Round 1, No. 7: Portland Trail Blazers draft Donovan Clingan (2024)

NEW YORK — Years of speculation have finally ended. Bronny James, the eldest son of Lakers star LeBron James, indeed has a home in the NBA, on his father’s team.

Bronny James, one of the most highly scrutinized amateur basketball players of the last decade, was taken 55th overall Thursday night in the NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. The selection capped 12 long months of guessing about James’ place in the game, which included questions about whether he could compete professionally following a cardiac arrest.

“My dream has always just been to put my name out, make a name for myself, and, of course, get to the NBA,” James said at the NBA Draft Combine in May.

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Full second-round results

Full first-round results

The Portland Trail Blazers selected 20-year-old Connecticut center Donovan Clingan with the No. 7 pick.

The Athletic NBA Draft analyst Sam Vecenie on Clingan: It’s hard not to see Clingan turning into at least an average starting center in the NBA when he’s on the court. He has All-Defense-caliber upside. He’s utterly enormous and is elite at executing drop pick-and-roll coverage. He takes up an immense amount of space in the lane and his sheer presence should give his team strong defensive minutes around the rim.

I also think there’s more to Clingan offensively than meets the eye. He’s a sharp passer and playmaker away from the rim, sees the court well and is a strong screener. His presence on the court will help everyone else on the team in subtle ways.

I don’t expect him to display the scoring or playmaking upside of someone like Domantas Sabonis, so it’s hard to project All-Star outcomes for Clingan. Even Gobert is a stretch, as he’s more mobile than Clingan ever will be on defense. But I think Clingan can settle in just below that tier and maybe sniff an All-Star Game if things break right, like Jarrett Allen did back in 2022. The keys for Clingan are staying healthy and maintaining his conditioning — two things that have gone together for him over the last two years. If he’s able to stay on the court, he’ll have a valuable NBA career that has a good chance to return top-five value in this class.

Before the draft, an Eastern Conference executive compared Tidjane Salaun, who went No. 6 to Charlotte, with top overall pick and fellow Frenchman Zaccharie Risacher.

(Salaun's) a little bit of a late bloomer. He's switching from being a post player into a wing. He's really progressed at a very, very fast rate. He was very interesting in European competition as kind of a tweener four/five. Now he's playing more like a four/three. He shoots this 3 and it's like a moon ball. It looks like it’s going to come together, because he’s shooting a decent percentage. But when he shoots it, you’re like, damn. He gets a lot of air under it. But it looks good. He holds his followthrough. You can tell he reps it out. It’s not like it’s some broken shot. He guards. He has a motor. He wants to sort of dominate his competition. When he hits shots, he has a little more emotion.

Risacher is more flat-line, no real emotion, just does his job. This kid wants to dunk on you, scream at you. He wants to block your shot; he wants to talk s—. He’s got a little juice. For him, it’s developing consistency as a full-time wing player. But he’s grown, too. This dude is 6-10, a legit 6-10 wing. When you see it, these aren’t highlights. This is who he is. He comes in transition, he’s trying to dunk it. You throw a lob to him, he’s trying to do a chin-up. And he wants to play NBA basketball. Risacher, he’s going to be a European-style player playing in the NBA. Tidjane, he’s going to be like an NBA player playing in the NBA.

This has been rumored in the days leading up to the draft. I like Tidjane Salaun’s upside but see it as more speculative – I had him 16th on my board, so taking him at No. 6 without trading down feels like a reach.

Meanwhile, I get Donovan Clingan would have overlapped with incumbent Mark Williams, but man, that’s a pretty bold move to pass up Clingan here.

The other question his pick brings up – is this a sign that the Hornets don’t think they’ll keep Miles Bridges in free agency?

Ron Holland's high school resume:

• 123-8 overall record
• 26-0 in UIL state playoffs
• 1500-plus total points
• 900-plus total rebounds
• Two-time USA gold medalist (13-0)
• McDonalds All-American
• Nike Hoop Summit
• G-League Ignite
• NBA first-round pick

The Charlotte Hornets selected 18-year-old Cholet forward Tidjane Salaun with the No. 6 pick.

The Athletic NBA Draft analyst Sam Vecenie on Salaun: Salaun is the wild card of this year’s draft class. His movement fluidity at 6-9 is remarkable. While he’s not overly explosive, his ability to maintain his balance at that size as a teenager is impressive. He also flashes some serious skills that make one wonder how high his upside lies. On top of that, he plays hard. There’s a confidence to his actions on the court. It’s easy to buy into him becoming a good player at some point because he seems to care and is always engaged on the court.

Yet it’s also clear Salaun is not ready to play effectively in the NBA at this stage. He struggled at times to be a positive player in a French league for the first two-thirds of the season. His jumper has potential, but it’s not there yet. His handle is loose. The passing flashes are there, but they’re just flashes. Defensively, he’s active and energetic, but it’s a mixed bag at this moment even with the in-season improvement.

Teams must parse through a lot here, so Salaun won’t be for everyone. Teams with strong developmental track records who are willing to put in multiple years of effort could come away with a terrific player down the road. Just don’t expect immediate results in his rookie season.

Before the draft, an Eastern Conference executive had this to say about Ron Holland, the surprise No. 5 pick by the Detroit Pistons.

I’m a Ron Holland fan. I don’t like his shot, and it’s going to take some time to fix it. But he does everything else pretty well. He gets downhill hard. He’s not afraid. He gets to the basket and gets fouled. Good athlete, long. He’s got alpha mentality. I’m a fan of Ron’s. Shooting always gets better, and hopefully the team will have a shooting coach that can help him. I think it’s form right now, because he brings it to the left side of his body and shoots it on the wrong side of his head. And it has to be a more consistent release point. He’s just got to rep it out and get confidence knocking down shots.

There are several front office executives from various teams that I talked to today who would've taken Reed Sheppard as the first overall pick.

He has so many indications, both from his on-court game and from the underlying numbers, that he's a player who has both a high floor and possibly even star potential.

While it's no surprise Houston ended up selecting Sheppard, the franchise has to be satisfied getting someone who fits so seamlessly no matter what the team does with its roster construct going forward.

I would've liked Cody Williams or Devin Carter more for the Pistons because I believe they're more definite impact players.

And the Pistons need to find some positive impact on the court. This is still a good "risk" for them because Ron Holland can really play and he has a lot of potential. Donovan Clingan falling past the top five is a surprise here, but it has to be enticing some trade calls to Charlotte and Portland right.

Yes! I love it! Ron Holland was the number 1 guy on my board, and I was absolutely perplexed that he was falling so far in mock draft world when his output at G League Ignite was superior to that of several other recent lottery picks.

Holland may struggle out of the gate as he works on his shooting and halfcourt reads, but the Pistons shouldn’t be in win-now mode and badly need a second wing creator to help Cade Cunningham. This is a great pick to start off the Trajan Langdon era in Detroit.

The Detroit Pistons selected 18-year-old G League Ignite wing/forward Ron Holland with the No. 5 pick.

The Athletic NBA Draft analyst Sam Vecenie on Holland: I’ve changed my evaluation of Holland more than any other player in this class. I often struggle to project players like Holland who haven’t demonstrated consistent feel for the game. His shooting is an issue; he’s willing to take them, but he made just 24 percent and must clean up his mechanics. However, he possesses a ton of basketball character, and it shows in how he attacks the game. He’s the ultimate loose-ball guy. His energy is infectious. He plays incredibly hard and competes all the time. On top of that, he’s a remarkable athlete with functional burst on the ground and foundational strength to avoid getting dislodged.

Even if his shooting and feel don't come around and he doesn’t turn into a star, could he play a similar role as Aaron Gordon, doing all of the dirty work around the court to help teams win? Holland’s G League season made people forget that he has won every single place he’d been prior to that. He’s willing to do the stuff other players don’t want to do. In the end, there are a lot of outs for wings with his mix of production, effort competitiveness, so I kept him in my top 10.

While I would've risked the top pick on Alex Sarr because of his size and potential, I believe Stephon Castle is the best player in this draft.

I'm a little concerned with his insistence that he's a lead guard at the NBA level. He's not. And the jump shot needs to improve dramatically in order to be a true threat on offense.

However, he can score in a lot of different ways. And you've got a defensive combination of Castle and Wemby moving forward. The Spurs could shut down a lot of offense with just those two out there.

Before the draft, an Eastern Conference executive had this to say about Stephon Castle, who was just selected No. 4 overall by the San Antonio Spurs.

