G-League shuts down presumptive No. 2 pick Scoot Henderson for season D’Angelo Russell reportedly wants to stay with Lakers, feeling mutual USA Basketball will not require players to sign up for World Cup to make Olympic roster Watch Brook Lopez, Trey Lyles get into scuffle at end of Bucks win against Kings Three things to Know: Bucks fight their way past Kings for victory

Think of it like all the potential NFL draft picks who skipped their bowl games for safety reasons.

G-League Ignite Closes Proposed No. 2 Pick Scoot Henderson until the end of the season, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Zhivoni.

Scoot Henderson, the proposed second overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft, has been drafted by the G League for the remainder of the Ignite season, a league official told ESPN. Ignite is unlikely to make the playoffs and G League thinks Henderson has shown enough this season.

— Jonathan Zhivoni (@DraftExpress) March 14, 2023

“I’m just ready. I’m trying to prepare for the next level,” Henderson told NBC Sports during All-Star Weekend. “I feel like I’m here.”

With Ignite at 11-16 and a G-League playoff appearance, the risk wasn’t worth the reward for Henderson. He entered the season as the presumed No. 2 pick and continued to cement that position, averaging 16.5 points and 6.8 assists per game in the Ignite regular season (after returning from a broken nose and a concussion). In the G-League Showcase, he averaged 21.2 points and 5.8 assists per game.

Henderson stumbled a little in the second half of the G-League season, and with Alabama’s Brandon Miller playing well as his team heads into the tournament, some teams are rethinking a possible No. 2 pick, Zivoni said.

Henderson is an elite athlete who has been compared to younger versions Russell Westbrook And Derrick Rose. He explodes to the limit, has a diverse set of points, and shows a natural feel for the game. He needs to polish – he shot 27.5% of 3 in the G-League season – but he has a maturity and a feeling that he knows what he has to do.

“I think it just has to fit my cast and be consistent as a speaker, as a communicator on the court, and as a leader,” Henderson said of what he’s working on ahead of the draft. “I think these are big things.”

This is a smart game by Henderson and the G-League. There’s nothing he can do to get ahead of Victor Wembanyama for the #1 seed in the June draft, and an injury or something else could knock him off his feet — time to lessen the risk of that surprise.

D’Angelo RussellGame 2 with the Lakers is much better than Game 1, 19.2 points and 6.2 assists per game on a very effective shooting percentage of 66.2. His point shot creation, combined with additions by Jared Vanderbilt and Malik Beasleyto make the Lakers look like a dangerous playoff team if they could just heal everyone at once.

Russell is happy and wants to stay with the Lakers. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN talked about Monday in the NBA Countdown (Real GM hat tip).

“D’Angelo Russell really wanted a second chance in LA with the Lakers and you saw the impact he had coming back against Toronto last night with a great win and again tonight. He wants to be the point guard of the future for this organization. He will become a free agent this summer.”

The Lakers showed mutual interest. The issue, as always, is money. Russell is making $31.2 million this season in the final year of a four-year, $117 million contract he signed in Minnesota. The parties could agree to extend the contract with this number, but what number do the parties consider fair? Miami Tyler Herro signed a four-year, $120 million contract last summer and Russell is likely to be at that level or worth a little more – very similar numbers to the money he’s making this season.

The Lakers have a lot of roster decisions to make this offseason beyond Russell: Austin Reeves And Rui Hachimura both are restricted free agents who will command eight figures a year, Dennis Schroeder and Lonnie Walker IV are unrestricted free agents, and if the Lakers return i am bamba for $10 million or let him go? WITH LeBron James And Anthony Davis eating up $87.5 million of the total on them alone, there may be limits to how much the Lakers can and will spend to bring the entire group together. And that’s not even to mention the rumors about other players wanting to come to LA (such as Kyrie Irvingalthough making it work financially is very difficult).

Russell showed himself in good shape upon his return to Los Angeles. The question is, will he stay this time?

When Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyszewski took their first steps to change the U.S. men’s basketball program nearly two decades ago, one of their first steps was a succession mandate: if a player wanted to be on the Olympic roster, he had to go to the Worlds too.

New USA Basketball president Grant Hill says it’s time to move on from that. Here is his quote via Brian Windhorst on ESPN:

“There is no obligation, no ‘if you want to play in the Olympics, you have to play here’,” Hill said on Monday… relation. So no trial, no commitment.”

“You have to adjust to the times,” Hills said. “If you look at the NBA, you will see that it has changed a lot. Since I retired in 2013, everything has changed. Every generation is different and it’s important for us as a leadership, especially for USA Basketball, to recognize that and be prepared to adapt to these changes.”

This isn’t entirely new, even for the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, American basketball has had no tryouts and cuts, and didn’t require participation in the previous World Cup (although the pandemic has pushed back the timing of all of that). Hill is taking the next step he needs to take if he wants to get the best American talent.

Part of the need for change can be placed at the feet of FIBA. The international governing body for basketball has changed its basketball calendar and now hosts the World Cup the year before the Olympics. Asking to participate in both events means that the player must withdraw from the national program in consecutive summers. While many players are still ready for it, given the NBA’s emphasis on rest and recovery, the very best (and often slightly older) players who use the off-season to rest and prepare their bodies for the NBA marathon won’t give up. two offseasons in a row.

Hill said he’s been talking to interested players about this year’s World Cup, but the roster is changing due to injuries, plus a long playoff period could weigh on some of the players US Basketball would like to have on the team. A roster of 12 will be named and they will start training camp this summer in Las Vegas before moving on to Abu Dhabi and eventually the World Championships in the Philippines.

The World Cup will take place this September and the US will play all its games in Manila (the US has already qualified). The 2024 Olympic Games are taking place in Paris. Warriors coach Steve Kerr will lead US basketball in both tournaments.