the front office willing to be?
Houston's 2021 draft strategy of "draft talent, figure out the fit later" appears to be working out. Jalen Green demonstrated an Anthony Edwards-esque leap post-All-Star break, Alperen Sengun is already one of the NBA's best passing bigs, and guys like Josh Christopher and KJ Martin routinely hinted at upside. Houston gets another prime shot at a franchise cornerstone this draft cycle. We're approaching Stage 2 of the strategy, though: figuring out how the pieces fit.&nbsp;
The Rockets were one of two NBA teams with bottom-five ratings on offense and defense. They led the league in rim frequency and were fourth in three-point frequency, but posted mediocre shooting clips. Houston evokes memories of the rebuilding Nets, who played a similarly extreme brand of ball for a few years as the team slowly reshaped into a fun playoff squad. Does the front office have the foresight to let head coach Stephen Silas work things out with his roster of young guns?&nbsp;
INDIANA PACERS
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How is there a &ldquo;rebuild&rdquo; to afraid of if it isn&rsquo;t a rebuild? <a href="https://t.co/0pDD7E6Mss">pic.twitter.com/0pDD7E6Mss</a>
&mdash; Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) <a href="https://twitter.com/C2_Cooper/status/1512127632758001664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Draft assets: First-round pick (10.5% chance at No. 1), First-round pick (if 15-30, via Cleveland), Second-round pick (via Houston), Second-round pick (via Phoenix)
Potential free agents: Ricky Rubio, T.J. Warren, Jalen Smith, Lance Stephenson, Nate Hinton (restricted), Oshae Brissett (team option)
Central question: How extreme is the incoming rebuild, and what veterans mesh with the future vision?
Notably unlisted among the potential free agents are Malcolm Brogdon, Myles Turner, Buddy Hield and T.J. McConnell. All range from solid starters to rotational complements, and 3 of the 4 (not Turner) will be 30 next season. The Pacers are clearly retooling, as evidenced by their trade-deadline fireworks and Tyrese Haliburton's subsequent high usage. They also have publicly flip-flopped regarding the direction of the team; see the above Tweet.
Indiana doesn't have the pure depth of talent to straddle the line. The Pacers can trade many of these talented players and build up a chest of draft picks and young pieces, or they can charge ahead, turn their picks into win-now players and hope Haliburton is ready for the playoff push. But a middle ground doesn't exist in an Eastern Conference where just about every team has solidified its direction.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
Draft assets: None
Potential free agents: Russell Westbrook (player option), Kendrick Nunn (player option), Austin Reaves (team option), Stanley Johnson (team option), Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley, Wayne Ellington, Dwight Howard, Kent Bazemore, Malik Monk, D.J. Augustin, Wenyen Gabriel, Mason Jones (restricted)
Central question: What does team-building around two injury-prone superstars look like?
LeBron James <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/lebron-james-i-dont-have-a-cap-on-how-long-i-want-to-play" target="_blank" rel="noopener">turns 38 next season</a>, and has played 60-plus games just once in the past four seasons. Anthony Davis has now missed more than half the season in back-to-back years. Sure, the Lakers were a mess regardless of their stars' health, but going forward, is pursuing fits next to James and Davis even worthwhile if the two won't consistently be on the court?
With just three players under contract (the aforementioned stars, plus Talen Horton-Tucker), the Lakers enter another offseason of a roster overhaul. This time, I'd recommend almost entirely forgetting about James and Davis when building the squad and simply try to assemble units that make sense together.&nbsp;
NEW YORK KNICKS
Draft assets: First-round pick (2.5% chance at No. 1, could change based on Play-In results), Second-round pick via Boston and Charlotte (if 56-60)
Potential free agents: Mitchell Robinson, Ryan Arcidiacono 
Central question: What's going to happen with the veterans?
The top six moneymakers for the Knicks next season are all 27 or older, and I think many fans would say that out of the group, only Julius Randle should have started &mdash; and he seriously regressed this season. The young Knicks <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/explain-one-play-young-knicks-playing-chess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">clearly showed they're ready to take the mantle</a>.
So what happens with Randle, Evan Fournier, Derrick Rose, Alec Burks, Nerlens Noel and Kemba Walker? Is Tom Thibodeau prepared to reduce their (their meaning Burks specifically in this case) minutes and usage, will trades be coming, or will Madison Square Garden burn when Immanuel Quickley opens the season by playing 16 minutes off the bench? New York has drafted extremely well in recent seasons, but the ceiling of the young core is capped if these youngsters don't get a chance to prove themselves in meaningful situations.
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OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER 
Draft assets: First-round pick (12.5% chance at No. 1), First-round pick via Clippers, First-round pick via Phoenix, Second-round pick
Potential free agents: Derrick Favors (player option), Mike Muscala (team option), Lu Dort (team option), Isaiah Roby (team option), Melvin Frazier (restricted)
Central question: What is the pathway in the frontcourt?
I've stanned Sam Presti's team-building strategy for years now, and I still think it's on track for a serious payoff. Josh Giddey slots in somewhere on your All-Rookie ballot, and draft classmates Tre Mann, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aaron Wiggins flashed rotation-caliber play as well. It is simply a joy to watch a random young player have a breakout game on any given night, and OKC has already shown the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/the-oklahoma-city-thunders-emerging-defensive-identity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">early stages of a prominent defense</a>.
Next up: Capitalize on a draft loaded with intruiging frontcourt players. Banchero, Holmgren and Smith are obviously the best of the best. But even if the Thunder slide in the lottery, they could pounce on an athletic shot-blocker like Jalen Duren, or use one of their later picks on a center like Mark Williams. I'm just spit-balling, but the point is that OKC has plenty of chances to find its big-man anchor and further flesh out its core.
ORLANDO MAGIC
Draft assets: First-round pick (14.0% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick, Second-round pick via Indiana
Potential free agents: Gary Harris, Robin Lopez, Bol Bol (restricted), Ignas Brazdeikis (restricted), Admiral Schofield (restricted)
Central question: How do the offensive pieces fit together?
Orlando quietly logged a 17th-ranked defense this season, and an 11th-ranked unit since Feb. 1. A dismal offense ultimately doomed the Magic, who were riddled with inconsistent shotmaking and poor team efficiency marks throughout the half-court. We don't need to sound any player alarms; it takes time for young guards in particular to grasp the responsibilities of running NBA offenses.&nbsp;
But what if I told you Orlando has wielded bottom-10 offensive ratings every season for the last decade?&nbsp;
Change can start in the draft, again with some of the top offensive forward options like Banchero or Smith. Adding another ball-dominant guard in Jaden Ivey might be overkill, but AJ Griffin and Bennedict Mathurin feel like good wing fits at first glance. Spotrac estimates the Magic could have up to $30 million in practical cap space, leaving plenty of room for veteran players to accentuate the young talent.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
THE D IN DREW STANDS FOR DUNK DO NOT GOOGLE THIS <a href="https://t.co/2AojdAskYV">pic.twitter.com/2AojdAskYV</a>
&mdash; Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers/status/1508636734900166659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Draft assets: First-round pick (9.0% chance at No. 1), First-round pick via New Orleans (if 5-14), Second-round pick, Second-round pick via Memphis
Potential free agents: Joe Ingles, Jusuf Nurkic, Ben McLemore, Anfernee Simons (restricted), CJ Elleby (restricted), Elijah Hughes (restricted), Keljin Blevins (restricted)
Central question: Is Portland actually trying to win "now" or win soon?
Some really great development happened for the Blazers during the "wash" portion of the season in the form of players like Trendon Watford, Keon Johnson and Drew Eubanks. Add them to Anfernee Simons, Nassir Little and the incomng draft picks, and Portland suddenly has... kind of a sneaky-deep prospect pool? There's real potential to mold this group into a rotation cast that gives Portland one of its deepest rosters in years.
That's why these <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/jerami-grant-trade-rumors-portland-is-still-the-frontrunner" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jerami Grant trade rumors concern me</a>. Giving up a possible lottery pick to try and piece together a short-term playoff team risks too much and keeps the Trail Blazers in the limbo they have lounged in for several years. Understandably, the franchise wants to build a contender while Damian Lillard is invested and in his prime. With some patience, Portland can without sacrificing sustainibility.
SACRAMENTO KINGS
Draft assets: First-round pick (7.5% chance at No. 1), Second-round pick, Second-round pick (via Chicago)
Potential free agents: Jeremy Lamb, Josh Jackson, Damian Jones, Donte DiVincenzo (restricted), Neemias Queta (restricted), Trey Lyles (team option)
Central question: How does Sacramento turn into a competitive NBA defense?
The Kings have trotted out lackluster defenses for as long as I can remember. In fact, they haven't ranked above 20th in Defensive Rating since 2005-06 &mdash; notably, the last time they made the playoffs.
And that didn't change under interim head coach Alvin Gentry. (Gentry will not return as head coach next season, but is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/shams-alvin-gentry-no-longer-interim-coach-of-the-kings" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in talks for a front-office role</a>, per ESPN.) However, the on-paper roster actually shines some hope. Davion Mitchell made highlight reels out of his "Off-Night" defense. Justin Holiday is a solid individual defender, as is Harrison Barnes, and even De'Aaron Fox has his sporadic moments.&nbsp;
Can Sacramento find a head coach who turns a group of intriguing players with defensive potential into even an average squad? What draft and free agency options exist? Of course, the Kings would like to end their NBA-leading playoff drought. That'll come with changing the culture on defense.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
Draft assets: First-round pick (2.5% chance at No. 1, depends on Play-In results), Second-round pick (via Dallas)
Potential free agents: Bradley Beal (player option), Thomas Bryant, Raul Neto, Tomas Satoransky, Anthony Gill (restricted), Cassius Winston (restricted)
Central question: What style of guard play is a feasible best fit?
Okay, so obviously the biggest question mark surrounds Bradley Beal's free agency. But from a conceptual standpoint, Washington has tried and failed over the past few seasons to find Beal's best-fitting partner in crime. John Wall, Russell Westbrook and Spencer Dinwiddie were each supposed to provide the downhill juice Beal lacks. The Wizards either did this at serious expense of another skill area (Wall, Westbrook), or it just didn't translate their at-rim ability (Dinwiddie). All battled injuries as well.
"I think we need bigger guards," <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/wizards/bradley-beal-outlines-what-wizards-need-build-contender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beal said in March</a>. "We need more guys that can get in the paint for us, more ball-handlers, more guys that can really create and get two feet in the paint, but also who can knock down threes."
I mean, Beal's needs make total sense. The problem is that every other basketball team on Earth also wants this type of guard.
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Ethan Fuller sets the offseason stage for each team that missed the NBA playoffs.

