Lodi News

Kings met potential top-10 picks at combine

Jason Anderson

The Kings sent a delegation to Chicago this week to evaluate players at the NBA draft combine.

After being awarded the No. 4 pick in Tuesday’s lottery, Sacramento’s brain trust has arranged meetings with some of the top prospects in the draft, sources told The Sacramento Bee.

Kentucky guard Shaedon Sharpe, Duke forward AJ Griffin, Duke forward Wendell Moore and Purdue forward Trevion Williams are among more than two dozen prospects who have interviewed with the Kings this week, sources said. The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov reported G League Ignite guard Dyson Daniels has also met with the Kings. Sharpe, Griffin and Daniels are projected as potential top-10 picks.

Sharpe is one of the biggest wildcards in this year’s draft. He was considered the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2022 at Dream City Christian School in Glendale, Arizona, before reclassifying to the Class of 2021. Sharpe enrolled at Kentucky in January and began practicing with the Wildcats, but coach John Calipari made it clear he would not suit up this season. Sharpe planned to play for Kentucky next season, but with his name near the top of the draft board, he chose to declare for the draft instead.

Sharpe is widely regarded as one of the top shooting guards in the draft. He measured 6-foot-5 ? and 198 pounds with an impressive 6-11 1/2 wingspan before leaving the combine Wednesday night. Sharpe did not participate in 5-on-5 scrimmages Thursday and Friday, but the Kings and other teams got a good look at him Monday in what ESPN analyst Bobby Marks described as “one of the better individual workouts that I’ve witnessed.”

Griffin, who is listed at 6-6 and 222 pounds, is regarded as perhaps the top small forward in this year’s draft despite putting up relatively modest numbers as a freshman at Duke. He averaged just 10.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 24 minutes per game, but he shot the ball very well, hitting 49.3% from the field and 44.7% from 3-point range on 4.1 attempts per contest.

Daniels is a 6-7 1/2, 195-pound shooting guard with a 6-10 ? wingspan, according to combine measurements. He averaged 11.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.9 steals in 31.1 minutes per game for G League Ignite. He shot 44.9% from the field and 25.5% from beyond the arc.

Moore, a 6-5 3/4, 217-pound small forward with a 7-foot wingspan, is expected to be a late first-round pick. He averaged 13.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals as a junior at Duke, where he shot 50% from the field, 41.3% from 3-point range at 80.5% at the free-throw line.

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2022-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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