The NBA has released its official NBA Draft combine list, and it's marked more by the players who won't be playing than the players who will be.
Karl-Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor -- the No. 1 and 2 players on my NBA Big Board -- will not be participating in workouts next week when the event gets underway. Neither will international players Kristaps Porzingis, Mario Hezonja or Emmanuel Mudiay, which means that five of the top nine players on my board won't be around for NBA scouts and executives to check out.
However, there are still some strong names here, such as D'Angelo Russell, Justise Winslow and Willie Cauley-Stein, as well as Stanley Johnson, Kelly Oubre and Kevon Looney. It's unknown at this point which of these players will actually play in the 5-on-5 portion of the event, but it should still be a strong event regardless of if some of them sit it out.
Some other quick notes:
- The top collegiate players on my board to not garner an invite beyond the aforementioned Towns and Okafor duo: Josh Richardson of Tennessee at No. 64, Darrun Hillliard of Villanova at No. 68, Speedy Smith of Louisiana Tech at No. 70, Cady Lalanne of Massachusetts at No. 71, Wesley Saunders of Harvard at No. 73 and Trevor Lacey of N.C. State at No. 74. Depending on how many players drop out of participating in the 5-on-5 portion, it's possible further players could be invited.
- The players not ranked on my board to be invited: Corey Hawkins of UC-Davis, Marcus Thornton of William & Mary, Pat Connaughton of Notre Dame, Ryan Boatright of Connecticut, Quinn Cook of Duke, Chasson Randle of Stanford, Chris Walker of Florida and TaShawn Thomas of Oklahoma. None of these players are particularly surprising as invites, as all of them were either high-profile collegiate players or small-school, high-stat players that scouts want to see more of.
Here is the full list:
Cliff Alexander, Kansas
Justin Anderson, Virginia
Brandon Ashley, Arizona
Ryan Boatright, Connecticut
Devin Booker, Kentucky
Anthony Brown, Stanford
Willie Cauley-Stein, Kentucky
Rakeem Christmas, Syracuse
Pat Connaughton, Notre Dame
Quinn Cook, Duke
Branden Dawson, Michigan State
George de Paula, Pinheiros (Brazil)
Sam Dekker, Wisconsin
Michael Frazier II, Florida
Treveon Graham, VCU
Jerian Grant, Notre Dame
Olivier Hanlan, Boston College
Montrezl Harrell, Louisville
Andrew Harrison, Kentucky
Aaron Harrison, Kentucky
Tyler Harvey, Eastern Washington
Corey Hawkins, UC-Davis
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Arizona
Jonathan Holmes, Texas
Richaun Holmes, Bowling Green
R.J. Hunter, Georgia State
Vince Hunter, UTEP
Mouhammadou Jaiteh, Nanterre (France)
Dakari Johnson, Kentucky
Stanley Johnson, Arizona
Tyus Jones, Duke
Frank Kaminsky, Wisconsin
Kevon Looney, UCLA
Trey Lyles, Kentucky
Jarell Martin, LSU
Chris McCullough, Syracuse
Jordan Mickey, LSU
Larry Nance, Wyoming
Kelly Oubre, Kansas
Cameron Payne, Murray State
Terran Petteway, Nebraska
Bobby Portis, Arkansas
Norman Powell, UCLA
Michael Qualls, Arkansas
Chasson Randle, Stanford
Terry Rozier, Louisville
D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State
Keifer Sykes, Wisconsin-Green Bay
TaShawn Thomas, Oklahoma
Marcus Thornton, William & Mary
J.P. Tokoto, North Carolina
Myles Turner, Texas
Robert Upshaw, Washington
Rashad Vaughn, UNLV
Chris Walker, Florida
Dez Wells, Maryland
Aaron White, Iowa
Alan Williams, UC Santa Barbara
Justise Winslow, Duke
Christian Wood, UNLV
Delon Wright, Utah
Joseph Young, Oregon
