For almost two weeks while Capital One Arena has transformed into a red heaven for hockey fanatics, the sound of bouncing basketballs has been absent.
During this stretch that has belonged to the Washington Capitals and their quest for the Stanley Cup, there’s been little peep out of their arena neighbors, the Washington Wizards. Late last month, the Wizards hosted three consecutive pre-draft workouts that brought in 18 prospects. Since May 23, things have appeared to be quiet on the basketball front. But in their search for the No. 15 pick in this month’s NBA draft, the Wizards have been busy working away from Washington.
Team executives and scouts have spent the last few weeks bouncing around gymnasiums from Southern California to Northern Italy.
On Tuesday, Wizards’ personnel concluded a visit to the NBA Global Camp, a combine for 40 international players held at the La Ghirada Sports Center in Treviso, Italy.
During the last week of May, various sports agencies invited NBA teams to watch workouts in Los Angeles featuring draft-bound clients. The Wizards attended several of those workouts, which included players represented by BDA Sports, CAA, Catalyst Sports and Wasserman Media Group. Within the coming weeks, a handful of these prospects may warrant a second look when the Wizards return home to host more pre-draft sessions at Capital One Arena.
In the Wasserman workout, the Wizards saw a player who has been projected to land at No. 15 in the latest Sports Illustrated mock draft. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a 6-foot-6 point guard out of Kentucky, will likely become the fifth point guard taken in the first round during John Calipari’s nine-year run as the Wildcats head coach. While his freshman numbers did not exactly stack up with the most renowned one-and-done Kentucky point guard, Washington’s all-star John Wall, Gilgeous-Alexander made a quick ascension. In the preseason, he was not mentioned in ESPN’s top 100 draft class list but went on to average 14.4 points and 5.1 assists per game and became the Southeastern Conference tournament MVP.
If the Wizards want to pursue more backcourt help, then they could also consider Lonnie Walker IV, a 6-4 shooting guard from Miami who participated in the Catalyst Sports agency workout. Walker, who has been projected in the 10-20 draft range, is another teenage one-and-done player and has already worked out with the Charlotte Hornets, the team with the 11th pick. During his only season with the Hurricanes, Walker averaged 11.5 points per game and shot 34.6 percent from the three-point arc but his 6-10 wingspan could be one of his top assets as a perimeter defender.
Another interesting prospect, 6-9 Texas A&M big man Robert Williams, showcased his skills at the BDA agency workout. Williams is unlike any player in the Wizards’ rotation: a young, athletic big who blocks shots and possesses rim-running athleticism. After the Wizards were bounced from the first round of the playoffs, Wall said the team needed an athletic big to improve its roster. With limited financial flexibility, finding someone like Williams in the draft seems like a desirable route to fill that need.
By the end of this week, the team will send representatives to the Priority Sports workout in Chicago before returning to Washington to resume the pre-draft process.
Read more: