NBA Draft live updates: Countdown to the NBA Draft, where Victor Wembanyama is expected to be top pick

Pale pink and picture perfect for Taylor Hendricks

Taylor Hendricks, the forward out of UCF, is wearing his heart on the sleeve.

The 6-9 Florida native who just wrapped up his freshman year proudly showed off the lining his pale pink suit. The inside featured a collage of images of places he’s played and more.

What are the odds?

Yes, you can bet on the outcome of the NBA draft.

FanDuel has odds on a variety of picks that highlight just how sure everyone is that San Antonio will take Wembanyama. He is a -50000 favorite, meaning a $10 bet would return… $10.02.

The No. 2 pick? Much closer. FanDuel has Alabama’s Brandon Miller as the favorite at -420 followed by Scoot Henderson at +260.

Scoot Henderson comes out bejewled and ready

For his draft night look, Scoot Henderson went with a grill as colorful as the jewels on his jacket.

The 19-year-old G League Ignite guard is projected to go with the second or third pick Thursday night.

Wembanyama’s stats eerily similar to previous Spurs great

If likely top draft pick Victor Wembanyama is drafted by the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night, he will be the third highly touted big man to be picked by the franchise.

San Antonio has held the top pick two other times since joining the NBA in 1976. The team chose franchise-altering big men both times, selecting future Hall of Famers David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan 10 years later. 

Wembanyama’s statistics last season in the French League look strikingly similar to the numbers Duncan posted in his final year at Wake Forest.

A look to make the Wicked Witch of the West green with envy

You can take the kid out of Kansas, but you can’t take Kansas out of the kid.

Jayhawk — and Kansas native — Gradey Dick repped his home state Thursday with a ruby sequined look that would make the Wicked Witch of the West green with envy.

“So, I’m from Kansas. Dorothy has her little slippers, I got my Dorothy suit,” he said of his Oz-inspired look, complete with red soles.

San Antonio draft history: Patience, luck and skill led to titles

It’d be hard to find a franchise that’s benefited more from the NBA draft than the lucky, patient and talented San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio’s five-title run could be traced to its overall No. 1 pick of Navy Lt. David Robinson in 1987, even though he’d be away fulfilling his military duty for two more years.

The wait was worth it, as Robinson won the 1989-90 Rookie of the Year Award. He hurt his ankle in 1996-97, and the Spurs tumbled to the bottom of the standings in what turned out to be a stroke of extreme fortune.

San Antonio used the overall No. 1 pick of 1997 to snap up Tim Duncan, and he and Robinson led the Spurs to Lawrence O’Brien Trophies in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014. When the Spurs weren’t drafting at the top of the board, they were picking up Hall of Famers Manu Ginobili (No. 57 in 1999) and Tony Parker (No. 28 in 2001).

Spurs looking for more wins on the floor and at the box office

The San Antonio Spurs hope to step up their game in 2023-24, on the hardwood and at the box office.

The five-time NBA champs were 25th in the league in attendance this season, selling 16,937 tickets per date. The club was only moderately better in terms of the percentage of tickets sold at 92.3%, which was 22nd in the league.

The team sold 2,500 season ticket packages within a day of winning the draft lottery.

Qatar invests $4 billion in owner of Washington Wizards

In the midst of an avalanche of trade news, another massive development in the NBA world: The Qatar Investment Authority is investing in the parent company that owns the Washington Wizards, according to the sports-focused business publication Sportico and confirmed by NBC News.

A spokesperson for Monumental declined to comment but said the Sportico article was accurate.

The $4.05 billion deal reportedly gives the sovereign fund a 5% stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the holding company that includes the Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.

Sportico reported that it is the first time a sovereign fund has invested in major U.S. team sports. The NBA is still reviewing the deal with the Qatar Investment Authority, league spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement to CNBC.

Chris Paul reportedly headed to Golden State

In another pre-draft blockbuster, active career assist leader Chris Paul is headed to the Golden State Warriors, according to reports.

It was just days ago that the Phoenix Suns dealt Paul to the Washington Wizards, who sent Bradley Beal to the Valley of the Sun.

But now the 18-year veteran Paul has been flipped to Golden State for Jordan Poole, ESPN and The Athletic reported.

Paul’s 11,501 career assists are third all-time, trailing only John Stockton and Jason Kidd. LeBron James is the only other active player with more than 10,000.

Paul’s arrival in San Francisco would surely lift some playmaking responsibilities from the shoulders of Warriors sharpshooter Stephen Curry, the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals.

Draft unfolds in wake of bombshell trades among contenders

Boston Celtics fans woke up on NBA draft day to learn that one of their favorite players, Marcus Smart, had been traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in a blockbuster three-team swap that could trigger more major deals.

Smart ended up in Grind City, while the Celtics picked up unicorn big man Kristaps Porzingis, Memphis’ first-round pick tonight (No. 25 overall) and their first-round pick next year. The Washington Wizards ended up with Mike Muscala, Danilo Gallinari, Tyus Jones and Boston’s second-round pick (No. 35 overall) tonight.

The Smart deal comes just days after Washington sent Bradley Beal to the Phoenix Suns for Chris Paul, adding to the Western Conference power’s already stacked lineup.

The pre-draft wheeling and dealing might not be over yet, as Portland reportedly seeks to trade its overall No. 3 pick tonight.

Victor Wembanyama ‘lucky’ to be on San Antonio’s radar

It’s been a rough few years for the San Antonio Spurs, the five-time NBA champs who have been under .500 for four consecutive seasons.

Victor Wembanyama has long been projected as this year’s top pick, and when San Antonio won the draft lottery last month, the French sensation said he couldn’t wait to pack his bags for south Texas.

“You know for me, San Antonio is [the] synonym of winning,” Wembanyama told reporters yesterday in New York. “I was feeling luck that they got the pick, as a franchise that has that culture, that experience in wining and in making, creating good players. So I really can’t wait.”

Welcome to New York City, or more specifically, Brooklyn

NBA hoop dreams of the world’s most elite players reach a key mile marker at the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues in Brooklyn tonight. 

For the 10th time in 11 years, the NBA draft will be at the Barclays Center, in what’s become the unofficial home of the league’s biggest summer event. 

Since the Brooklyn Nets’ arena was first tapped for the 2013 draft, it’s been there every year other than the remote Covid-19 summer of 2020. It returned to Barclays in 2021.  

The NBA draft has been a Big Apple, or nearby, fixture for most of this century. The 2011 and 2012 drafts were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, after the drafts from 2001 to 2010 were at Madison Square Garden.

The last non-New York or -Jersey draft was at the Target Center in Minneapolis in 2000.

Wembanyama ‘will be something special,’ his coach tells NBC News

PARIS — Victor Wembanyama has long been seen as basketball royalty in the making, with fans and experts buzzing on both sides of the Atlantic about a prospect some view as the best to enter the league since LeBron James.

And those who know the 19-year-old best, like Vincent Collet, the coach of the French national team, who also worked with him daily at Paris team Metropolitans 92, are expecting even greater things once he takes his “special” talents to North America. 

“When you are so tall, plus you have skills and ability to move well, which was the case, obviously, you know that this kid is special and will be something special after,” Collet told NBC News last Wednesday.

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