Summer plans for the NBA's 10 non-playoff teams

After sitting out all season, what's next for John Wall?
The five-time All-Star will opt into the final year of his contract with the Houston Rockets, and he's set to earn $47,366,760 next season. Will the 31-year-old get traded or bought out?&nbsp;
While Marc Stein <a href="https://marcstein.substack.com/p/trading-russell-westbrook?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> that the Los Angeles Lakers will likely revisit a potential Wall-for-Russell-Westbrook trade this offseason, a buyout is also a possibility. HoopsHype's Michael Scotto and The Rockets Wire's Ben DuBose discussed Wall's future on <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/rockets-rumors-john-wall-eric-gordon-christian-wood-chet-holmgren/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the latest episode of "The HoopsHype Podcast."</a>&nbsp;
"If Houston can&rsquo;t find a trade partner for Wall, his representation at Klutch Sports is expected to work with the Rockets on a buyout agreement before next season," Scotto said. "A potential buyout agreement would allow Wall to take advantage of the [free agent] market. Wall turns 32 in September. He&rsquo;s healthy. I&rsquo;ve heard he&rsquo;d like to be on a winning team and have a role."
DuBose added that he thinks "a buyout is more likely than a trade because the Rockets are not going to want to take back bad money."
Since Wall will be on an expiring contract, perhaps it will be easier for the two sides to reach an agreement on a buyout.&nbsp;
The last time we saw Wall in an NBA game was April 23, 2021, when he had 27 points, 13 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.&nbsp;Last season, he appeared in 40 games with the Rockets, averaging 20.6 points, 6.9 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 2.0 threes, 1.1 steals and 0.8 blocks on .404/.317/.749 shooting splits.
Wall produced at a relatively high level after returning from a ruptured Achilles and was one of the better comeback stories of the 2020-21 season. If he becomes an unrestricted free agent, he'd surely attract interest from contenders (with the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers <a href="https://marcstein.substack.com/p/to-trade-or-ride-with-russ-?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already being mentioned</a> as potential suitors).

After sitting out all season, what's next for John Wall? If the Rockets can't trade him, Wall's camp will reportedly try to negotiate a buyout.

If Rockets can't trade John Wall, an offseason buyout is possible

Iowa sophomore Keegan Murray, who was one of the most dominant players in college basketball this season, has officially declared for the 2022 NBA Draft.
This season, Murray averaged 23.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.9 threes, 1.9 blocks and 1.3 steals, while shooting 55.4% from the field, 39.8% from three and 74.7% from the free-throw line. The First-Team All-American led Iowa to a Big Ten title, earning the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award.
"I am forever grateful that Coach [Fran] McCaffery gave me the opportunity to live out my dream," Murray told <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33624259/iowa-sophomore-basketball-player-keegan-murray-entering-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN</a>. "Iowa will always be my home and I'm forever grateful to be part of Hawkeye Nation."
Murray is currently ranked No. 5 on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 NBA Draft Big Board</a>. Our Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock was very impressed with Murray's development this season.
"I'm not sure any returning player had a more productive season than Keegan Murray," Babcock said. "I started the year expecting him to become a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, but he continued to impress month after month and moved up everyone's draft boards, including ours.
"I'm happy to see a player like Murray, who plays hard and seems to be about all of the right things, find success. His ability to produce at such a high level without dominating the ball should prove to make him a hot commodity among NBA teams. At the lowest, I expect him to be selected in the mid-lottery come June."
At 6-foot-8 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan, Murray has a high motor and does a lot of the little things that contribute to winning. He's a terrific defender, and after shooting an inefficient 29.6% from deep as a freshman, he improved his three-point percentage to 39.8% this season.
He'll turn 22 years old in August, so he's a bit older than other top prospects Jabari Smith (18 years old), Chet Holmgren (19 years old), Paolo Banchero (19 years old) and Jaden Ivey (20 years old).
Murray believes his game will translate well to the NBA because of his versatility.
"Before I came to Iowa I always played on the wing," Murray told <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33624259/iowa-sophomore-basketball-player-keegan-murray-entering-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ESPN</a>. "This was the first time I played the 4 and 5. We were small in the Big Ten. I'll do whatever is needed to win because of my skill set. This year I needed to play the 5. I feel like in the NBA, I can play 2 to 5. I can adapt to any position I'm put in. I'm looking forward to showing NBA teams my versatility on both ends of the court. I'm a lot more athletic than people realize. I'm as competitive a player as you're going to get."
While most mock drafts have him being selected very high, Murray insists that he doesn't care about that.
"I'm not worried about what spot I get drafted," Murray said. "I want to be in the best situation possible and play for a team that values my game and understands what I can excel at."

