The NBA G League held its draft for the 2024/25 season on Saturday afternoon. Players who signed NBAGL contracts and whose rights weren’t already controlled by a team were part of the draft pool.
It was the first time in G League history that each of the 30 NBA teams had an affiliate squad take part in a draft. A 31st team, the unaffiliated Mexico City Capitanes, also participated.
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The Westchester Knicks, New York’s affiliate, held the top two picks in Saturday’s draft and used them to select a pair of NBA veterans.
The No. 1 overall pick was sharpshooter Matt Ryan, who is reportedly drawing interest from the Knicks and is a candidate to be called up to their NBA roster at some point this season.
Drafting Ryan to Westchester won’t prevent another NBA team from poaching him, since holding a player’s G League rights doesn’t mean you control his NBA rights. But it will give the Knicks a chance to take a first-hand look at him before potentially offering him a standard or two-way contract.
Ryan has knocked down 41.1% of his three-point attempts in 63 career NBA games for the Celtics, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Pelicans.
The second player off the board was swingman Landry Shamet, who is recovering from a dislocated shoulder. Selecting him in the G League draft will allow the Knicks to keep him in the organization and closely monitor his rehabilitation process.
Shamet was expected to make the NBA roster prior to the injury and will be a candidate to rejoin the NBA squad later in the season if he fully recovers from his shoulder injury. He was the most experienced player in the NBAGL draft pool, with 348 career regular season outings at the NBA level.
Another notable name was picked fifth overall, as former NBA first-round pick Chandler Hutchison came out of retirement and was drafted by the Long Island Nets. Hutchison, 28, was the No. 22 pick in the 2018 NBA draft and appeared in 103 total games over the next four seasons for Chicago, Washington, and Phoenix.
Although the Nets’ affiliate technically drafted Hutchison, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report says (via Twitter) the South Bay Lakers acquired that pick in exchange for Colin Castleton‘s returning rights.
Fischer later reported (via Twitter) that South Bay was looking to move up from No. 5 to No. 3, and while we’ve yet to get confirmation on that, it would make sense if the Lakers’ affiliate worked something out with the Cleveland Charge (Cavaliers), who selected rookie guard Sean East II out of Missouri — East reportedly agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Lakers back in June, but it never happened. If the Lakers selected him in the G League draft, he could end up in South Bay after all.
Finally, a pair of familiar names were selected late in the second round, with the 53rd and 54th overall picks. The Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Rockets‘ affiliate, nabbed former Knicks guard Allonzo Trier, followed by the Maine Celtics (Boston’s affiliate) drafting Kavion Pippen, the cousin of Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. and nephew of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen.
Kavion Pippen wasn’t the only family member of a Hall of Famer who came off the board in the second round. The Capital City Go-Go (Wizards) picked former USC forward DJ Rodman, the son of Dennis Rodman, with the 43rd overall pick.
Here are the full 2024 G League draft results:
Round One:
Round Two:
Teams will fill out their rosters with affiliate players, returning rights players, tryout players, and players who are assigned to the G League from the NBA roster (including those on two-way contracts).
G League training camps open on Monday, with this year’s NBAGL Tip-Off Tournament getting underway on November 8. The Tip-Off Tournament will be played over about a month-and-a-half and will be followed by the G League regular season, which begins on December 27.
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