NBA Draft Wiretap

Milan Momcilovic has committed to Kentucky over Louisville, giving the Wildcats their most significant roster addition of the offseason and providing third-year coach Mark Pope with a much-needed recruiting win. His NIL agreement with Kentucky is in the range of $6 million, making him one of the three or four highest-paid players in college basketball next season, sources told CBS Sports.

The 6-foot-8 forward from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, averaged 16.9 points and 3.1 rebounds at Iowa State while shooting 48.7 percent from three-point range, earning All-Big 12 Second Team honors during the Cyclones' 29-win season. He ranks second in CBS Sports' top 100 transfer rankings for the 2026 cycle.

Momcilovic withdrew from the NBA Draft last Wednesday despite holding a second-round commitment, sources said, narrowing his options to Kentucky, Louisville, Arizona, and St. John's. Arizona dropped out due to insufficient financial resources, sources said, while St. John's exited after landing former Baylor forward Tounde Yessoufou. 

Momcilovic's commitment follows center Malachi Moreno's decision on May 24 to return to Kentucky after exploring NBA Draft options, completing a pivotal eight-day stretch that substantially improved the program's outlook heading into 2026-27.

A career 42.7 percent three-point shooter, Momcilovic joins a projected starting lineup that also includes Moreno, transfer guards Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins, and returning forward Kam Williams. Momcilovic and Moreno alone will command more than $10 million combined in NIL compensation next season.

Tennessee forward Nate Ament said he worked out for the Oklahoma City Thunder this week. 

Ament added that he worked out by himself, saying that the drills focused more on basketball concepts and conditioning.

"A lot of it was reading closeouts, understanding the game ... OKC specific. Like they already have their main creators, stuff like that, so being able to learn how to play off them. Quick decisions, one-two dribbles, shooting when there's a short closeout, driving when it's a hard closeout," said on The Kevin O’Connor Show.

It was reported this week that the Thunder are open to trading up in the draft. The team have the No. 12, No. 17, and No. 37 pick in the upcoming draft. 

NBA officials used a Thursday conference call with reporters to explain the reasoning behind the league's newly approved "3-2-1" draft lottery reform, addressing why investigation and financial penalties proved insufficient tools to deter widespread tanking during the 2025-26 season.

James Jones, the league's executive vice president of basketball operations, said the subjective nature of tanking investigations made enforcement nearly impossible.

"Having done a lot of these investigations and inquiries with teams, when you get to the place of investigating your way to an outcome, it's really hard to say that it's just not coaching error, bad player performance or some underlying basketball thing," said Jones. "It's all subjective. We want to be in a place where no matter the outcome of the game, you don't feel like you're better off if you lose. You can't punish your way to that."

Jones added that financial penalties carried little deterrent weight given the value of top lottery picks.

"The value of these picks and players is exponential. If it's a $10 million fine, is it worth it to just take the fine?" said Jones.

Byron Spruell, the NBA's president of league operations, framed the urgency plainly.

"We had to do something, and do something strong," Spruell said.

On the decision to tie pick restrictions to the pick rather than the team, executive vice president Evan Wasch said a team-based system invited manipulation.

"Teams could theoretically agree to trade right after the draft, skirting the restriction that way, or trade in advance to avoid the restriction and extract value some other way," said Wasch.

Adam Silver received expanded enforcement powers under the new rules, though officials described that provision as a fail-safe against unforeseen behavior rather than the primary mechanism for reform.

The Memphis Grizzlies acquired what they believed was an unprotected first-round pick from the Utah Jazz in February's Jaren Jackson Jr. trade. However, that pick is now top-five protected under the NBA's newly approved "3-2-1" lottery reform.

The restriction stems from Utah landing in the top five in both the 2025 and 2026 lotteries. Under the new system, prohibitions against landing in the top five in three consecutive years travel with the pick rather than the team, meaning Memphis now holds a less valuable asset than the one it negotiated.