After a dominant sophomore season at Iowa, Keegan Murray is entering the 2022 NBA Draft. What's next for the 21-year-old?

Potential top-5 pick Keegan Murray declares for 2022 NBA Draft

I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and went to Arkansas Razorback Basketball Camp many times.
My high school, Booker T. Washington (back-to-back state champions) tried to mirror the Hogs' style.
"Forty minutes of hell" defense picking up full court the entire game.
A deep bench with multiple weapons utilizing both the inside and outside games.
Running up the score, and actually running opposing teams out of the gym, as we were collectively in better shape than most of our opponents.
So it was great to see No. 4 Arkansas take down the overall favorites and top-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Sweet 16 game Thursday night 74-68 to advance to the Elite Eight.
&ldquo;Thank you to everybody who said we had no chance,&rdquo; Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman told CBS after the game.
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𝑵𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑹 doubt the Hogs 🐗<a href="https://twitter.com/RazorbackMBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RazorbackMBB</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/EricPMusselman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EricPMusselman</a> <a href="https://t.co/cbdwhGYEey">pic.twitter.com/cbdwhGYEey</a>
&mdash; Southeastern Conference (@SEC) <a href="https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1507170034526863361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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I caught up with former Razorback legends Lee Mayberry and Scotty Thurman to discuss the big upset and how Arkansas will fare moving forward in the rest of the NCAA Tournament.
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Lee Mayberry
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Etan: Mr. Lee Mayberry, how did it feel to see your team take down the No. 1-seeded and highly favored Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday night?
Mayberry: "It felt great. We were in those kids' shoes years ago ourselves, where you feel like it&rsquo;s Arkansas against the world. Gonzaga was the No. 1 seed like you said; they were projected to win it all in most brackets, and most people counted Arkansas out. If you are from Arkansas or Tulsa or surrounding areas, you understand how those kids feel that they are always doubted and counted out, so they have to believe in themselves. And we have a great fanbase who are right in that same boat and have that same feeling and mentality along with us."
Etan: I saw some similarities in the style of this team with your teams in your years at Arkansas in terms of lighting it up from the three, pushing the ball, the erratic offense. Would you agree?&nbsp;
Mayberry: "I definitely see similarities. Our style was chaotic with Coach [Nolan] Richardson. It was difficult to run an offense against our defense, we just wouldn&rsquo;t allow it. With these guys now, you see the length, the toughness, the relentless effort. Musselman really has those guys playing hard and at a high level. I love watching them."
Etan: I see a lot of the chatter today is about the refs. I saw Skip Bayless talking about a call in particular on Chet [Holmgren] that he thought was a foul. And I&rsquo;m looking at the game and I&rsquo;m thinking... all the calls Gonzaga got against Memphis and y&rsquo;all are complaining about the refs?
Mayberry: "Yeah that&rsquo;s a good point, they did get a lot of calls. It was a great game, but they definitely had a lot of calls go their way."
Etan: The call in particular Skip is talking about with Chet, J.D. Notae from Arkansas made a great play. He took to right to him like he was supposed to. If Chet stepped up and took a charge maybe, but he didn&rsquo;t. He clearly fouled him. That&rsquo;s what I saw.
Mayberry: "Of course I&rsquo;m biased, but I felt like Gonzaga definitely got their share of calls. You listen to Grant Hill and the commentators, and it was more than apparent that everyone was against us. If it&rsquo;s a 50/50 call, (it) seemed like they wanted those to go to Gonzaga too. Look, the referees aren&rsquo;t going to be perfect, but I thought the game was officiated just fine. In fact, I feel Gonzaga got a lot of calls themselves."
Etan: It&rsquo;s crazy, I&rsquo;m looking at Skip Bayless&rsquo; tweet now, and he said in all caps for some reason:&nbsp;
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I'M SORRY, NCAA BASKETBALL WITH ITS ONLY FIVE FOULS AND AMATEURISH REFS IS A JOKE. SO IF CHET HOLMGREN JUMPS BACKWARD AND THE ARKANSAS PLAYER DRIVES THE BALL UP INTO HIS CHEST, THAT'S A FOUL ON HOLMGREN??? CLOWN COLLEGE CALL - AS WERE 3 OTHERS ON FOULED-OUT HOLMGREN.
&mdash; Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/status/1507163187166150663?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2022</a></blockquote>

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And I just didn&rsquo;t see any of that.&nbsp;
Mayberry: "I thought Drew Timme fouled about 10 times throughout the game. Last night, the better team won period. We were better."
Etan: I agree, so I gotta ask you before I let you go about Nolan Richardson. I always had a lot of respect for him, how is he doing these days? Do you still keep in touch with him?&nbsp;
Mayberry: "Coach is doing well. I keep in touch with him. He&rsquo;s taking care of his wife, Rose. He&rsquo;s still living in Northwest Arkansas. He still has his farm. He&rsquo;s just enjoying life. He isn&rsquo;t getting around as much as he used to, but he still loves the game, watches the game and roots on the Arkansas Razorbacks."
Etan: That&rsquo;s great to hear. So what do they have to do to keep this going against Duke In the Elite Eight?&nbsp;
Mayberry: "Stay with the game plan, being that tough team with a chip on your shoulder. I love and respect Coach K for what he has done for NCAA basketball as a whole, but I would love to see that be his last game. So we just gotta do what got us here, that grind and grit and that chip. Keep all of that going against Duke."
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Scotty Thurman&nbsp;
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Etan: Mr. Scotty Thurman, what were your thoughts watching your team beat the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Thursday night?&nbsp;
Thurman: "I thought we responded very well. I was worried about us being able to get back on transition, but thought we did a great job of getting back early and not letting Gonzaga really get into an offensive rhythm. And I thought the physicality of us was something that really gave Gonzaga problems."
Etan: It&rsquo;s interesting because all throughout the game, Grant Hill... and I love Grant Hill, he&rsquo;s just a great human being all around, but he was really acting like Gonzaga wasn&rsquo;t getting any calls. And I saw a lot of chatter on social media about the refs, did you see all that?
Thurman: "Well, it was definitely obvious that Grant was favoring Gonzaga with his commentary. I know in that position you&rsquo;re supposed to be unbiased, and he definitely didn&rsquo;t sound that way last night. And I saw the same commentary on Twitter you saw, but it&rsquo;s all to be expected. I&rsquo;m glad the team didn&rsquo;t get caught up in any of that, but they stuck to their game plan and came out on top as they should&rsquo;ve."
Etan: I don&rsquo;t wanna bring up old stuff, but I grew up a big fan of y&rsquo;all. Clint McDaniel, your teammate, went to my high school, Booker T. So in 1994, I remember being in high school in the cafeteria and all of us were rooting for y&rsquo;all. And watching you hit that big shot against Duke in the Finals and winning the championship, that&rsquo;s the first thing I thought of when I heard Grant&rsquo;s commentary.
Thurman: "It wasn&rsquo;t just you. I was thinking it too. Then, I saw someone tweet it. So I responded on Twitter and said, 'I thought it was just me.' After that, it just started to rain down on Twitter with comments saying he was still salty, and people kept posting the shot, my Razorback faithful, so it brought back great memories for me. But it&rsquo;s all in good fun like you said. Nothing but respect for Grant Hill. But yeah, I did think that too."
Etan: So let&rsquo;s talk a little bit about the shot since it was brought back up. Walk me through it. It really was like one of those "One Shining Moment" NCAA commercials that will always be a part of the advertising, you know? It&rsquo;s etched in March Madness history forever.
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Thurman: (Laughing) "Well thanks, I appreciate that. Well since you asked, we can talk about it. I don&rsquo;t wanna be like I&rsquo;m Al Bundy over here. (Laughing) So it wasn&rsquo;t a drawn play, it was a broken play.
"Corey Beck had the basketball at the top of the key. He was looking for Corliss [Williamson], as he should have because I had just missed a couple of shots. Corey dribbled around, and passed the ball up top to Dwight [Stewart], who would&rsquo;ve drained the shot himself had he not fumbled the pass. And it&rsquo;s amazing that he had the wherewithal to not take a bad shot, but to still be willing to make an unselfish play which is something Coach Richardson was always adamant about &mdash; us playing unselfishly. Most kids would&rsquo;ve panicked and taken a bad shot. But he didn&rsquo;t. I popped out once I saw that Antonio Lang lost sight of me, like Coach Richardson drilled in my head over and over again to do if that ever happened, and [Dwight] hit me with the perfect pass. And the rest was history."
Etan: That&rsquo;s great, so last question: What are the keys to Arkansas winning this next game against Duke in the Elite Eight?
Thurman: "I think the main key is to remain physical. which is something that really bothered Gonzaga. They have to obviously make shots. I don&rsquo;t worry about Duke beating us in transition because I don&rsquo;t think they push the ball as fast as Gonzaga did. Their help-the-helper defense has really been great, so they need to continue that. And really bring the same energy and toughness that they had against Gonzaga, and we should be okay."
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Etan Thomas catches up with Arkansas legends Lee Mayberry and Scotty Thurman about the Hogs' upset win over Gonzaga.

