In an interesting article for The Athletic, William Guillory, James L. Edwards III and Jared Weiss form three teams of 10 players using only players on rookie contracts. The Spurs (Victor WembanyamaNo. 1; Dylan HarperNo. 3; Castle StefanNo. 11), Wizards (A. Ya. Dybants; No. 4; Alex SarNo. 18; Kishon GeorgeNo. 29) and Jazz (Darrin PetersonNo. 12; Ace BaileyNo. 14; Keyonte GeorgeNo. 15) three players were selected in each.
After Guillory took Vembanyama first, Edwards elected Mavericks forward Cooper Flagg at No. 2, followed by Weiss drafting Harper and Dibanz third and fourth. Brandon Miller (Hornets) and Caleb Wilson (Bykov) took the fifth and sixth places, respectively.
The closing top-10 were Amin Thompson (Rockets), Ausar Thompson (Pistons), Cameron Boozer (Grizzlies) and Mog Knueppel (Hornets), in that order. Notable players involved in rookie deals who were not drafted Scoot Henderson (Trail Blazers), Jaime Haques Jr (Bucks) and Zach Edey (Grizzly), among others.
Here’s more from around the world of basketball:
- Danny Chow of The Ringer lists six breakout candidates he’s keeping an eye on for the upcoming season, starting with the Thompson twins. Chow’s roster also includes Henderson and two other players who were selected in the aforementioned rookie draft: Kel’el Ware with Bucks (No. 17), and Matas Bouzelis with Bykov (No. 27).
- The Nix, Thunder and Spurs are the three “championship favourites” for 2026/27, according to Zach Crum of ESPN.comwhich breaks down each of the league’s 30 teams by level. After four “flawed West contenders” and three “regular season winning machines” from the East, Krum has Pacers, Heat, Sixers and Predators in its “high upside finals contenders” tier. At the other end of the spectrum, Krum reckons Bykov, The necklaces, Networks, Clippers and Bucks to be “non-competitive”, but Chicago and Sacramento control their picks, while Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Milwaukee do not, so they are split into two separate tiers.
- Veteran forward Danilo Gallinari retired as a player last December. Talking to Sira Acea of HoopsHypeThe 38-year-old Italian talked about his long career in the NBA. “Unfortunately, due to my injuries, there have been a lot of what-ifs in my career” Gallinari said as part of a larger quote when asked if he wondered how his career would have changed if he had never been traded from New York to Denver.”I don’t know, I’m probably the biggest guy in the history of the game. But that’s part of an NBA career. It’s happened to me unfortunately more than any other athlete probably as far as injuries go, but I don’t think too much about it.“