NBA Draft Basketball 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.

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. 

The NBA's 3-2-1 system is expected to be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, but it may be replaced in three seasons with an entirely new concept called a draft credit system as early as the 2030 draft, sources tell The Athletic.

The draft credit system is viewed by league sources as the leading contender to take effect as it is favored by a number of team executives. The league will initiate a study of it once the 3-2-1 reform passes.

Under a draft credit system, the direct link between regular-season record and draft position would be severed entirely, which is a complete departure from the current lottery structure.

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 trade implications would be equally significant. Instead of exchanging actual draft picks for veteran players, front offices could offer portions of their credit allotment, say 40 of 100 credits, to acquiring teams. Those teams could then accumulate credits to outbid rivals for top selections.

The mechanism draws comparisons to waiver wire budgets in fantasy football, where teams bid finite currency on available players rather than operating on a fixed priority order.

Amin Elhassan proposed a similar system that abolished the draft as early as 2015.

The Sacramento Kings are reportedly focused on adding a guard with the seventh overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. One ballhandler the Kings are "enamored" with is Darius Acuff Jr. from Arkansas.

As a freshman for the Razorbacks, Acuff averaged 23.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game. The 6-foot-2 point guard also put up 48/44/81 shooting splits. The three-point efficiency came on 5.8 attempts per game.

The Kings do not have a long-term answer at the lead guard position. Devin Carter hasn't developed as hoped for after being drafted in 2024. Last season's primary starting point guard was Russell Westbrook, who isn't seen as a lock to return to the team.

Sacramento may be turning towards a rebuild, with veterans DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis all reportedly available in trade talks. Drafting a player like Acuff to pair with Keegan Murray, and last year's draftees Maxime Raynaud and Nique Clifford, would give the Kings a new core to build around.

The Atlanta Hawks are still in process of revamping their point guard position in the wake of trading Trae Young last season. The Hawks hope part of that process includes re-signing C.J. McCollum, who was acquired as a part of the Young deal.

McCollum appeared in 41 regular season games for Atlanta with 25 starts. The veteran guard then started in all six of the Hawks first-round playoff games.

Even if McCollum is back in the fold, the Hawks could add more guard depth at the 2026 NBA Draft. Atlanta has the eighth overall pick in the draft, as a result of last year's draft-day trade with the New Orleans Pelicans.

Guards available when Atlanta picks could include prospects like Keaton Wagler, Mikel Brown Jr., Darius Acuff Jr., or Kingston Flemings. If all of those guards are off the board, the Hawks could target adding size by drafting center Aday Mara.

The NBA has distributed its updated Draft Lottery reform proposal to team owners ahead of a May 28 vote, with new details clarifying how consecutive-draft restrictions will work, sources tell Yahoo's Kevin O'Connor. 

The "3-2-1" framework allocates 37 lottery balls across 16 teams. The three lowest-ranked teams receive two balls each (5.4% odds), teams four through eight receive three (8.1%), play-in seeds nine and 10 receive two (5.4%), and the seven-versus-eight play-in loser receives one (2.7%). All 16 lottery picks would be drawn, with the three worst-record teams unable to fall below 12th.

Commissioner Adam Silver would gain expanded authority to penalize tanking by adjusting lottery odds or pick placement.

A key clarification concerns the anti-consecutive-draft rule where no team can land the first pick in back-to-back drafts, or finish in the top five in three straight drafts. Sources confirm the streak attaches to the original team, not the pick's current holder.

"In the event a team's pick is drawn in the lottery in a position where it is not permitted to be, then such team's pick would be moved down to the first permissible position," the league wrote in its proposal.

The rules are also applied retroactively. The Washington Wizards, who won the 2026 lottery, cannot land first again in 2027. The Utah Jazz, which selected fifth in 2025 and second in 2026, cannot finish in the top five in 2027. Utah traded that pick to the Memphis Grizzlies for Jaren Jackson Jr., meaning the Grizzlies would be barred from receiving a top-five selection under the streak clause.

The retroactive clock also creates complications for existing trades. The Houston Rockets hold swap rights to the Phoenix Suns' unprotected first via the Kevin Durant deal. If Phoenix lands fifth in 2027 and third in 2028, Houston's acquired pick could not finish in the top five in 2029, retroactively reducing the value of a trade completed in July 2025.