Lee Mayberry, Scotty Thurman react to Arkansas' upset over Gonzaga

Several years ago, I attended the Charleston Classic in South Carolina. In doing so, I became familiar with Purdue head coach Matt Painter's coaching style and offensive system, which is predicated on ball movement, perimeter players moving without the ball and feeding low-post scorers on the block.
Carsen Edwards &mdash; a strong and explosive, assertive, scoring 5-foot-11 guard &mdash; was their star. Edwards routinely ran off screens, endlessly hunting his shot in Painter's system while using ball screens as his secondary option. He had the full green light, which he took advantage of as he averaged 24.3 points per game. Ryan Cline was their shooting specialist, making several three-pointers per game and shooting an impressive 41.7% from deep. And lastly, they had giant 7-foot-3 Matt Haarms on the block. It was a terrific team that won a share of the Big Ten regular season championship and nearly made it to the Final Four.
However, despite Edwards' iconic performance in the Elite Eight, in which he scored 42 points while knocking down 10 three-pointers, the Boilermakers fell short to the eventual NCAA champion, Virginia. I appreciated Painter as a coach during that season and I've always looked forward to watching his teams play ever since.
Fast forward a few years to this current season when I recently attended the Big Ten Tournament and watched Painter's Boilermakers play several days in a row. It felt a bit like deja vu, as their team was very reminiscent of the 2018-19 Purdue squad. Sophomore guard Jaden Ivey is their star, and he also routinely runs off screens that lead to pick-and-roll actions in identical sets, just as Edwards did. They have Sasha Stefanovic, a freshman on the 2018-19 team and now a senior, playing Cline's shooter role. Trevion Williams, who was also a freshman on that last team, is now their primary low-post scoring threat. They also have 7-foot-4 Zach Edey in the Haarms role.
As usual, I enjoyed watching Purdue play in the Big Ten Tournament. They beat Penn State and Michigan State before falling to a good Iowa team in the championship game, securing a No. 3 seed in the Big Dance.
This year, the Big Ten Conference was loaded with talent, so I chose to attend the entire conference tournament rather than attend multiple tournaments like I usually do. And despite the abundance of talent in Indianapolis, one player stood out from the crowd, and that player was Ivey.
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Through 35 games this season, Ivey has averaged 17.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. He was named First Team All-Big Ten Conference and Second Team All-American. He has established himself as a college star and a top NBA prospect, as he's widely considered a probable top-four pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Although Ivey and Edwards are playing a similar role for Purdue, their games are not the same. On the one hand, Edwards is an undersized scoring guard whose effectiveness is centered around his outside shooting &mdash; seemingly a perfect fit in Painter's offense. On the other hand, you have Ivey, an elite athlete who is a nightmare for opponents to stop one-on-one. Painter calls isolation and high pick-and-roll plays here and there for Ivey, breaking away from his typical offense to utilize Ivey's talents properly. Still, while I love Painter's offense, it's not built for a player like Ivey, nor is the college game in general, for that matter.
But you know what is built for a player like Ivey? The modern, guard-driven NBA with emphasized spacing so players like Ivey can create with the ball in their hands.
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Two great plays by Jaden Ivey, back to back. Once he gets downhill, it&rsquo;s over. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/B1GTourney?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#B1GTourney</a> <a href="https://t.co/3gk5JKBCKm">pic.twitter.com/3gk5JKBCKm</a>
&mdash; Matt Babcock (@MattBabcock11) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattBabcock11/status/1502477366962135045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 12, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Sitting alongside me at the Big Ten Tournament were countless NBA scouts and executives, and I spoke to many of them.
"He has burst like [Ja] Morant, explosiveness like [Russell] Westbrook, and a playing style like D-Wade," said one scout. "He's a Ferrari."
"He will be a beast in the league," one general manager added.
He was compared to big stars, and bold statements were shared left and right. However, they are all valid, in my opinion. When the ball is in Ivey's hands, he is an overwhelming threat who is impossible to guard at times. He has a gear that not many players possess, providing him with elite talent and upside similar to those notable names above.
For the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Draft</a>, four players have separated themselves from the rest: Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero and Jaden Ivey in some order, with Iowa's Keegan Murray seemingly knocking on the door to that group as well. Although in recent days there have been a couple of articles published suggesting that Ivey could make a play for the No. 1 spot (which I'm happy to see), I find it interesting that Ivey seems to be ranked fourth in that group more often than not by the media.
I've been one of Ivey's biggest supporters this season, ranking him No. 2 on the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com 2022 NBA Draft Big Board</a>. But I'll admit, he isn't perfect. He has some things to work on, like improving his decision-making, ball control and overall court awareness. He's shot the ball pretty well this season, knocking down 63-of-173 three-point attempts (36.4%), but he's certainly not a pure shooter.
But here's how I see it: there are always questions for young players transitioning to the pros, and Ivey is no exception. However, I believe that the questions surrounding Ivey are manageable. Subsequently, it leads me to visualize what type of player Ivey could become if he did indeed maximize his potential.
Could we be witnessing a star in the making? Perhaps.
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Purdue's Jaden Ivey is a special talent who is turning heads this season. Matt Babcock breaks down his ascent to stardom.

Is Purdue's Jaden Ivey a star in the making?

