It’s a who’s who of the NBA Draft class of 2018.
Names started leaking out of who was invited to the green room in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where the 2018 NBA Draft takes place Thursday night, and it’s who you’d expect. Every name you hear going in the lottery plus a few more very likely first rounders have gotten the invite. For those unfamiliar, the green room is a waiting/staging area just off stage where players wait for their name to be called before heading up on stage. (Other players likely to be drafted attend the event, but not all are in the green room.)
The one name missing: Luka Doncic. The reason is his Real Madrid team is still alive in the Spanish League playoffs. If the team loses on Tuesday he could be in Brooklyn Thursday, but that’s not expected.
Without Doncic, there are no European or non-college players in the green room, a rarity.
Here’s the best list we have as of now, courtesy Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony of ESPN:
Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, Jaren Jackson Jr., Mo Bamba, Collin Sexton, Trae Young, Wendell Carter Jr., Michael Porter Jr., Mikal Bridges, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Miles Bridges, Kevin Knox, Robert Williams, Lonnie Walker, Donte DiVincenzo, Zhaire Smith, Jerome Robinson, Chandler Hutchison, and Aaron Holiday.
