CHICAGO — Fresh off Sunday’s NBA draft lottery, the draft combine kicks off Monday, with front office representatives from every team in town.
The combine and the preceding G League Elite Camp brings together more than 120 NBA prospects at Wintrust Arena, where they go through a number of shooting and agility drills, measurements, various athletic testing and scrimmages. Additionally, players will go through different medical testing and interview with teams.
In previous years, participation at the combine has been extremely optional. But after a new agreement last year, invited players are required to go through almost full participation at the combine (so long as they are available to do so), though scrimmages are still optional.
While private pre-draft workouts have already begun within team markets (the Utah Jazz have already conducted at least two postseason pre-draft workouts in Salt Lake City), the combine gives teams a unique opportunity to interview and get up-close looks at players all in one place. Teams are able to privately interview up to 20 players while at the combine.
Numerous players have boosted their draft stock in past years with participation in the combine and there are many that will be hoping to do just that this week. It’s a great opportunity not just for the teams to evaluate players, but also for players and agents to get feedback and decide whether to continue on in the pre-draft process.
Utah ties
Dillon Jones (Weber State) and Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Jaxson Robinson (BYU) will be participating in the combine activities, including scrimmages on Tuesday and Wednesday. Jones was at the NBA combine last year, but decided to return to Weber State for another season.
Utah’s Branden Carlson was a participant in the G League Elite Camp in Chicago over the weekend, but was not one of the five players who earned a call-up to the combine from the Elite Camp.
Notable players
There are a number of international players (Melvin Ajinca, Pacome Dadiet, Juan Nunez, Zaccharie Riscaher, Tidjane Salaun, Nikola Topic) who are still playing internationally and will go through a Eurocamp version of the combine at a later date.
But there are many players who played internationally last season that teams are extremely interested in getting to see up close this week. Those include potential No. 1 pick Alex Sarr, a French player who played in Australia last season, Ulrich Chomche (NBA Academy Africa), Nikola Djurisic (Serbia), Trentyn Flowers (Australia) and Ariel Hukporti (Germany) among others.
Bronny James, LeBron James’ son, will also be at the combine after being cleared by doctors to play in the NBA.
The five players from the G League Elite Camp that have been called up to participate in the combine are WVU’s Jesse Edwards, USC’s Boogie Ellis, the University of Akron’s Enrique Freeman, Washington State’s Isaac Jones and Memphis’ Nae’Quan Tomlin.
NBA draft
Following the combine, there will be a number of workouts conducted around the country including team-specific workouts. There are also pro days that are organized by player agents and trainers. This all happens in the lead-up to the NBA draft, which will take place on June 26 (first round) and 27 (second round).