Leading up to last month's NBA trade deadline, Jerami Grant's name was consistently popping up in trade rumors. Teams such as the Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks were all linked to the 28-year-old.
However, for the second year in a row, the Detroit Pistons ultimately decided to hold onto him.
With that said, it's very possible that the Pistons will revisit a potential Grant trade this offseason. If that happens, Portland is the team to watch, says Pistons beat writer James Edwards III of The Athletic.
"I reported, and you did as well, that the Blazers were one of the teams persistent in trying to get Grant," Edwards <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/pistons-rumors-jerami-grant-marvin-bagley-jalen-brunson-mitchell-robinson-chet-holmgren/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Michael Scotto of HoopsHype</a>. "I don&rsquo;t think at the time they had the assets [Pistons general manager] Troy Weaver was looking for to trade Grant. He&rsquo;s somebody they like and a good player. Troy had all the leverage. He doesn&rsquo;t have to trade Grant.
"Portland&rsquo;s going to find itself in an interesting situation where they could have a high draft pick coming up&hellip; Maybe if it&rsquo;s high enough, it&rsquo;s an offer the Pistons can&rsquo;t refuse. If Jerami gets traded anywhere this offseason, it&rsquo;s going to be Portland. It feels like Portland is still the front-runner."
The Blazers are currently 27-45, which is the seventh-worst record in the NBA. If Portland stays in this spot, they would have a 31.9% chance of landing a top-four pick in the <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2022 NBA Draft</a>. Edwards wonders whether the Blazers may be willing to include their lottery pick in a trade for Grant.
"I think a lottery pick would be the kind of sweetener that would [get a deal done]," Edwards explained. "Portland is obviously heading towards that trajectory. It wasn&rsquo;t all the way clear at that point at the deadline. Troy was in no rush to get something done at the deadline.
"My gut tells me that Portland really makes a legitimate push and goes and gets Jerami."
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It remains to be seen how much the Blazers are willing to give up for Grant, but it seems that Portland's veterans would love to see a trade go down (judging by <a href="https://twitter.com/joshhart/status/1506109637006970885" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Josh Hart</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/bosnianbeast27/status/1506109718930067458" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jusuf Nurkic</a>'s recent tweets).
Edwards believes that the Pistons would be more likely to trade Grant if they are able to draft a top forward like Chet Holmgren, Jabari Smith, Paolo Banchero or Keegan Murray in the 2022 NBA Draft. This would seemingly make Grant more expendable since they would have his replacement on the roster.&nbsp;
This season, Grant is averaging 19.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.0 threes, 1.1 blocks and 1.0 steal while shooting 42.6% from the field, 35.7% from three and 83.8% from the free-throw line. At 20-53, the Pistons have the third-worst record in the NBA and are clearly rebuilding around Cade Cunningham and Co.

Keep an eye on the Portland Trail Blazers as a likely trade destination for Jerami Grant this summer, says James Edwards III.

Jerami Grant trade rumors: 'Portland is still the front-runner'

After an eventful start to the 2022 NCAA Tournament, the Sweet 16 tips off on Thursday. While some top 2022 NBA Draft prospects have already been eliminated &mdash; such as Auburn's Jabari Smith, Iowa's Keegan Murray and Memphis' Jalen Duren &mdash; there are still quite a few upcoming draft picks worth watching.
Our Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock has been scouting these players for years, so he helped put together this guide of 2022 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the Sweet 16. This list only includes prospects who are expected to enter this year&rsquo;s draft and who are currently included on <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's 2022 NBA Draft Big Board</a>.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaden-ivey" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaden Ivey, Purdue &mdash; No. 2 ranked prospect</a>
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This season, Ivey shot career-highs across the board and propelled himself into top-3 consideration. Ivey is a phenomenal athlete and a promising on-ball defender who has flashed great potential on the defensive end of the floor. His offense has taken a huge leap, as he's shown the ability to create space for himself, score on multiple levels and attack the rim at an elite level. Purdue is one of the best teams in America, and Ivey is a huge component of their success. He's one to keep an eye on near the top of the 2022 class.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/chet-holmgren" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chet Holmgren, Gonzaga &mdash; No. 3 ranked prospect</a>
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At 7-foot tall with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, Chet Holmgren is a playmaker on both ends of the floor. He is comfortable with the ball in his hands, is a reliable shooter, and he can score on all levels. On the defensive end, Holmgren greatly affects the game as a rim protector. He will need to add weight to maximize his potential, as he is rail-thin, but he is one of the most unique prospects we've ever seen nonetheless. Holmgren is projected to be a top-five pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/paolo-banchero" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paolo Banchero, Duke &mdash; No. 4 ranked prospect</a>
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At 6-foot-10 and 250 pounds, Paolo Banchero is incredibly versatile. He excels in the post, can create off the dribble and continues to improve as a face-up shooter from deep. He lacks elite athleticism on the defensive end, but has flashed a great feel and discipline to counter that. Players with his build and skill set don't come around very often. Banchero is widely considered as a top-four pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/aj-griffin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AJ Griffin, Duke &mdash; No. 7 ranked prospect</a>
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AJ Griffin is 6-foot-6 and possesses a 7-foot wingspan. He is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2022-nba-draft-prencaa-tourney-look-at-dukes-aj-griffin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a powerful and versatile wing</a> with a tremendous physical profile and promising skill set. Griffin has also shown the ability to create for both himself and others. After missing the early part of this season due to injury, he has solidified himself as one of the best shooters in the country. AJ is the son of former NBA player and current Toronto Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin, and he has made a case for himself to become a top-10 pick.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/bennedict-mathurin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona &mdash; No. 9 ranked prospect</a>
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After a strong freshman campaign for the Arizona Wildcats, Bennedict Mathurin has made a jump in his second year in Tucson. Mathurin's size, athleticism, defense and shot-making ability make him an intriguing NBA prospect. Standing at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, he is an explosive athlete and a capable slasher and finisher. Mathurin has solidified himself as one of the best wings in the 2022 NBA Draft and continues to make his case as a top-10 selection.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/ochai-agbaji" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ochai Agbaji, Kansas &mdash; No. 14 ranked prospect</a>
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Ochai Agbaji is a versatile wing who has shown promise as a defender, slasher and shooter. Early in his career, he was known for his athleticism and defense. However, this season, he has emerged as one of the best shooters in America, making giant leaps as a scorer in both volume and efficiency. Agbaji has solidified himself as a viable 3-and-D option at the NBA level and is a candidate for National Player of the Year.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/mark-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Williams, Duke &mdash; No. 18 ranked prospect</a>
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Mark Williams is one of the best shot-blockers and inside scorers in the country. Utilizing his size, length and interior presence, Williams shows flashes of dominance on both ends. This season, he has been solid for Mike Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils, which could lead to him being a first-round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/wendell-moore-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wendell Moore Jr., Duke &mdash; No. 31 ranked prospect</a>
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Moore is having a breakout season, finally coming into his own during his junior year. At 6-foot-5, he has good positional size, strength and athleticism at guard. While Moore remains streaky as a three-point shooter, he has proven to be a reliable three-level scorer this year for the Blue Devils. He will still be 20 years old on draft night with more room to develop, making him a solid option this June.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/trevor-keels" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevor Keels, Duke &mdash; No. 33 ranked prospect</a>
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A physical and slashing guard capable of shooting the ball from outside, Trevor Keels came to Duke after being a consensus five-star high school recruit. His physicality and natural ability to score the ball should generate interest from NBA teams. Although he can be streaky as a shooter, he has a beautiful release and has proven to be a tough shot-maker. With positional size and a knack for scoring, Keels is one to follow.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/christian-braun" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Braun, Kansas &mdash; No. 35 ranked prospect</a>
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At 6-foot-6, Braun has positional size and has shown the ability to score from anywhere on the floor. He has a smooth release from three and can pick his spots off the dribble. He is reliable on and off the ball on offense, while providing intelligent defense on the other end. Braun is a well-rounded player and makes a strong case for the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/christian-koloko" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christian Koloko, Arizona &mdash; No. 36 ranked prospect</a>
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One of the best rim-protectors in the country, Christian Koloko can anchor a defense in the half-court. As much as his 7-foot-4 wingspan helps on defense, it also allows him to be effective on the other end. His hands, post moves and awareness continue to improve, and he is an efficient finisher in the dunker spot. While his role won't ever be to carry a large load on offense, he can still make a significant impact as a rebounder, shot blocker and rim runner.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/trevion-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trevion Williams, Purdue &mdash; No. 42 ranked prospect</a>
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Trevion Williams may be the best low-post scorer in the country. He has incredible footwork and craftiness at the rim, and he is always thinking a step ahead with the ball in his hands. He is also an impressive athlete at 255 pounds, as he's quick off the ground and runs the floor well. Williams is old-school in the way he provides points, but he does the little things well. He has good vision out of the post, plays with a great motor and is the kind of player you want in your locker room. Williams has a great chance of earning a shot at the NBA level.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/johnny-juzang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Johnny Juzang, UCLA &mdash; No. 47 ranked prospect</a>
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After a stellar NCAA Tournament run last season, Johnny Juzang tested the NBA Draft waters, but ultimately returned to UCLA for his junior season. At 6-foot-7, Juzang is an exceptional outside shooter, especially off the dribble in the half-court. He has continued his efficient scoring as a shot creator and cutter this season. He projects as a wing shooter and capable facilitator at the next level, and will be considered a solid option for teams picking in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/jaime-jaquez-jr" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jaime Jaquez Jr., UCLA &mdash; No. 49 ranked prospect</a>
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Jaime Jaquez Jr. is intelligent and crafty, using defensive manipulation and footwork to create for himself and others. He excels in the post against smaller defenders, and can stretch the floor as a reliable shooter from three-point range. In addition, Jaquez is a hard-nosed competitor, and also provides adequate defense and rebounding. He continues to build on the momentum he established last March during UCLA's impressive tournament run, and he's proving to be a consistent three-level scorer and a viable option in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/drew-timme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drew Timme, Gonzaga &mdash; No. 53 ranked prospect</a>
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If there's anyone who can give Trevion Williams a run for his money as the best-low post scorer in the nation, it's probably Drew Timme. With tremendous footwork, touch and an ability to manipulate defenders, Timme was dominant last season and has been highly effective again as a junior. He needs to improve his lateral quickness and pick-and-roll defense, as he can often get taken out of the play with ease on the perimeter. If he is able to address some of those concerns, he could solidify himself a solid draft pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft/2022-big-board/players/collin-gillespie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Collin Gillespie, Villanova &mdash; No. 58 ranked prospect</a>
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Collin Gillespie will enter the 2022 NBA Draft as one of the more accomplished college players in the class. He already has three Big East Championships and a national championship on his resume, and he'll look to duplicate that success at the NBA level. At 6-foot-3, he is intelligent on and off the ball, and is a reliable scorer at multiple levels. He's also disciplined and instinctual on defense, providing real value on both ends of the floor. Gillespie has the tools to be a backup point guard at the next level, so it will be interesting to track if an organiziation gives him that opportunity.
Be sure to <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check our complete 2022 NBA Draft Big Board and click each prospect's name for more info</a> (including their highlights, measurements, projected role and more).
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Who are the notable 2022 NBA Draft prospects to watch during the Sweet 16? Here is a guide, with a scouting report for each player.