The league did not grandfather the Grizzlies' pick or similar traded picks, a decision that drew immediate scrutiny. NBA executive vice president Evan Wasch defended the approach on a conference call with reporters Thursday.

"If you were to grandfather traded picks, you essentially differentiate those picks as being more valuable than all other picks," said Wasch. "That didn't feel like a systematically fair way to go about this."

The league informed all teams of this mechanism before Thursday's vote. Memphis was not the only franchise potentially affected. The Dallas Mavericks' situation with a 2027 top-two protected pick traded to Charlotte and the Houston Rockets' unprotected pick swap with Brooklyn were also cited as examples subject to the same restrictions.

The NBA's Board of Governors have voted to approve new anti-tanking rules that will take effect next season for the 2027 draft.

The draft lottery will expand from 14 to 16 teams along with flattened odds, and a relegation zone where the bottom three teams get penalized with decreased odds to land the No. 1 overall pick.

Adam Silver prioritized taking significant measures after the NBA received widespread criticism for the number of teams who were blatantly attempting to lose games to improve their lottery position ahead of the anticipated 2026 draft.

The actual drawing of the 2027 draft order is expected to be televised live as it was in the 1980s before the pingpong format.

The new rules are only assured to be in place for 2027, 2028 and 2029, as the league may move to a draft credit system as early as 2030. Under the concept, each franchise would receive an equal allotment of draft credits, 100 for simplicity's sake, rather than traditional first- and second-round picks. Teams would then bid those credits in an auction format, starting with the No. 1 overall selection and proceeding down the board.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have communicated to agents and opposition front offices that they are open to trading the No. 17 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, sources told Jake Fischer of The People's Insider.

The Thunder currently have the No. 12, No. 17, and No. 37 pick in the upcoming draft.

All 15 Thunder players are also under contract for next season.

Rival front offices have also mentioned the Thunder as a potential trade-up candidate considering the roster crunch. 

The Los Angeles Clippers' No. 5 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft is drawing "considerable curiosity" around the league, according to Jake Fischer of The People's Insider.

The Clippers received the pick from the Pacers following the Ivica Zubac trade at the deadline.

It was reported last month that Darius Garland and Ty Lue are the only certainties on the team to return next season. 

With the consensus top-four of AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cam Boozer and Caleb Wilson presumed to be off the board, the Clippers' decision-making could come down to whether to rebuild around Garland or trade the pick for a veteran to put alongside Kawhi Leonard. 

Arizona freshman Koa Peat will remain in the upcoming NBA Draft, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-8 freshman is currently projected as the No. 27 pick in the ESPN mock draft.

"Just trying to work on that as much as I can, trying to shoot the ball the same way every time," Peat told ESPN at the NBA draft combine earlier this month. "Trying to eliminate misses left and right, trying to miss long or short. Trying to focus on that."

Peat measured in with a 34.5 inch standing vertical, which was sixth among players in the combine.

Peat also shot just 6-of-25 in the spot-up drill and 7-of-25 in the three-point star drill, the second worst combined performance in the combine. 

Baylor guard Tounde Yessoufou has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and committed to St. John's for next season, sources told Shams Charania of ESPN.

Yessoufou was viewed as a potential first-round pick.

The former McDonald's All-American averaged 17.8 points and 5.9 rebounds as a freshman last year. 

Texas Tech guard Christian Anderson will stay in the NBA Draft, his agent Aaron Mintz of CAA Basketball told ESPN.

Anderson is currently ranked as the projected No. 16 pick in the most recent ESPN mock draft. 

"This is a dream I've worked toward my entire life, and the fact that it's now a real opportunity is something I don't take for granted," Anderson said. "I'm incredibly grateful for the chance to compete at the highest level in the world, and I'm ready to make the most of it."

The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 18.5 points and 7.4 assists last season.

Anderson was also the third best shooter across four shooting drills at the NBA draft combine and checked in with a 40.5-inch vertical leap.