LOCALIZE IT: NBA draft starts June 25. Top candidates to be 1st-round picks have ties to 23 states
EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:
The two-day NBA draft begins June 25 at the home of the Brooklyn Nets.
Duke freshman forward Cooper Flagg has long been projected to be the No. 1 overall pick. That picks is owned by the Dallas Mavericks, a boost for a franchise after its shocking trade of star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers. Flagg was named AP men’s college basketball national player of the year and headlines a lengthy list of “one-and-done” top prospects who entered the draft after a lone college season. That includes the Rutgers duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe, Texas’ Tre Johnson and Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears.
The Brooklyn Nets have a league-high four first-round picks, the first coming at No. 8. The Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards each have a pair of first-round picks after ranking as the league’s two worst teams. Another team to watch is the San Antonio Spurs, who have the second and 14th picks as they build around 7-foot-3 rising French star Victor Wembanyama. And then there’s the Oklahoma City Thunder, who won a league-best 68 games and reached the NBA Finals. They’ve got two first-round picks, the first at 15th, to strengthen an already deep roster.
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READ SOME OF AP’S LATEST COVERAGE
Duke’s Khaman Maluach, Maryland’s Derik Queen headline list of big men in upcoming NBA draft
Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Rutgers’ Ace Bailey are the one-and-done headliners among NBA draft’s forwards
Rutgers’ Harper headlines a bevy of 1-and-done guards set to go high in the NBA draft
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FIND YOUR STATE: THE 36 PLAYERS MOST LIKELY TO BE DRAFTED IN THE FIRST ROUND
This list includes where players competed in college, their high schools and their hometowns listed by their college teams, as well as previous team and nationality for international prospects.
ALABAMA
Johni Broome, forward at Auburn
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ARIZONA
Carter Bryant, forward at Arizona
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CALIFORNIA
Carter Bryant, hometown is Riverside; forward at Arizona
Cedric Coward, hometown is Fresno; guard at Washington State
Maxime Raynaud, center at Stanford
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COLORADO
Nique Clifford, hometown is Colorado Springs; guard at Colorado State
Jase Richardson, hometown is Denver; guard at Michigan State
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CONNECTICUT
Liam McNeeley, forward at UConn
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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Thomas Sorber, center at Georgetown
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FLORIDA
Johni Broome, hometown is Plant City; forward at Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., hometown is Lake Wales; guard at Florida
Asa Newell, hometown is Destin; forward/center at Georgia
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GEORGIA
Asa Newell, forward/center at Georgia
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ILLINOIS
Jeremiah Fears, hometown is Joliet; guard at Oklahoma
Kasparas Jakucionis, guard/forward at Illinois
Will Riley, guard/forward at Illinois
Danny Wolf, hometown is Glencoe; forward/center at Michigan
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MAINE
Cooper Flagg, hometown is Newport; forward at Duke
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MARYLAND
Derik Queen, hometown is Baltimore; center at Maryland
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MICHIGAN
Jase Richardson, guard at Michigan State
Danny Wolf, forward/center at Michigan
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MISSOURI
Ryan Kalkbrenner, hometown is Florissant; center at Creighton
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NEBRASKA
Ryan Kalkbrenner, center at Creighton
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NEW JERSEY
Dylan Harper, hometown is Franklin Lakes; guard at Rutgers
Ace Bailey, forward at Rutgers
Rasheer Fleming, hometown is Camden; forward/center at Saint Joseph’s
Thomas Sorber, hometown is Trenton; center at Georgetown
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NORTH CAROLINA
Cooper Flagg, forward at Duke
Kon Knueppel, forward at Duke
Khaman Maluach, center at Duke
Drake Powell, hometown is Pittsboro; guard/forward at North Carolina
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OKLAHOMA
Jeremiah Fears, guard at Oklahoma
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PENNSYLVANIA
Rasheer Fleming, forward/center at Saint Joseph’s
Yanic Konan Niederhauser, forward/center at Penn State
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SOUTH CAROLINA
Collin Murray-Boyles, hometown is Columbia; forward at South Carolina
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TENNESSEE
Ace Bailey, hometown is Chattanooga; forward at Rutgers
Kam Jones, hometown is Memphis; guard at Marquette
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TEXAS
VJ Edgecombe, guard at Baylor
Tre Johnson, hometown is Garland; guard at Texas
Liam McNeeley, hometown is Richardson; forward at UConn
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UTAH
Egor Demin, guard/forward at BYU
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WASHINGTON
Cedric Coward, guard at Washington State
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WISCONSIN
Kam Jones, guard at Marquette
Kon Knueppel, hometown is Milwaukee; forward at Duke
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INTERNATIONAL
Joan Beringer, from France; center at Cedevita Olimpija in Slovenia
Egor Demin, hometown is Moscow, Russia; guard/forward at BYU
VJ Edgecombe, hometown is Bimini, Bahamas; guard at Baylor
Noa Essengue, from France; forward at Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany
Hugo Gonzalez, from Spain; guard/forward at Real Madrid in Spain
Kasparas Jakucionis, hometown is Vilnius, Lithuania; guard/forward at Illinois
Khaman Maluach, hometown is Rumbek, South Sudan; center at Duke
Yanic Konan Niederhauser, hometown is Fraschels, Switzerland; forward/center at Penn State
Noah Penda, from France; forward at Le Mans Sarthe Basket in France
Maxime Raynaud, hometown is Paris, France; center at Stanford
Will Riley, hometown is Kitchener, Ontario, Canada; guard/forward at Illinois
Ben Saraf, from Israel; guard at Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany
Nolan Traore, from France; guard at Saint-Quentin BB in France
Hansen Yang, from China; center at Qindgao in China
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