March Madness: 16 NBA Draft prospects to watch in the Sweet 16

March Madness is in full effect!
The first eight tickets to the Sweet Sixteen were punched Saturday in the round of 32. Let's breakdown all of the day&rsquo;s action.
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North Carolina def. Baylor 93-86, will face UCLA What a wild, wild game. Carolina had a 25-point lead halfway through the second half &mdash; then Brady Manek was ejected. The tide turned and Baylor roared back, cutting the deficit and eventually forcing overtime. The Tar Heels were able to hold on during a wacky overtime period, and secured the win behind 30 points from RJ Davis. Before his questionable ejection, Manek was having a huge game with 26 points on 4 of 8 shooting from behind the arc. It was a gutsy, hard-fought win by the Tar Heels. They survive and advance.
Saint Peter&rsquo;s def. Murray State 70-60, will face Texas/Purdue Saint Peter&rsquo;s held a five-point lead at the break and extended it to 13 just a few minutes later. The Cinderella of the 2022 Tournament so far struck again, knocking down clutch free throws and clinging onto the lead down the stretch for the 70-60 victory. KC Ndefo played well, providing 17 points, 10 rebounds and 6 blocks. The MAAC Conference Tournament champions head to the Sweet 16 where they will meet the winner of Texas vs. Purdue.
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Michigan def. Tennessee 76-68, will face Ohio State/Villanova Michigan stunned the No. 3 seed Volunteers in this one, behind Hunter Dickinson&rsquo;s huge game. He posted 27 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists in the win. Tennessee had a six-point lead with 8:30 to play, but Eli Brooks had other plans. After narrowly making the tourney, the Wolverines weren&rsquo;t given much chance to advance very far, but here they are. They're headed to their fifth straight Sweet 16, after this huge win for Juwan Howard and company.&nbsp;
Gonzaga def. Memphis 82-78, will face Arkansas In a tremendous game for NBA draft fans, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Duren and Emoni Bates got to face off. Memphis led by 10 points at halftime, winning the physical battle early &mdash; but Drew Timme started the second half on a mission with multiple buckets, as the Tigers got in foul trouble. This was an absolute battle from start to finish, as Gonzaga was able to pull away in the last few minutes with tough defense and clutch free throws. They survive and advance, securing a meeting with the Razorbacks.&nbsp;
UCLA def. Saint Mary&rsquo;s 72-56, will face North Carolina UCLA led by only 1 point with 15:00 to play in the second half, but would put on a clinic for the remainder of the contest. The team's offensive attack was balanced, as four starters scored over 14 points, led by Tyger Campbell&rsquo;s 16 and 4 assists. The Bruins now look ahead to the Sweet 16 where they will face the red hot Tar Heels. That one should be must-see television.&nbsp;
Kansas def. Creighton 79-72, will face Providence The Jayhawks led by one point at the break &mdash; the game was tight nearly the entire way. In the final three minutes, they were able to pull away with tough defense, big-time shot-making and a breakaway bucket from Ochai Agbaji with just 0:55 to play. Remy Martin led the team in scoring with 20 points off the bench, while Agbaji and Christian Braun both played well. This will be Kansas&rsquo; 24th all-time appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
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Providence def. Richmond 79-51, will face Kansas The Friars have been one of the tournament&rsquo;s most dominant teams. They handled business again here, led by Noah Horchler&rsquo;s 16 points and 14 rebounds, while shooting 4 of 6 from deep. Jared Bynum also provided 10 big points off the bench. Ed Cooley and co. continue to play incredible basketball, and now they get to face the No. 1 seed in the region, Kansas.&nbsp;
Arkansas def. New Mexico State 53-48, will face Gonzaga This was a low-scoring affair, obviously. The game was tied at 30-30 with less than 11:00 left to go, but Arkansas took the lead with 7:54 to play and eventually advanced. The Aggies cut the deficit down to two points with 0:10 remaining, but the Hogs were able to hold on after converting important free throws down the stretch. JD Notae led them in scoring with 18 points, adding 8 steals, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
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Derek Murray takes us through Saturday's March Madness action, and looks ahead as the Sweet 16 field takes shape.

