ESPN Breaking: New York Knicks select forward Mohamed Diawara with No. 51 pick in 2025 NBA Draft

ESPN Breaking: New York Knicks select forward Mohamed Diawara with No. 51 pick in 2025 NBA Draft

apron Malikica and they’re not sure if they could keep both Sam Merrill and Ty Derel their free agents proctor would be able to replace one of them if they kept one and now their Eastern Conference foe the New York Knicks are on the clock spike Lee has been pacing around a little bit as we get ready for this selection but the New York Knicks still no head coach here after firing Tom Tibido hey it’s just he’s she’s right sorry Spike they haven’t been able to to secure that yet bob if you’re leading that search what does it look like i don’t know Malikica it’s a tough search i mean give Spike something to hope for spike I mean what do you want i guess that’s the question this is No see even Spike doesn’t know how am I supposed to know spike doesn’t know but I look it’s it’s a it’s a challenging thing to find the right coach let’s just put it that way it’s not easy well uh you can forget about some of these guys because their their teams have refused to allow the Knicks to interview them looks like James Berago who nearly got the Cavaliers job last year will be the next coach up to interview it was pretty surprising the Knicks made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals this past season it was their first appearance since 2000 spike Lee was at every single one of those games even missing red carpets to make sure that he could be there Jay in order for them to take the next step i’m not sure it just starts with the coach here well I I think it does i I was shocked at that uh maybe I shouldn’t be shocked by given how quickly coaches get fired in the NBA in college but I was really shocked at that one tom Tibido I thought did a great job there let’s give Spike something to cheer about the pick is in let’s send it back to the podium to see New York selection here [Applause] with the 50th pick in the 2025 NBA draft the New York Knicks select Kobe Sanders from the University of Nevada kobe Sanders the first player drafted out of Nevada since Jaylen Harris in 2020 jay he started his career at Calpali played four years there and you’d probably call him a late bloomer but Kobe Sanders has good size a very good skill level he’s an excellent path he’s got good feel really good vision and he’s become a good pull-up shooter he’s got a step back move he just strides to the rim and finishes well uh I wouldn’t call him an elite athlete but he’s one of those guys that knows how to play shot 46% on his dribble pull-ups knocked down 41 threes on the year and averaged just about 16 points a game and now the the Los Angeles Clippers are on the clock at 51 shams has some news for us what you got Shams kobe Sanders spike you can stand up again kobe Sanders actually got traded to the Los Angeles Clippers so the 50th overall pick is now to the Clippers obviously just went so the Knicks have traded Kobe Sanders to the Clippers all right Kobe Sanders now on his way to the Los Angeles Clippers which means I couldn’t sit down he can’t sit down yet shams thank you so very much for that insight i guess that means we can talk a little bit more about New York and what their offseason plans are here Bobby well they’ve got their top seven players under contract and they’re certainly going to be a priority to improve their bench now we talked about the head coaching search free agency starts in 4 days how do you go out and and identify free agents when you don’t know who your coach is going to be Bob well I’ll tell you this uh there may not be or this opening for a head coach i don’t know that there’s a better head coach opening a more ready roster with a diminished East the Knicks could be and Spike’s gonna like what I’m about to say they could be the favorites to go to the finals you know Spike you guys got a good team you just need a coach you just need a coach bob what’s what’s amazing is out of the f the four or five teams in the top teams they’re the last men standing with these injuries they’re the only ones who have not endured injuries i mean what now now the question is Cleveland’s had some but short term yep yep i mean does a coach want those expectations but but if you’re an aspiring coach or any coach for that matter a coach that hasn’t coached coach that has what better opportunity to take the New York Knicks in a in a diminished East chance to go to the finals a good chance shams has a little bit more insight for us on this shams yeah now this 51st pick is actually the New York Knicks pick so we saw a 50 51 swap essentially still trying to figure out exactly what went to the Knicks for this swap i’m sure some consideration of cash so Spike you can stand back up who was it who was it that someone had a Spike thank you cash considerations was put on a jersey for one of your Jordan Bell that was Jordan Bell that’s right cash considerations we paved the park we paved the parking lot cuz we got cash considerations back we did you also you traded the were part of trading the pick ended up in Draymond Green we did a salary dump we sent uh Trey Troy Murphy for Brandon Wright and Dan Godzurich and that’s a warning to teams to be careful trading future second round picks that turn into Draymond Green bobby that’s not a fair that’s not fair what a great move Bobby yeah right yeah yeah we all do it all i don’t think that was even so now New York is on the clock here at 51 after swapping with the Los Angeles Clippers the Los Angeles Clippers had a heck of a run Brian through the Western Conference they took Oklahoma City there’s some really interesting games here rather they played against Denver in that round yeah that Denver a game that round against Denver didn’t feel like a first round series it felt like maybe a conference final series i had a phrase up saying Oklahoma City it felt that hard-nosed you know it was interesting um you know there the general manager I think was Ty Lou or general manager Lawrence Frank said yesterday that Kawhi Leonard went ahead and kept on working out through the entire spring into June to mimic what it would be like to get back to the NBA finals to prepare his body for it so I’m not sure what to make of that i like when he’s healthy and if he’s healthy right now that’s a good sign all right this pick again spike it’s time for you to stand up because it’s headed to the New York Knicks let’s see who they select with the 51st pick in the 2025 NBA draft the LA Clippers select Mohamad Diawara from Paris France and Francis Cholay Basque mohamd on his way here to the New York Knicks he was actually an early entrance in the 2024 NBA draft but withdrew and now here’s his name called in the second round of the 2025 draft all right the 2025 NBA draft second round will be back after this with a 52 pick [Music] selected Alex Tui Jonathan malikica the third Australian we’ve seen selected and the third member of the NBA Global Academy tough smart energetic forward in a Jetty Ozman mode standing 611 in shoes 6’11 wingspan strong feel for the game two-way versatility uh gets in passing lanes do a little bit of everything in both ends of the floor uh intriguing pick for here for the Golden State Warriors again yeah you’re seeing the Phoenix Suns on the screen but this pick is on its way to the Golden State Warriors the Warriors they lost in the conference semi-finals to the Timberwolves steph Curry of course got hurt in game one but this is a little bit of an older group with Steph Draymond Green uh and Jimmy Butler although they would disagree they would say no they still they still are young at heart but Bob this is a group that if they want to get another one the lead to do that is running out yeah but they still I mean look you can doesn’t matter I suppose but I think if Curry’s healthy that at least they give Minnesota a good shot there so they would say they would win and that’s what they should say but you’re seeing players play a lot longer now i mean look at LeBron James i mean it it feels Steph Curry doesn’t look like he’s slowing down much and Jimmy Butler was very very good and Draymond Green was very effective and all NBA player so I think yes yes to your question they don’t have as much time as they did but they do have time the concern for the Warriors in a lot of these teams is can you make it through the gauntlet of the West mhm it’s it’s an attrition it’s a war of attrition now to get past all these teams cuz the West I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many teams going for it going for the playoffs i don’t know how many teams in the West raise their hands say we’re not trying to win it used to be four five six teams would do that but but nowadays by the way there room is huge i had a smaller room i didn’t have that many people well got a lot smarter when I left place but Chase Center has larger digs all right the next pick is in let’s send it back to the podium to see the Utah Jazz selection with the 53rd pick in the 2025 NBA draft the Utah Jazz select John Tan from the University of Wisconsin john Tan played four seasons Jay at Colorado State and another at Missouri before playing at Wisconsin just had a great year at Wisconsin john Ton has a strong frame he’s tough he’s aggressive a good shooter with a high release and a good driver and he’s very good on the move but it’s his physicality he just bullied his way to the free throw line over and over again this year he made the most free throws of any player this last year in division one basketball in college made 231 free throws on the season he had 30-point games against AP top 10 teams three times and had 41 uh against Arizona early in the season i mean he probably shot 40 free throws in that game he lived at the foul line and next up on the clock it’s the Indiana Pacers the defending Eastern Conference champs uh we’re still working through it right now but um this pick is actually in talks to being traded but we’ll report back when we have more i’m going to come back to you in just a second we caught Shams working in real time here Brian trying to see where this pick could be headed at least right now the Memphis Grizzlies have this pick but a couple of picks ago we saw the Indiana Pacers on the clock and Indiana made a move in the finals it didn’t seem like that big of a deal but it became a bigger one after unfortunate the Pacers are preparing to resign Miles Turner and they were facing potentially going into the luxury tax for the first time in 20 years and so I think they wanted to clear out some space they traded away this year’s first round pick for next year’s first round pick they got their pick back and that really takes on extra significance because of the Hallebertton injury we’re not sure where they’re going to be and I will also point out they made a trade yesterday for the 38th pick in this draft which they used on guard Cam Jones which potentially could help fill in some of the space that Hallebertton leaves being injured again initially they had that number 23 pick but now they get their 2026 pick back that could be incredibly valuable all right Shams is ready shams what you got malikica so I’m told this pick right here is not going to be Memphis’s at 56 it’s going to the Golden State Warriors they’re looking at several players florida’s Will Richard is one of the players that the Warriors in their draft headquarters are looking strongly into 59 now will go to Memphis 59 will go to Memphis shams thank you we should mention there are only 59 picks in this draft because of a tampering penalty for the New York Knicks stemming from Jaylen Brunson back in 2022 but this pick is in on its way to the Golden State Warriors let’s send it back to Deputy Commissioner Tatum we have another trade to announce as part of a deal to be finalized later the Phoenix Suns are trading to the Golden State Warriors the draft rights to Alex Tui the 52nd pick with the 56th pick in the 2025 NBA draft the Memphis Grizzlies select Will Richard from the University of Florida will Richards part of the highest scoring trio in Florida history jay started his career at Belmont transferred to Florida and he’s a versatile shooter a catch and shoot guy but also really good as a straight line driver and an excellent finisher around the rim shot about 70% at the rim you would call him an offball scoring threat but he also gets steals he’s a good defender solid and made 83 threes this last year shooting about 37% from three scored a team high 18 points in that national championship game 14 of which came in the first half so really got them off to a good start so just to reiterate we have the Golden State Warriors of 56 now it is 57 the Celtics 58 the Cavaliers and 59 the Memphis Grizzlies picks fly in the second round bob what why do you make a move like that if you’re the Warriors or any team when you’re looking at these late second round picks that fly around a whole lot well it’s changed i mean it used to be you had to roster roster guys and Bobby and I talked about this these are I don’t know this but I think I know it these are two-way contracts being given out at this point teams are calling these agents and saying “If I draft him will you sign a two-way?” If if the agent says no a lot of times they say “Well we’re going to draft somebody else.” And Bobby and I spoke about that and and you saw it last year with Golden State when they drafted Quinton Post and they had him on a two-way contract and then they eventually converted and he certainly played well down the stretch of the season but you mentioned earlier wanting to explain just reiterating what a two-way contract exactly is i think that would be helpful yeah 15 players on the roster you’re allowed to have a two-way spot they would count as a spot 16 17 or 18 maximum of three roughly $600,000 salary which is a nice little bonus you’re not eligible for the playoffs here but you can get converted during the regular season and it does allow you to control the player and that’s why you see teams jumping around around here because when the draft ends your ability to get these players it’s a free-for-all and the draft doesn’t end Malikica when when our draft ends they keep going cuz a lot of players that didn’t get drafted tonight are very attractive still to teams a lot of those guys will go on two ways as well well it’s a two-way basically it’s a dual contract which means you’re going to spend most of your time in the G- League you can spend what up to 50 50 50 games 50 games well we saw last year Justin Edwards went undrafted went on a 2A and then eventually had his contract converted by the 76ers and then you’re right the draft does continue in a sense after we sign off this evening that’s when agents are on the phone talking to different teams about which players they might want to join as a as a uh undrafted player a few years ago Lou Dort’s phone rang shortly after he didn’t get drafted he’s now a champion and a key player for the Oklahoma City Thunder and there are several players who have that stories by the way Lou Dort will be joining NBA today tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 Eastern hear from him and you can hear his story about going from undrafted to a champion and so often we see those players wear that as a real badge as a part of their journey so now again it is the Golden State Warriors 56 the Celtics at 57 and the Cleveland Cavaliers at 58 i’m keeping notes as we go let’s send it back to the podium we have another trade to announce as part of a deal to be finalized later the Los Angeles Lakers are trading to the Chicago Bulls the draft rights to Lachlan the 55th pick with the 57th pick in the 2025 NBA draft the Orlando Magic select Max Schulga from Kev Ukraine and Virginia Commonwealth University [Applause] max Scholga from VCU he averaged 15 points and just under six rebounds a game jonathan Malikica he was the Atlantic 10 player of the year he led VCU to the NCA tournament he shot 39% for three in his five seasons in college i’m told that the Boston Celtics are going to have Max Schulga on a two-way contract last year he’s 6’5 and a half he can play with the ball he did a lot of playmaking for VCU and obviously an outstanding shooter we’re going to see in the G- League if you can guard his position if you can he’s going to be an NBA player on his way here to the Boston Celtics for that development thank you so much Jonathan this has been an emotional night here in Barclay Center the families the young men their NBA dreams realized and of course Pop Pop hello hello [Music] [Music] all right [Music] [Music] wow wow i don’t know hello guys come here [Applause] oh oh oh thank you you know Daddy [Applause] [Applause] down the Foreign speech foreign speech foreign speech go all right boo i am [Music] Foreign speech foreign speech foreign speech wait wait wait

ESPN Breaking: New York Knicks select forward Mohamed Diawara with No. 51 pick in 2025 NBA Draft