Why Raptors traded for Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov (2024)

NEW YORK — Years of speculation have finally ended. Bronny James, the eldest son of Lakers star LeBron James, indeed has a home in the NBA, on his father’s team.

Bronny James, one of the most highly scrutinized amateur basketball players of the last decade, was taken 55th overall Thursday night in the NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. The selection capped 12 long months of guessing about James’ place in the game, which included questions about whether he could compete professionally following a cardiac arrest.

“My dream has always just been to put my name out, make a name for myself, and, of course, get to the NBA,” James said at the NBA Draft Combine in May.

Continue reading.

Full second-round results

Full first-round results

We will see how the money portion of this Raptors-Kings trade works out. Technically, it could be Jalen McDaniels for one of Davion Mitchell and Sasha Vezenkov, and then the other player for part of the $10.16-million trade exception the Raptors created in the Pascal Siakam trade. The Raptors could also accept the players into cap room, but only if they decline Bruce Brown's $23-million team option and potentially renounce the cap hold of Gary Trent Jr., an unrestricted free agent

The Raptors had terrible on-ball defence last year, and Mitchell can at least do that. It's not clear he can do much more than that, shooting 32.7 percent from 3 and seeing his minutes go down in each of his three years. He is technically extension eligible this offseason, although I would imagine they see how he does in the Raptors' system this year. Vezenkov shot 37.5 percent from 3 last year, his first in the NBA after being drafted lated in the second round in 2017. He was the 2023 Euroleague MVP with Olympiacos in Greece.

The Raptors will also get the 45th overall pick. If use that pick and the 31st pick on players, that will mean the Raptors have five incoming players with only McDaniels going out. It seems likely, then, that the Raptors will use one of their second-rounders on a player who either a) will stay overseas; or b) accept a two-way contract.

Although all of the players' contracts expire after this season, the Kings will save close to $8 million in 2024-25 salary, likely helping them duck the luxury tax.

As things currently stand, the Milwaukee Bucks have the rights to the following future draft picks:

• No. 33 in the 2024 NBA Draft
• Their 2026 first-round pick, which is tied up in a pick swap with the New Orleans Pelicans
• Their 2028 first-round pick, which is tied up in a pick swap with the Portland Trail Blazers
• Their 2030 first-round pick, which is tied up in a pick swap with the Portland Trail Blazers
• Their 2031 first-round pick
• Their 2031 second-round pick

That situation makes what they do with No. 33 today even more interesting. Last night, the Bucks decided to swing for the fences at the bottom of the first round with AJ Johnson, a 19-year-old guard out of Fresno. Calif. Bucks general manager Jon Horst told reporters that they plan on signing Johnson and attempting to develop him moving forward. If the organization is fully committed to building out the bottom of their roster with the next generation of Bucks players, they may know exactly who they want with No. 33 and make that pick straight away at the start of the second round.

(After correctly predicting the Bucks would select Johnson at No. 23 yesterday, our NBA Draft expert Sam Vecenie has the Bucks selecting Oso Ighodaro at No. 33 today).

This pick represents their last chance of getting a young prospect in the draft for the next two seasons, but if there is enough interest in the pick, it could also represent a chance for them to move down and grab multiple second-round picks, which have turned into the assets teams regularly use to push in-season trades over the finish line.

Now, we watch and wait to see what Horst decides as calls flow into Milwaukee's draft room from around the league.

Shortly after Reed Sheppard's name was called, I briefly chatted with the newest Rocket:

Reed, the Rockets seemed to be your last stop before making your way over to New York. What about that visit felt right to you?

I was able to build a relationship with the coaches and front office, and it just felt really good. They were very nice to me and my family; it felt like home. You can’t really explain that feeling, but it just felt that’s where I was supposed to be and it’s where I ended up. I’m super excited. I really don’t have a lot to say. It’s just a dream come true, and I can’t wait to get started.

You mentioned conversations with the coaches. What was the nature of those talks? More of a potential fit with the current team or something else?