March Madness Saturday recap: Who's still dancing?

The second day of the 2022 NCAA tournament featured some slugfests, some blowouts, as well as a First Four team surviving another day. The Round of 32 is now completely locked-in, and we&rsquo;ll also take a peek at the must-watch matchups for Saturday.&nbsp;
UPSET ALERT&nbsp;
West Region: 11-seed Notre Dame defeats 6-seed Alabama 78-64
Alabama in recent seasons has had a strong program, with a number of players in the conversation for the NBA draft. This year the Crimson Tide&rsquo;s season has been a bit of a roller coaster, including a major win over arguably the best team in college basketball, Gonzaga, but also key SEC and non-conference losses that show in their 19-13 record coming into this game. Notre Dame had their fair share of ups and downs as well, but came into this first round matchup with momentum off their First Four double-OT win against Rutgers. The upset potential was apparent, and the Fighting Irish delivered behind a huge game from Cormac Ryan. The junior guard finished with a season-high 29 points, well above his 9.2 PPG average. Ryan has been coming on strong for the Irish with 20 and 16 points in their last two games respectively. Thanks to the efforts of Ryan and impressive freshman wing Blake Wesley &mdash; he scored 18 &mdash; Notre Dame moved on to play third-seeded Texas Tech in the second round.
Midwest Region: 11-seed Iowa State defeats 6-seed LSU 59-54
These were two teams with similar records that had similar patterns to their seasons &mdash; they both started the year with 12 game winning streaks that went through Christmas. However, playing in two of the best conferences in the country in the SEC and Big 12, both teams took their lumps through the remainder of the season. Although Iowa State took an 11-point lead around the 7-minute mark in the second half, LSU made an 11-1 run that brought the game within one point with under two minutes remaining. Iowa State pulled out the low scoring win with Tyrese Hunter being the team's major difference maker, dropping 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting from beyond the arc. The freshman guard&rsquo;s clutch shooting clinic included two late threes that helped Iowa State pull away from the Tigers at the end. Hunter&rsquo;s 5 steals also led a stingy Cyclones defense that recorded 15 total. Iowa State&rsquo;s victory means they advance to the second round to take on third-seeded Wisconsin on Sunday.
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BEST GAMES OF THE DAY
Midwest Region
No. 10 seed Miami defeats No. 7 seed USC 68-66
This matchup was tightly contested throughout the first 15 minutes, until Miami began to break the game open and took a 13-point lead with three minutes remaining in the first half. USC&rsquo;s offense grew stagnant, and the Hurricanes took advantage with a 31-20 lead at halftime. However, the Trojans came fighting back to begin the second half with two threes and a fast break layup from Isaiah Mobley (he finished with 11 points) to bring them within one. From this point it was a back and forth battle that favored Miami, yet USC would manage a big basket to keep it close &mdash; USC was down by seven points with 45 seconds left in the game. A Doug Peterson three, a Miami out-of-bounds call, and then another Peterson three brought the Trojans back within one, with 25.3 seconds left in the game.
After free throws from both teams, it was tied at 66 in the final moments. Charlie Moore drove to the lane and attempted a contested layup, which earned him a foul call. Moore stepped to the line and knocked down two free throws to seal the game. A halfcourt heave at the buzzer almost fell for Doug Peterson &mdash; he ended the game with a valiant effort of 17 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. Miami&rsquo;s Isaiah Wong led the Hurricanes with 22 points while dealing with foul trouble and Moore followed with 16 points. Miami will see second-seeded Auburn in the second round.&nbsp;
South Region
No. 4 seed Illinois defeats No. 13 seed Chattanooga 54-53
Illinois only led this game for 25 seconds, but it was the most important time to do so. Chattanooga jumped on Illinois early, with a 14-3 lead in the first five minutes. The Mocs had control over most of the first half, but a Fighting Illini run at the end of period brought the score to 33-29.&nbsp;
The second half started much like the first with Chattanooga playing good basketball and giving themselves an 11-point cushion, but a very resilient Illinois team fought back again and kept the game within one or two possessions over the course of the closing minutes. After some questionable possessions by Chattanooga, Illinois took its first lead of the game on a Kofi Cockburn putback with 47 seconds remaining. The Mocs received a trip to the line on the next possession and two free throws were knocked down by SOCON Player of the Year Malachi Smith (who finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds), which gave his team the lead.
On the following possession Alfonso Plummer was fouled and hit two free throws for the Illini to take the lead back. On the final possession, the Mocs gave the ball to Smith who had two looks to take home the win &mdash; he was blocked on a left hand drive, then shot a last second midrange jumper that went just a tad long. Cockburn finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Plummer provided 15 points of his own. Illinois avoided the upset and will face fifth-seeded Houston on Sunday.
West Region
No. 7 seed MSU defeats No. 10 seed Davidson 74-73
An up-and-down season for Michigan State had some experts predicting Davidson would come away with this game. However, an impressive 27 points on 9-12 from the floor by Joey Hauser was the big difference.
An interesting storyline revolved around Davidson&rsquo;s transfer starting point guard, Foster Loyer &mdash; he's a Michigan native who made the move down to play with the Wildcats after three seasons of limited production for the Spartans. This proved to be a good move for Loyer, as he&rsquo;s been the leading scorer and assist man for Davidson with 16.1 points and 3.3 assists per game this season. The motivation was there for Davidson, and the team played with a confidence that showed each time the team came up with an answer to Michigan State&rsquo;s attempts to pull away.
Davidson took a five-point lead with under seven minutes to go, but with some big buckets by Hauser, heady play by AJ Hoggard (14 points) and a three from Gabe Brown (12 points), the Spartans made a 10-0 run to take a five-point lead of their own with under four minutes left. Michigan State had an eight point lead with one minute remaining, but a late push by the Wildcats with some great clock management, clutch baskets and pressure defense that led to a bad MSU turnover brought the game back in reach. However, in the end, Michigan State was able to close it out with two Tyson Walker free throws. Michigan State will take on second-seeded Duke in the round of 32.
No. 3 seed Wisconsin beats No. 14 seed Colgate 67-60
Colgate is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, and came into this game on a 15-game winning streak. The Patriot League champs made sure Wisconsin knew this one wouldn&rsquo;t be easy. However, this would be the Raiders&rsquo;s biggest test, as the Badgers won the Big Ten regular season championship and have a projected lottery pick in Johnny Davis.
Colgate found success scoring the ball from inside before unleashing their long-range prowess. Senior Nelly Cummings for Colgate finished the game with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists &mdash; he gave the Badgers trouble on all three levels. Cummings even locked the game at 28-all with a baseline reverse layup at the buzzer to go into halftime.
But the stars shine bright on the big stage and, after a slow start, Johnny Davis got going in the second half. Davis finished with 25 points on 8 for 20 shooting from the floor and added 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Tyler Wahl followed Davis with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals of his own. The Raiders played a strong game but wore down as the battle-tested Badgers showed up down the stretch. Wisconsin has a date with 11th-seeded Iowa State in the next round.
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OTHER FIRST-ROUND RESULTS
Midwest Region
2-seed Auburn defeats 15-seed Jacksonville State 80-61
East Region
3-seed Purdue defeats 14-seed Yale 78-56
6-seed Texas defeats 11-seed Virginia Tech 81-73
South Region
No. 1 seed Arizona defeats No. 16 seed Wright State 87-70
No. 2 seed Villanova defeats No. 15 seed Delaware 80-60
No. 5 seed Houston defeats No. 12 seed UAB 82-68
No. 7 seed Ohio State defeats No. 10 seed Loyola Chicago 54-41
No. 9 seed TCU defeats No. 8 seed Seton Hall 69-42
West Region
No. 2 seed Duke defeats 15-seed Cal State Fullerton 78-61
No. 3 seed Texas Tech defeats 14-seed Montana State 97-62
MUST-WATCH SECOND-ROUND GAMES ON DAY 3
No. 1 seed Gonzaga vs. No. 9 seed Memphis - 9:40 PM EST
A highly anticipated second round matchup of two potential top-10 picks in Chet Holmgren and Jalen Duren.&nbsp;
No. 1 seed Baylor vs. 8-seed North Carolina - 12:10 PM EST
Baylor is missing two key pieces due to injury, &mdash;LJ Cryer and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua &mdash;&nbsp;while UNC is playing some of its best basketball of the season. Caleb Love is worth keeping an eye on.
No. 4 seed UCLA vs. 5-seed Saint Mary&rsquo;s - 7:10 PM EST
The Bruins are hoping to get back to the Final Four while Saint Mary&rsquo;s wants to prove the WCC isn&rsquo;t just run by Gonzaga. This could be a battle.
No. 7 seed Murray State vs. No. 15 seed Saint Peter&rsquo;s 7:45 PM EST
Does Saint Peter&rsquo;s have more magic for a Sweet 16 birth? Or will Murray State's toughness win out?
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Blake Hairston takes us through the upsets and thrillers of Day 2 of the NCAA DI men's basketball tournament, plus a preview of Day 3.

