UConn Stars Set to Become Pros
The Story: The NBA Draft begins tonight in New York, and we expect to hear Donovan Clingan‘s and Stephon Castle‘s names called early, potentially with the No. 1 pick. (7:30 p.m., ABC and ESPN)
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Clingan and Castle will be in the green room tonight, and we aren’t expecting a long wait for the former Huskies stars.
Clingan is one of the hottest players in the draft and it seems like the latest he’ll go is No. 7 to the Portland Trail Blazers.
• If the mock drafts are to be believed, the San Antonio Spurs are hot after a defensive guard and playmaker at No. 4 and could turn to Castle to team up with generational talent Victor Wembanyama.
• If either player is still sitting at the table after No. 12, we will have the story of the draft.
CAN CLINGAN GO NO. 1? The highest a UConn player has ever gone in the NBA Draft is No. 2, a feat that Emeka Okafor achieved in 2004 and Hasheem Thabeet did in 2009.
• There’s no consensus top pick in the draft, with the three candidates for the top spot that’s owned by the Atlanta Hawks. The first and main candidate for going No. 1 is 6-foot-9 wing Zaccharie Risacher, who plays for JL Bourg in his native France, and 7-foot center Alex Sarr, who is also from France but has been playing in Australia.
Neither Risacher nor Sarr are considered elite prospects like Wembanyama or next year’s No. 1 prospect, Cooper Flagg, so that leaves an opportunity for Clingan to become UConn’s first No. 1 pick.
SWOOPING IN: Atlanta, a play-in team a year ago with all-star Trae Young, shockingly beat the odds and garnered the top pick. Its coach, Quin Snyder, is the architect of Rudy Gobert‘s career, and many NBA scouts are projecting Clingan to have that type of impact defensively but with perhaps with more offensive potential. Snyder has also talked with at length with Dan Hurley about Clingan as the two are close.
• The Hawks are also rumored to want to pick up Clingan after trading down, perhaps with a team that coverts Sarr. Could the Hawks pull that off? Sure, but two teams highly covet Clingan in Portland at No. 7 and Memphis at No. 10. There’s talk of each team trying to move into the top five to take Clingan. So, if Clingan is the Hawks’ guy, why fool around? Or, it could all be smoke. We don’t know, which is what is going to make this draft interesting.
WHAT ABOUT SPENCER AND NEWTON? We love both of UConn’s senior guards. Spencer has a lot of fans in the NBA because of his shooting and competitiveness, and he looks to be the perfect type of player to get into a team’s developmental program as a second-round pick. Shooting does travel. We haven’t heard much about Newton, which considering his size and what he does well — he’s a playmaker who can score — is odd to us. He was a first-team All-American and has no draft buzz?
• Just remember, Jalen Brunson and Nikola Jokic went in the second round and Anthony Bennett went No. 1 in 2013, while Giannis Antetokounmpo was a “reach” at No. 15 for the Milwaukee Bucks.
LENGTHY AFFAIR: The NBA Draft is a two-day event for the first time. The second round begins tomorrow at 4 p.m. We have no idea what they’re doing in the NBA these days. Maybe they should wait another week for the second round to mimic the Finals’ cadence.
WHAT DID CLINGAN SAY? “Connecticut has given me my whole life. It’s given me great opportunities, blessed me with a great career I’ve had so far, given me a lot of support and a lot of love. I just want to be able to give back one day.”
Top photo: Donovan Clingan drives to the rim during UConn’s game against Georgetown. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