The biggest thing right away is the shooting, just coming in and being able to knock down shots. But at the same time, coming in and doing what you do daily. Playing basketball the right way. Having a high IQ. Just doing the right basketball play. I'm excited just to get in and learn, compete and build relationships with all the guys and coaches even better. It's going to be a lot of fun.

Read the rest of our conversation here.

Kyle Filipowski, a 6-11, 20-year-old F/C from Duke. He's ranked 16th on my draft board.

I’m higher on Filipowski than many evaluators. Look at the best offenses in the NBA. Most of them have floor-spacing bigs at the center position: Kristaps Porziņģis in Boston, Myles Turner in Indiana, Chet Holmgren in Oklahoma City, Nikola Jokić in Denver, Brook Lopez in Milwaukee and more. Those were five of the six best offensive teams in the NBA this season. In the modern professional game, it’s critical for teams to have a big man who can stretch the floor, act as a playmaker and create more space for attacking wings and guards. It’s difficult to find big men who can dribble, pass and shoot — there aren't many of those players hanging around, and certainly not enough for every team in the league to have one.

Filipowski is close to being able to fill that role and will if his jumper continues to improve like it has for most prospects who show a minimum level of touch at this age. I'm also higher on his defense than many seem to be. I have him as a clear top-20 guy in the draft.

It's official: Bronny James is going to the Lakers to play with his father. He was selected by Los Angeles with the No. 55 pick.

Full second round results

• 31. Toronto Raptors: Jonathan Mogbo | 6-6 forward/center | San Francisco
• 32. Utah Jazz:: Kyle Filipowski | 6-11 forward/center | Duke
• 33. Milwaukee Bucks: Tyler Smith | 6-9 forward/center | G League Ignite
• 34. New York Knicks: Tyler Kolek | 6-1 guard | Marquette
• 35. Indiana Pacers (from Spurs): Johnny Furphy | 6-8 wing | Kansas
• 36. San Antonio Spurs (from Pacers): Juan Núñez | 6-4 guard | Ratiopharm Ulm
• 37. Detroit Pistons (from Timberwolves): Bobi Klintman | 6-9 forward | Cairns Taipans
• 38. Oklahoma City Thunder (from Knicks): Ajay Mitchell | 6-3 guard | UC-Santa Barbara
• 39. Memphis Grizzlies: Jaylen Wells | 6-7 wing | Washington State
• 40. Phoenix Suns (from Knicks via Thunder): Oso Ighodaro | 6-10 center | Marquette
• 41. Philadelphia 76ers: Adem Bona | 6-8 center | UCLA
• 42. Charlotte Hornets: K.J. Simpson | 6-0 guard | Colorado
• 43. Atlanta Hawks (from Heat): Nikola Djurišić | 6-7 wing | Mega
• 44. Miami Heat (from Hawks via Rockets): Pelle Larsson | 6-5 wing | Arizona
• 45. Toronto Raptors (from Kings): Jamal Shead | 6-0 guard | Houston
• 46. LA Clippers: Cam Christie | 6-5 wing | Minnesota
• 47. New Orleans Pelicans (from Magic): Antonio Reeves | 6-5 wing | Kentucky
• 48. San Antonio Spurs: Harrison Ingram | 6-5 wing | North Carolina
• 49. Indiana Pacers: Tristen Newton | 6-3 guard | Connecticut
• 50. Indiana Pacers: Enrique Freeman | 6-7 forward | Akron
• 51. Dallas Mavericks (from Knicks via Suns, Wizards): Melvin Ajinca | 6-7 wing | Saint-Quentin
• 52. Golden State Warriors (from Thunder): Quinten Post | 7-0 center | Boston College
• 53. Memphis Grizzlies (from Timberwolves via Pistons): Cam Spencer | 6-3 guard | Connecticut
• 54. Boston Celtics: Anton Watson | 6-8 wing | Gonzaga
• 55. Los Angeles Lakers: Bronny James | 6-2 guard | USC
• 56. New York Knicks (from Suns): Kevin McCullar Jr. | 6-5 wing | Kansas
• 57. Toronto Raptors (from Grizzlies via Timberwolves): Ulrich Chomche | 7-0 center | NBA Africa Academy
• 58. Dallas Mavericks: Ariel Hukporti | 6-11 center | Melbourne United

Click here for the first-round results.

