A thrilling second round sees the trade of no fewer than fifteen picks, marking the first multi-day Draft in NBA history.
The 2024 NBA Draft will take place over two days, and the league’s basketball executives were obviously energized and prepared.
Before Round 2 even began, the Hawks traded AJ Griffin to Houston for the No. 44 pick, the Wolves traded Wendell Moore Jr. and the No. 37 pick to the Pistons for the No. 53 pick, and the Kings traded Jalen McDaniels to the Raptors for Davion Mitchell and Sasha Vezenkov.
By the time all 28 selections were confirmed, 15 of them had changed—some of them more than once.
And as usual, the Thunder were the team that was most active in obtaining (and using) draft capital. Notably, Sam Presti’s group set off an incredible domino effect when they traded Lindy Waters III to the Warriors for the No. 52 pick.
From there:
- The Knicks sent the Blazers three future seconds, moving up to No. 38 (Tyler Kolek)
- OKC swapped No. 52 for Portland’s No. 40 (Oso Ighodaro).
- The Thunder traded No. 40 to the Knicks for No. 38 (Ajay Mitchell)
- The Knicks flipped No. 40 to Phoenix for No. 51 (Melvin Ajinca) and 56 (Kevin McCullar Jr.)
- The Warriors (!) then paid cash to the Blazers to claim … No. 52 (Quinten Post)
Is the circle of trade life, complete? Complete. Phew.
2. Spurs play the waiting game
The Spurs appeared to be an option for Australian shooter Johnny Furphy at No. 35. However, they switched the Kansas product to the Pacers, giving up one slot in exchange for money for their difficulties.
Juan Nunez, a Madrid native and the teammate of No. 25 overall pick Pacome Dadiet (Knicks) from Ratiopharm Ulm, was subsequently added. Described as the finest pure passer in the draft by ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, 6-foot-4 guard Nunez has already played a significant amount of basketball for the Spanish national team, most notably at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
The 19-year-old is anticipated to carry on with his overseas seasoning—a strategy that has proven successful for the Spurs time and time again. They’ll be watching Nunez to tighten his grip following a turnover rate of 20.2%. To keep opponents off-balance, he also needs to improve his individual shot creation, as he has only made 29.4% of his 184 self-created 3-pointers in the last two seasons.
Regarding Furphy, this is the seventh year in a row that an Australian player has been selected in the draft; nine of them were selected for the 2023–24 season on opening night rosters (tied for most among non-US players). After attending the NBA Global Academy and the Center of Excellence in Canberra, he also becomes the sixth graduate of the NBA Academy to be drafted into the league.
3. Celebrations at the Seaport
The draft show proved to be a family affair with plenty of space at the ESPN Seaport Studios at Pier 17, as a group of invited guests enjoyed the views over the East River:
Boogie Ellis (USC), Oso Ighodaro (Marquette), Harrison Ingram (UNC-Chapel Hill), Bobi Klintman (Cairns Taipans, Australia), Juan Nunez (Ratiopharm Ulm, Germany), KJ Simpson (Colorado), Jaylen Wells (Washington State), Adem Bona (UCLA), Cam Christie (Minnesota), Nikola Djurisic (Mega), and Boogie Ellis (USC).
Cheers rose over the standing curtains and reverberated through the concrete loft every time one of the invited players was selected.
After being selected by the 76ers with the 41st overall pick, Bona remarked, “I have my whole family here.” “My mother, my brothers, and my relatives from Canada, as well as my girlfriend and my host family, were unable to attend, but my aunt, uncle, and cousins from Canada were present. There are some wonderful people behind me who are supporting me.
He considered his brother, who is a “Philly fan,” who was most likely watching from home in Nigeria and getting pleased to see him wearing this hat.
Bona said, “It was a little stressful.” But having my family here makes me feel safer and more comfortable. I was confident that they would stand with me whether or not my name was called.