They knock his shooting, and it needs to get better. But it's not bad, and it’s gotten better. To me, he’s the best chance of any of them to be an All-Star. He can play the one. He's got a great feel. Can handle it. He's a really good passer.

Is he a true one right now? Probably not. But he's still better than most of the ones in the league right now. The (shooting) mechanics are good. This year at UConn he was much improved. … He's got a great feel, great floor game. If he drops to San Antonio (at four), oh, my God. They’re going to be a b---h.

So I guess the idea of pairing Donovan Clingan with Victor Wembanyama was a smokescreen.

I had Stephon Castle second on my board and really like the fit in San Antonio, where the Spurs need to upgrade their perimeter talent on both sides of the ball. Castle also will likely get plenty of chances to play on the ball given the Spurs’ dearth of point guard talent, which is notable given his stated preference of playing the point.

His shooting is a question, but his ability to guard immediately and his high long-term ceiling make this a great pick. The Spurs have another selection at 8, by the way, so stay tuned.

Immediately following the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka stressed the need to add shooting to the roster, arguably the biggest reason why Houston's offensive efficiency ranked in the bottom third of the league.

Reed Sheppard visited the Rockets facility last weekend and was said to have a positive workout, with Houston's brass surprised by his in-person athleticism and intangibles. Sheppard is the best shooter in this draft class and combines that with on-court maturity, able to run an offense or can also play off the ball.

Udoka's rotation is largely set in stone, but with what Sheppard brings to the table — especially offensively — there will be minutes available.

Reed Sheppard has short arms, isn't very tall, and I'm not certain he's quick enough to get his shot off consistently at the NBA level. I seem to be in the minority because while his numbers certainly impress, there are real physical limitations.

We've seen players game the system with measuring well athletically at the combine and it not exactly translating to actual basketball play. Is anybody certain that Sheppard will be more productive than Payton Pritchard? And I don't just mean at the end of quarters.

The San Antonio Spurs selected 19-year-old Connecticut guard/wing Stephon Castle with the No. 4 pick.

The Athletic NBA Draft analyst Sam Vecenie on Castle: Castle is polarizing this year because of his jumper. If you believe the touch he’s shown from the free-throw line and around the rim will translate and you think his mechanics are workable, you will probably be higher on him. If you think he doesn’t have enough of a baseline level as a shooter, you probably rank him in the later portion of the lottery. Castle is my No. 3 player this year because I buy his jumper improving in time, and if it does, he has as much upside as any player in this class.

He’s a potential big initiator who can already pass and is comfortable in ball screens. He’s elite on defense and has already showed that he can play a high-level role on a winning team. His floor is as a contributor who helps you win important games, even in the NBA, due to his defensive prowess and on-ball ability. If his jumper ever develops, he’s one of the few players in this class with a realistic All-Star ceiling. He’s an uncertain bet, but there are no sure things in this class. Castle is a player who could pay off most if things turn out well, but he also has a higher-end floor if it doesn’t.

In the weeks before the draft, a Western Conference executive sized up Reed Sheppard, who went to the Houston Rockets with the No. 3 pick.

Sheppard, he fits everywhere. Because he can pass, he can dribble, he can shoot. And if you have those three things every single night, which he’ll do, he can fluctuate. Tonight, I don’t need to shoot and score it as much; I’m going to facilitate and pass it. I’m going to get us into our stuff.

Teams are going to test him. They’re going to go at him. He blends in nice and easy, not a lot of fanfare. But you pick up the stat sheet, he had 14 or 16 (points), four or five rebounds, seven or eight assists, and he just walks out of the arena, and no one knows who he is.

This pick had been rumored to be available for trade, but it appears the Rockets couldn’t find the offer it wanted and zoomed in on Reed Sheppard. He’s a great fit for a team that struggled with shooting last season, and a player I had rated very highly regardless of destination.

I could easily see him outperforming the first two picks, in fact.

Alex Sarr will be tasked with covering up the defensive mistakes of Jordan Poole for as long as the guard is in the rebuilding plans of the Wizards. That's about as much baptism by fire as a prospect can go through.

It might be imperative that Tyus Jones re-signs in order for him to get an easier transition into the offensive portion of learning the NBA. But I love the pick for Washington and would have taken him first overall because of the size and potential skill set.

With no clearcut top guy, he was the "risk" to take.