Bronny James has been cleared to make a full return to basketball following his cardiac arrest in late July.

James will resume practicing with USC next week and return to games soon after.

James is in his freshman season at USC.

USC guard Isaiah Collier is the new number one overall pick in ESPN's updated mock 2024 NBA Draft. Collier tops a field made up of NCAA players, overseas players and G League Ignited prospects.

Through his first seven games with the Trojans, Collier has averaged 17.7 points and 4.3 assists. The 6-foot-5 point guard is shooting an impressive 53.9% from the field, including 42.1% on three-pointers.

Behind Collier, ESPN's top-five includes Alex Sarr of the Perth Wildcats in Australia, Zaccharie Risacher of JL Bourg in France, Ja'Kobe Walter of Baylor and Ron Holland of G League Ignite.

Bryce James has transferred back to Sierra Canyon where he played his freshman and sophomore seasons. James will be eligible to play immediately as he didn't compete in any games for Notre Dame this season.

James split time between JV and varsity at Sierra Canyon and tallied 3.8 points per game in 12 varsity appearances for the Trailblazers as a sophomore. 

Jayden Quaintance has committed to Kentucky after reclassifying from 2025 to 2024.

Quaintance is the No. 14 player in the ESPN 100.

Because Quaintance just turned 16 in July, he will have to spend two years at Kentucky before entering the NBA draft.

Quaintance averaged 14.5 points and 11.1 rebounds in the Overtime Elite league last season, following it up by averaging 9.9 points and 6.2 rebounds with Team Thad on the Nike EYBL circuit this past spring and summer. 

The NBA has held discussions about extending the draft over the course of two days beginning as early as 2024.

Since going to a two-round format, the draft has always been held over one evening with five minutes between each first round pick and two minutes between each second round pick.

Spreading the draft over two nights would allow executives to have more time between picks in both the first and second rounds.

Many of the second round picks are made during commercials, most notably Nikola Jokic during a Taco Bell commercial in 2014.

Bronny James intends to return to practice and play for USC this season if he passes a medical examination later this month.

Bronny suffered cardiac arrest during a team workout in July and underwent successful surgery to repair what the James family referred to as a likely congenital heart defect.

"Things are going in the right direction with Bronny's progress," James said. "He's doing rehab. Every week he gets to do more and more and more. We have a big moment at the end of this month to see if we can continue to go forward. If he's cleared, we'll be not too long away from him being back on the floor and back with his teammates and practicing, with the notion of being back on the floor and playing in game situations."

Before the heart issue, James was a projected first round pick in the 2024 NBA draft.

The 2023-24 NCAA basketball season tips off on Monday. However, non-collegiate players top ESPN's 2024 NBA Draft prospect rankings.

Six of the top-10 prospects are playing for the G League Ignite or overseas teams. Ron Holland (#1 overall), Matas Buzelis (#6 overall) and Izan Almansa (#9 overall) are all playing for the Ignite this season. They are joined by Australia's Alex Sarr (#2 overall), France's Zaccharie Risacher (#5 overall) and Serbia's Nikola Topic (#10 overall) in the top-10.

The top ranked collegiate players are Isaiah Collier of USC (#3 overall), Justin Edwards of Kentucky (#4 overall) and Connecticut's Donovan Clingan (#7 overall) and Stephon Castle (#8 overall).

Cooper Flagg has committed to Duke University. Flagg is considered the likely top overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Flagg is a 6-foot-9 forward. The Maine native is finishing his high school career at Montverde Academy, which has produced dozens of NBA draft picks over the past decade. Flagg reclassified to graduate high school in 2024, so that he could attend college a year early.

In 2022, Flagg was a part of the United States gold medal team at the U17 World Cup. Flagg averaged 9.3 points, 10 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2.9 blocks as a 15-year-old.

AJ Dybantsa has reclassified to be part of the incoming college class of 2025, which will make him draft eligible in 2026.

Dybantsa is a 6'9 power forward at Prolific Prep in Napa, California. Dybantsa is now the No. 1 recruit in the incoming class ahead of Cameron Boozer.

Tyran Stokes, who also attends Prolific Prep, is now the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2026.

Dybantsa led the 17U Division of the Nike Peach Jam this summer averaging 25.8 points per game while adding 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. 

Alex Sarr has quickly emerged as a potential high lottery pick in 2024.

Sarr is 7-1 with a 7-5 wingspan and plays for the Perth Wildcats. Draft Express moved Sarr up from 19th in June to fifth in its latest mock draft.

“Sarr might go first,” said one unnamed NBA general manager to The Ringer.

Sarr has elite potential on defense and is multi-dimensional on offense. 

Sarr was asked by The Ringer what he loves about basketball.

“The endless things you can improve on. I think it never stops,” Sarr said. “I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point in my career where you do everything great. There’s always something that you can work on.”