March Madness: Recapping Day 2 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament

We made it through the first day of March Madness! Sixteen teams saw their dreams shatter while the other 16 teams advanced to the Round of 32. Let&rsquo;s see who remains&hellip;
UPSET ALERT&nbsp;
East Region: 15-seed Saint Peter&rsquo;s defeats 2-seed Kentucky 85-79 in overtime
Starting with the true bracket buster of day 1, the Saint Peter&rsquo;s Peacocks upset the Kentucky Wildcats. Oscar Tshiebwe gave everything he had (as expected) with a 30-point, 16-rebound performance, but Kentucky&rsquo;s perimeter players (TyTy Washington, Kellen Grady and Sahvir Wheeler) had trouble generating offense. The Peacocks shined behind Daryl Banks III&rsquo;s 27 points and Doug Edert&rsquo;s 20 points off the bench. The game remained tight the whole way through, staying within six points, and the game was tied at the end of regulation. The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion pulled away with clutch plays and defensive stops that showed they weren&rsquo;t afraid of the highly decorated program. Saint Peter&rsquo;s will be taking on the 7-seed Murray State on Saturday. (For more on this upset, <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/putting-saint-peters-shocker-over-kentucky-in-historical-context" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out Bryan Fonseca's article</a>).
Midwest Region: 12-seed Richmond defeats 5-seed Iowa 67-63
The annual bracket experts are well aware that the 12-5 matchup is always on upset watch, but since Iowa had a strong run for a Big Ten Tournament championship and one of the top NBA Draft prospects in the tournament in Keegan Murray, they felt like the pick here. But Richmond reminded the country that they too won a conference tournament championship last week and the Atlantic 10 knows them very well. Senior guard Jacob Gilyard played all 40 minutes and gave the Spiders 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Junior forward Tyler Burton and senior forward Nathan Cayo added 18 points and 15 points, respectively. Iowa&rsquo;s projected lottery pick Murray finished the game with 21 points and 9 rebounds, but there was a lull in his offense in the second half that could&rsquo;ve been the difference-maker. Richmond will face 4-seed Providence in the second round.
South Region: 11-seed Michigan defeats 6-seed Colorado State 75-63
In a matchup that many thought had upset potential, the Wolverines came away as victors over the Rams after a slow start. Colorado State jumped on Michigan in the first half and led by as many as 15 points, but Michigan proved their Power 5 experience had tested them enough to overcome the deficit. Hunter Dickinson ended as the game&rsquo;s leading scorer with 21 points and added 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Frankie Collins filled in at point guard for the injured Devante&rsquo; Jones and finished with a respectable 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Michigan finds 3-seed Tennessee waiting for them in the next round.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
West Region: 12-seed New Mexico State defeats 5-seed UConn 70-63
New Mexico State grabbed another win for the 12 seeds today as they knocked out UConn in the first round. This game was owned by Aggie guard Teddy Allen, who was locked in after starting the game 0-for-6 and finished with 37 points. New Mexico State as a team shot nearly 65% from three, which proved to be the difference-maker, with the Huskies only hitting 30% from deep. Allen looks to add another hot performance to his March Madness resum&eacute; on Saturday against Arkansas.
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GAMES OF THE DAY
West Region: 9-seed Memphis defeats 8-seed Boise State 64-53
The Memphis Tigers continued their strong play in the latter portion of the season and finished with a big win against Boise State. Memphis went into halftime with a 19-point lead, but a slow start by the Tigers led to the Broncos clawing themselves back into the game. DeAndre Williams ended the game with 14 points while projected NBA Draft lottery pick Jalen Duren had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double. NBA executives and March Madness fans are getting the Duren-Chet Holmgren matchup they&rsquo;ve been clamoring for since Sunday night, as Memphis takes on Gonzaga this weekend. (This game also featured a surprise cameo from Emoni Bates, who finished with just 3 points in three minutes).
East Region: 7-seed Murray State defeats 10-seed San Francisco 92-87 in overtime
If you stayed up to watch one of the nightcap games of day 1, you probably watched Murray State and San Francisco battle it out. This game saw San Francisco guard Jamaree Bouyea score a career-high 36 points including some big shots to extend the game. However, it wasn&rsquo;t enough for the balanced attack of&nbsp; Murray State&rsquo;s KJ Williams, Trae Hannibal, Tevin Brown and Justice Hill with scoring totals of 18, 18, 17, and 15 (with Hannibal&rsquo;s 18 coming from the bench). The Racers' next test comes from the &ldquo;bracket busters&rdquo; themselves, the Saint Peter&rsquo;s Peacocks this weekend.
OTHER FIRST-ROUND RESULTS
Midwest Region
1-seed Kansas defeats 16-seed Texas Southern
4-seed Providence defeats 13-seed South Dakota State 66-57
9-seed Creighton defeats 8-seed San Diego State 72-69
East Region
1-seed Baylor defeats 16-seed Norfolk State 85-49
4-seed UCLA defeats 13-seed Akron 57- 53
South Region
3-seed Tennessee defeats 14-seed Longwood 88-56
West Region
1-seed Gonzaga defeats 16-seed Georgia State 93-72
4-seed Arkansas defeats 13-seed Vermont 75-71
East Region
8-seed North Carolina defeats 9-seed Marquette 95-63
5-seed Saint Mary&rsquo;s defeats 12-seed Indiana 82-53
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Sixteen teams saw their dreams shatter while 16 teams advanced to the Round of 32. Blake Hairston recaps day one of March Madness.