John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie are reacting to every pick.

The Houston Rockets conducted another tidy piece of business, trading the 44th pick to the Atlanta Hawks for third-year guard A.J. Griffin, team sources confirmed. ESPN was first to report the news.

The Rockets, after drafting Reed Sheppard with the No. 3 pick on Day 1, didn't have much need for another selection and spent the better part of the morning fielding calls from teams expressing interest, those sources said. The Hawks, who have a good working relationship with the Rockets, called and were able to find a new home for the soon-to-be 21-year-old Griffin, a 2022 first-round pick out of Duke.

Houston will hope that Griffin, who had fallen out of the rotation under Quin Snyder, can recapture some of his rookie-season form, when he shot 39.6 from 3 on 3.4 attempts per game. Assuming Griffin simply needed a change of scenery, this could spell the end of veteran swingman Reggie Bullock's time in a Rockets uniform.

This is a low-risk move with potentially a solid reward on a young, athletic prospect with upside.

A lot of teams passed on Baylor Scheierman because of his limitations as a creator at the NBA level, but the Celtics don't need that. They need versatile floor spacers who can function in any role on the court. He can be in the corners and then come up into an action and make a read. He can attack closeouts and decide on the move whether to take a floater or pass it to a shooter at the weak elbow. It's all similar to Sam Hauser, though he is more of a creator while not being quite the elite shooter Hauser is.

So what does this mean for Hauser? He's entering the final season of his minimum salary contract and has played well enough to merit a market if he hits free agency. He finally became an elite shooter this season and made some improvements as a decision-maker and defender. He's the ideal guy to have at the end of your rotation.

Boston can renegotiate a new deal with him, then decline his team option for this upcoming season so he can sign a long-term deal now. But they're about to commit somewhere around $450 million to Jayson Tatum and likely Derrick White. They'll be so deep into the repeater tax that paying Hauser to even a team-friendly deal will cost a fortune.

Scheierman gives them a backup plan. But it should be clear that while Scheierman enters the league with a more diverse skill set, Hauser has a better touch, is taller, and has demonstrated he’s a sufficient defender to play in the NBA Finals.

Read more here.

There wasn't any chaos. The Detroit Pistons have routinely been the talk of the NBA Draft the last few years, maneuvering every which way to leave the annual event with multiple lottery picks. It’s been a tornado of confusion to keep track of at times.

That was under former general manager Troy Weaver. Now under the new president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon, the Pistons got straight to the point.

Detroit selected the G League Ignite’s Ron Holland with the No. 5 pick in Wednesday night’s 2024 NBA Draft. The team, per league sources, had conversations with the Memphis Grizzlies, who held the No. 9 pick, about moving back but nothing substantial was presented to Detroit that was worthwhile.

"I didn't expect to go to Detroit," said Holland, who said he had a workout with Detroit scheduled earlier in the process but it didn't end up happening and also expected to go anywhere fourth through 13th. "It was a huge surprise to me. Now that it's done, I'm excited and ready to get to work."

Read more here.

Tim Connelly has been an aggressive dealmaker since he took the job in Minnesota, but the deal to trade up and select Rob Dillingham at No. 8 was his most creative foray yet.

It was rooted in two key factors. First was their desperate need for shot creation. They were able to mitigate that during the regular season and through the first two rounds of the playoffs thanks to elite defense. But it caught up to them in the conference finals against Dallas. Anthony Edwards was the only player who could be relied upon to create his offense at a high level, leaving the Wolves short on firepower when trying to match up with Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving.

The second driver of this deal lies in the mechanics of the collective bargaining agreement. The Timberwolves' cap sheet is about to explode with Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and Jaden McDaniels all getting gigantic raises that will send the payroll soaring into the luxury tax.

