Player Invitations
Twelve players have received coveted invitations to attend the 2024 NBA Draft, earning a seat in the prestigious green room.
Zaccharie Risacher, Alex Sarr, Donovan Clingan, Reed Sheppard, Matas Buzelis, Stephon Castle, Dalton Knecht, Tidjane Salaun, Ron Holland, Cody Williams, Devin Carter, and Ja'Kobe Walter make up the first batch of 12 invites dispatched this Tuesday. Another 11-12 invitations are anticipated to be sent out in waves starting next week.
Green Room Details
The green room serves as a staging area situated in front of the NBA Draft podium. Here, players, their families, and agents await the moment when Commissioner Adam Silver announces their selection. This year, each player will be allowed to invite six people to sit at their individual tables, a reduction from the 10 allowed last year.
Receiving an invitation to the green room is generally seen as a positive indicator of a player's draft stock. However, history has shown that being in the green room is not a guarantee of a first-round selection. Notable examples include Bol Bol, Deyonta Davis, Nic Claxton, Maciej Lampe, and Rashard Lewis, who found themselves selected in the second round despite their green room invites.
Draft Details
In a significant change, the NBA Draft will span two days for the first time. The first round is set to take place on June 26 at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, while the second round will unfold on June 27 in lower Manhattan. This change could lead to added scrutiny over the final set of players invited to the green room, aiming to avoid a situation where an invited player and their family have to wait an extra day to hear their name called. Last year, the final batch of invitations was not sent out until two days before the draft.
All 12 players from the initial batch of invites are projected to be lottery picks, which typically consist of the first 14 selections in the draft.
Uninvited Projected Lottery Picks
Two projected lottery picks who have yet to receive an invitation to the green room are Kentucky's Rob Dillingham and Serbian point guard Nikola Topic. Dillingham has not completed all the necessary requirements to be eligible for selection in the draft, as stipulated by the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. An ankle injury prevented Dillingham from participating in athletic testing and shooting drills at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago in mid-May. This injury has also hindered him from attending private workouts with NBA teams thus far. His ankle has recovered, and he plans on completing those requirements at the Lakers' practice facility on Friday, according to his agent Lucas Newton of Klutch Sports.
On the other hand, Topic was found to have a partially torn ACL at the NBA Draft Combine in Treviso, Italy, last week. This discovery will likely create uncertainty around his draft stock until team doctors can fully evaluate the injury and decide on the best course of action regarding surgery and a subsequent recovery plan.
Conclusion
The anticipation is high as the 2024 NBA Draft approaches. For the 12 players already invited to the green room, the invitation is a testament to their hard work and potential. Yet, as history has shown, the draft holds many uncertainties, and the real outcome will only be known when Commissioner Adam Silver steps up to the podium. Players like Rob Dillingham and Nikola Topic still have hurdles to overcome to secure their spots. Their journeys, filled with both promise and challenges, are emblematic of the high stakes and unpredictability of the NBA Draft.