Nigel Hayes but no Bronson Koenig @ NBA Combine
The NBA announced the list of attendees for the 2017 Combine has one senior Badger leader but only one
The NBA Combine list for 2017 includes Nigel Hayes but not Bronson Koenig. Disappointing for Koenig as the NBA Combine is the best place to show your talents to NBA talent evaluators, but that should not foreclose his NBA dreams by any stretch. However,
I looked at the 2016 NBA Combine List and compared that to the 2016 NBA Draft picks to see how many players were picked who were not at the Combine.
Here are the numbers I found comparing the two lists. Please note, I did not include #1 overall pick Ben Simmons who skipped the Combine which is not uncommon for top selections. They may elect to just do private workouts with individual teams instead.
- 18 of the 60 draft picks did not attend the Combine
- 7 of the 18 picks were drafted in the 1st round
- 7 of the 18 picks played in the NBA last season
- 5 of the 7 1st round picks played in the NBA last season
- 4 of the 18 picks played NCAA basketball
- 14 of the 18 picks played professionally in Europe or Asia
- 4 of the 18 picks were selected by Boston
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The trend is fairly clear. Teams will tend to pick guys who play professionally abroad as a “draft and stash.” You can do this to avoid paying their salary and having to make a roster place for them. This article from the Boston Globe offers a nice summation:
"“Draft and stash” players do not count against an NBA team’s salary cap or roster limit. The teams simply hold the rights to those players as long as they play for a non-NBA team, or until they trade or relinquish those rights.Some overseas clubs require multimillion-dollar buyouts for their premium players, dissuading players from breaking those pacts, and an NBA team is only allowed to pay $650,000 of a buyout before it then counts against the players’ rookie contract.Also, if a player waits three years to join an NBA roster, he is no longer limited to the constraints of a rookie contract and can sign a multiyear deal with the club worth more than what he would have earned in that initial rookie deal."
So if an NBA team is in a cap crunch or has a full roster it makes no sense to draft a guy you can’t afford or use right now. So let the prospect get professional minutes (even if not NBA-level competition) and have someone else pick up the tab. Koenig could be picked later and slotted in the NBA DLeague. Here is an explainer referencing a recent rule change enabling a sort of “draft and stash in the NBA minor league’s system.
"NBA teams can utilize this rule by declining to sign a drafted player to an NBA contract and instead having him sign a contract with the NBA D-League. A player’s status as a draft rights player supersedes any other NBA D-League player rights — meaning he will automatically play for the NBA team’s minor-league affiliate."
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If Koenig is not drafted, he could pursue a professional basketball career overseas. Otherwise, if he wants to stay in the U.S. he could tryout and earn a spot for NBA Summer League before likely ending up in the DLeague in the near term. Not being invited to the NBA Combine may make the professional road a little longer, but it can still lead to the NBA.