If they do reach the second apron, there will be team-building penalties down the road, including using their midlevel exceptions for free agents and losing the ability to aggregate players in trades. If they finish next season in the second apron, which is a payroll exceeding $189.5 million, their 2032 first-round pick would be frozen and unable to be traded, leaving the 2031 pick as the furthest one out that they could trade under league rules.

The inflated payroll also will make it even more difficult for a team that traditionally has had a difficult time attracting free agents to get into the market and add veterans who can help them. That makes trades the easiest way for the Wolves to address needs.

"I don’t know how we can achieve that in the next two or three years via free agency," Connelly said. "We don't want to trade our core guys. It's pretty simplistic. I think we've checked a major box that we lacked last year."

Read my full report on the Timberwolves' night here.

The Milwaukee Bucks made one of the most surprising picks in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft Wednesday night.

With the No. 23 pick, the Bucks selected AJ Johnson, a 19-year-old who spent the last season with the Illawarra Hawks in Australia as a part of the NBL Next Stars program. Johnson, one of the youngest players in this year’s draft pool, struggled to find a real role in his one season in Australia and played just 259 minutes across 29 games, averaging just 2.8 points in 8.3 minutes per game.

Even with Johnson’s lack of opportunity and production this past season, the Bucks, who finished this past season with the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and continue to push for another championship, decided to give the youngster originally from Fresno, Calif., a chance and make him a first-round pick.

"I feel very confident about the group that we have already, so that gives us an opportunity for him to grow and develop in the right way, mature in the right way, both physically and his game," Bucks general manager Jon Horst said when asked about drafting a young player to a contending team. "But he's got incredible speed and quickness. He's got a pass-first mentality but with a really high-level scoring game."

Read more here.

NEW ORLEANS – On paper, Baylor's Yves Missi couldn’t be a better fit for the New Orleans Pelicans' needs this offseason.

"The things that he did in our building – physically and athletically – we've never had a player his size do anything even remotely alike," said David Griffin, the Pelicans' executive vice president of basketball operations.

It was hard for Pelicans front office members to avoid expressing their enthusiasm for some of Missi’s qualities. He plays above the rim more than any big drafted in Wednesday’s first round. He's a force on the offensive glass and has a decent touch around the basket. He has the agility and instincts to play many defensive schemes, a trait Pelicans coach Willie Green regularly emphasizes when discussing his bigs.

However, none of that means Missi will take over as the team’s new starting center from day one. All signs point to that being unlikely. Newly promoted general manager Bryson Graham admitted Missi is still "developmental" and it'll take time for him to adjust to the speed and physicality of the NBA.

This is where the pressure attached to this selection shifts from Missi himself to the Pelicans' coaching staff. To help fulfill Missi's promise and give Zion Williamson the long-term frontcourt partner he needs, the Pelicans will need to do something they have yet to accomplish.

Read more here.

Back to the folks who wigged out on the news of Deni Avdija being traded to Portland. "Deni is just 23!" they wailed. "He's on a great contract! He's coming off a career year! He shot 37 percent on 3s last season, on reasonably high volume! He was sixth in the voting for Most Improved Player! Why would the Wizards trade one of their best players?"

Because Avdija is 23. Because he's on a great contract. Because he's coming off a career year. Because he shot 37 percent on 3s last season. And, because, the Wizards won a whopping 15 games last season, despite Avdija’s quite real uptick.

There wasn't a better time to ship him out than now. You would never get a better return on investment — the ninth pick in the 2020 draft, a player who has definitely improved, but who probably doesn't have much more room left before he hits his NBA ceiling — than getting four draft picks for him. (This does not include Malcomn Brogdon, the 31-year-old vet, whom I'm guessing will be re-routed somewhere else before the summer ends for even more picks.)

No one from a 15-67 team is untouchable. And given that the Wizards' new front office didn’t draft Avdija, they weren’t going to be all that committed to him long-term. It's the nature of front offices in all sports.

The four-year, $55 million extension Avdija got last fall was designed precisely to make Avdija more tradeable down the road, if the Wizards desired, with descending salaries after next season's $15.6 million. Kyle Kuzma's deal last summer was structured the exact same way. Mission accomplished with Avdija; stay tuned with Kuz.

More importantly: Do you not understand the long-term play here? The Wizards' short-term goal for the 2024-25 season is to stink, as much as humanly tolerable, so that Washington has as good a chance as possible to grab one of the potential superstars who will be at the top of the 2025 draft.

Read more here.

The Knicks’ greatest obstacle is not the Boston Celtics or any other contender. It is a spreadsheet.

The Knicks have searched for ways to add money to the big Mikal Bridges trade in the two days since agreeing with the Nets, according to league sources. Tossing in one minimum salary would not fill in the difference between Bridges, who makes $23.3 million, and Bojan Bogdanović, who makes $19 million. Including a second player in the Bridges deal would still hard cap the Knicks, but at the $189.4 million second apron, which would give New York another $11-ish million of breathing room to retain Isaiah Hartenstein and fill out their roster.

The Knicks would still be hard-capped at the first apron if they included, say, Jericho Sims with Bogdanović. Adding two or more minimum contracts would not be legal, because this is the NBA, where frustrating collective bargaining quirks disallow all your best trade ideas.

The team discussed the possibility of including Miles McBride in the Bridges trade, according to league sources — and not because they are itching to trade away a 23-year-old fireball on a minuscule contract, only $13 million over the next three seasons. It’s math. If they wanted to, the Knicks could find a third team to route McBride to, acquire a future first-round pick in the process and avoid the first-apron hard cap. His salary plus Bogdanović’s would just barely top Bridges’. But they have since shied away from that scenario, a league source said.

The Knicks have gauged the market for Mitchell Robinson, according to league sources. If they were to include Robinson in the trade, sending him to a third team, they could take back another player. Robinson makes $14.3 million next season, meaning they could flip him for someone who makes as much as $10 million, tie it into the Bridges deal and still send out more money than they’re acquiring.

But parting with Robinson wouldn’t be so easy.

Read more here.

One team that was worth watching last night was the Philadelphia 76ers, the team of endless possibilities this summer. They stuck at No. 16 and selected Duke guard Jared McCain, but Sixers president Daryl Morey said afterward they had offers to move the pick.

Philadelphia was given a chance to acquire a player and move back a few spots in the draft, and a chance to trade out and move far back into the draft while getting a slew of second round picks. Instead, the Sixers stayed at No. 16 and picked McCain.

Morey said the front office had McCain in its top-10 for the draft. He'll be an interesting backcourt mate for Tyrese Maxey, another smaller lead guard. McCain can shoot (41.4 percent on 3s at Duke), which is always a useful skill, but he might not get a chance to help right away. Morey admitted that there will be a "high bar" for McCain to play regularly at the start of the season and thinks the most likely path is for McCain to end in the rotation by the end of the campaign.

If the Utah Jazz had somehow gotten lucky and won the lottery, Cody Williams would have been firmly in the mix to be the No. 1 pick. Ultimately, he may not or even probably not have gotten the nod. But the fact that he would have been in consideration should tell you how interested the Jazz were in the small forward. They did a ton of pre-draft homework on him. They interviewed him at the NBA's Draft Combine. They brought him in for a private workout. Jazz general manager Justin Zanik and head coach Will Hardy took him out to dinner.

As much as the physical talent and the upside, the Jazz were significantly impressed by the maturity Williams showed through the process. Those became some of the reasons Williams shot to the top of Utah’s draft board. The Jazz came into the draft thinking they would possibly have to move up to draft him. As it turns out, they didn’t have to go anywhere.

"When we talked on Monday, I said that this draft was going to be unpredictable," Zanik said. "There were a number of things and a number of scenarios going on. We tried to set up as much as we could before the draft in terms of our models and where players were projected. We got quite a few calls to trade up or down. But our modeling told us to stay put, and we’re thrilled with how the draft went."

The Jazz know they have a lot of work to do with Williams. He needs to add a bunch of strength. Williams needs to learn to be more assertive when on the floor. But when you look at the 6-foot-8 frame, the length and the skill, it’s easy to see why the Jazz and others were intrigued.

Read the rest of my report on the Jazz's two first-round picks here.