G League

If confidence is a deciding factor for teams when debating over draft prospects, Scoot Henderson would be a dream pick.

Speaking to ESPN's Hanif Abdurraqib about his head-to-head matchup with Victor Wembanyama last October, Henderson didn't really seem to care he shared the floor with the most-hyped draft prospect in 20 years.

"It was cool, I guess," Henderson said. "Pretty sure it's cool to be on the court with me too, though."

The hype for both prospects hit another level on Oct. 4 when Wembanyama's Metropolitans 92 team took on Henderson and the G League Ignite in a showcase game.

Wembanyama scored 37 points on 7-of-11 shooting from three-point range and had five blocks.

Henderson did pretty well for himself with 28 points, nine assists and five rebounds in a 122-115 win.

The two teams played a second game on Oct. 6, but Henderson left in the first quarter when he banged knees with Wembanyama. He was considered day-to-day with a bone bruise, the G League Ignite announced.

Wembanyama has been the most-hyped draft prospect since LeBron James in 2003. He's a virtual lock to be taken No. 1 overall by the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.

Henderson has seen his stock fluctuate slightly over the course of the G League season, but it seems like he could end up being selected No. 2 by the Charlotte Hornets or No. 3 by the Portland Trail Blazers.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman noted there's some divide within the Hornets front office between Henderson and Brandon Miller, but the "majority of NBA scouting sources we've spoken with still prefer Henderson over Miller in a vacuum."

Henderson appeared in 19 games for the G League Ignite during the 2022-23 season. He averaged 16.5 points, 6.5 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game.

At least one NBA scout believes promising guard Scoot Henderson could have a difficult transition at the next level.

The Athletic's David Aldridge spoke to an evaluator from a Western Conference team who said Henderson has massive potential but that they "worry about Scoot's mindset, in terms of how hard he has to work":

I don't want to say they handed everything to him, but they obviously built that whole G League thing around him the last couple of years. He carried himself with an air of I've arrived. And I think he's going to be in for a rude awakening when he gets to the NBA. I could be way off base. There's some holes in his game.

Victor Wembanyama is almost universally considered to be in a class by himself heading into the 2023 NBA draft. Henderson is viewed by many as the best of the rest.

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman had the 19-year-old going second overall to the Charlotte Hornets in his most recent mock draft.

By signing on with the NBA G League Ignite, Henderson didn't regularly tested against the kind of competition he would've faced in college. That didn't prevent Houston Rockets star Jalen Green from averaging 17.3 points and shooting 34.3 percent from beyond the arc in his first year.

Henderson would be far from the first incoming rookie to have a high sense of self-confidence as well.

Maybe his adjustment to the NBA is trickier than expect, but it's probably not going to be an overriding concern for whichever team is in a position to land him in the top five.

The Charlotte Hornets are believed to be eyeing prized wing Brandon Miller with the No. 2 pick in this month's NBA draft, but promising guard Scoot Henderson reportedly could still be in play after the team saw his skills up close.

ESPN's Jonathan Givony reports that Henderson "helped his standing in Charlotte with a highly impressive workout this past weekend in front of the Hornets' front office and coaching staff. He showed an impressive level of conditioning, intensity, explosiveness and shot-making that portend good things for him later."

Henderson signed with the G League Ignite at 17 years old after graduating high school, making him the youngest player in G League history. In 19 games this past season, he posted averages of 16.5 points, 6.8 assists, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals.

While Henderson is an explosive combo guard who is known for relentlessly attacking the rim and making plays for his teammates, the presence of star point guard LaMelo Ball raises questions about his fit with the Hornets. Miller would excel alongside Ball because of his ability to be a difference-maker without being the primary offensive option.

"Still, many signs continue to point toward Miller being the pick at No. 2, both due to his clean roster fit as much as the front office's belief in his long-term talent," Givony wrote of the former Alabama star. "The Hornets have conducted due diligence in Tuscaloosa to help ease concerns around Miller's involvement in the Jan. 6 fatal shooting of Jamea Jonae Harris."

If the Hornets aren't convinced by Henderson, Givony raised a caveat that could turn the June 22 draft upside down.

"The possibility of [the New Orleans Pelicans] (who are fans of Henderson) offering Brandon Ingram in a trade for the No. 2 pick could shake things up potentially on draft night, but it's still too early to say whether that is a realistic possibility," Givony noted.

The Pelicans own the No. 14 pick, so it would take a substantial package for them to move into the top three. It sounds like things are very much in flux with the draft just over one week away.

Matas Buzelis, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2024 NBA draft, is going to play with the G League Ignite next season.

Excel Sports Management, Buzelis' agency, told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski their client has officially signed with the G League developmental team.

It was already known that Buzelis was going to skip college and go to the G League. Wojnarowski reported in June 2022 the 18-year-old committed to play the 2023-24 season in the NBA's pathway program.

The 6'9" forward is a 5-star recruit and No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He had scholarship offers from several top college programs, including Kentucky, Duke and Kansas, before he opted to join the G League.

Adam Finkelstein, 247Sports' director of scouting, wrote no other 2023 recruit can match Buzelis' "combination of size and playmaking ability" as long as he can improve his overall consistency on both ends of the court.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman ranked Buzelis as the No. 5 player in the 2024 draft class in his first rankings released on March 29.

ESPN's Jonathan Givony projected the Illinois resident would be the top player selected in next year's draft in an early top-10 mock that dropped Feb. 22.

Since the G League Ignite was created in April 2020, six players from the squad have been drafted into the NBA. Jalen Green is the highest-drafted player in the group when he was selected No. 2 overall by the Houston Rockets in 2021.

Jonathan Kuminga (No. 7 to the Golden State Warriors in 2021) and Dyson Daniels (No. 8 to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2022) are the other G League Ignite alums who have been lottery picks. Scoot Henderson will likely join that group this year.

Class of 2024 4-star prospect Dink Pate has reclassified to the 2023 class and will sign a contract with the G League Ignite, per The Athletic's Tobias Bass.

At 17 years old, Pate is now the youngest American professional basketball player ever, and he won't be eligible to enter the NBA draft until 2025.

"My entire life I've always loved the NBA game. By the time I got to middle school, I knew for sure I wanted to be a pro," Pate said. "I never really thought of an opportunity like this back then, but whenever the opportunity presented itself, and the talks started to happen from the G League, it was a no-brainer. I felt this was the best decision overall for my basketball future."

Pate was ranked as the nation's No. 13 shooting guard in the 2024 class by 247Sports' composite. He had received offers from over 30 Division I programs before making his decision.

"My top schools coming down to the end were Alabama, Arkansas, Memphis, Auburn, TCU and Georgetown before coach [Patrick] Ewing left," he said. "The top two were most definitely Alabama and Arkansas, so it for sure would've been out of those two schools, just based on my relationship with coach Nate Oats and coach Eric Musselman. So basically, I was either going to be Roll Tide or Woo Pig."

The 6'8" point guard reportedly will sign a two-year deal with the Ignite, and he is expected to make his debut during NBA Summer League later this year.

The NBA Slam Dunk Contest went from being the premiere event of All-Star Saturday to a relative eye sore over the past few years. It lacked not only star power and name recognition, but also the type of performances that left people in awe.

That all changed when Mac McClung, a relatively unknown G League player, put the event back on the map with one of the most memorable performances of recent years last weekend in Salt Lake City.

It was the type of show that left stars around the league captivated as he dominated his way to the Dr. J Trophy.

"He saved the dunk contest," Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan said Thursday.

McClung, 24, has bounced around the G League for the last several years but was finally put on a two-way contract with the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 14, mere days before the dunk contest.

He beat out Kenyon Martin Jr. of the Houston Rockets, Trey Murphy III of the New Orleans Pelicans and Jericho Sims of the New York Knicks.

He was the first G League player to compete in the event, and his performance has put the league on the map as the Delaware Bluecoats—the 76ers' affiliate—have seen ticket sales explode up to five times their daily average since McClung's win.

Scoot Henderson is widely expected to be the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft, behind Victor Wembanyama.

And while Henderson is often compared to veteran Russell Westbrook, one NBA executive recently told HoopsHype that the G League Ignite guard has a "better shot right now" than the Los Angeles Clippers point guard:

"One of the coaches last year on the G League Ignite said Scoot was the best player they had. That was a year ago. I knew he was a guy you had to watch. I've never heard anything negative about him. He's got a chance to be really good. He's got a better shot right now than Russell Westbrook, who he gets compared to."

Henderson has improved his shooting this season with the Ignite. In 11 regular season games, he's averaging 17.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals while shooting 45.5 percent from the floor and 28.0 percent from deep.

It's not hard to believe that an NBA executive is saying Henderson has a better shot than Westbrook.

The two-time scoring champion had a disastrous tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers before he was traded to the Utah Jazz and bought out before signing with the Clippers.

In 130 games over the last two seasons with the Purple and Gold, Westbrook averaged 17.4 points, 6.9 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.0 steal while shooting 43.4 percent from the floor and 29.7 percent from beyond the arc.

While the Clippers will be hoping Westbrook can bounce back alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, it's hard to imagine his shot will drastically improve.

As for Henderson, he's just 19 years old and has a long career ahead of him. He'll certainly be able to make strides in improving his shot, especially after he gets drafted and can work with an NBA staff.

And, for what it's worth, NBA talent evaluators also compare Henderson to Derrick Rose, John Wall and Donovan Mitchell, per HoopsHype.

It won't be long before Scoot Henderson is anointed as the savior of an NBA franchise. The 19-year-old guard is projected to be taken with the second overall pick in the upcoming draft and has the type of skill and potential that has front offices salivating.

Henderson, who's currently playing for the NBA G League Ignite, had his first opportunity to dazzle the basketball world on the national stage during the Rising Stars Game on Friday during All-Star weekend.

Although he shot just one-for-five from the field and had three turnovers, Henderson also had two assists, two steals and four points in his one game.

During one of his media sessions, Henderson mentioned Chris Paul and Ja Morant as the type of players he would want to play with.

While it is fascinating to think about Henderson playing with such dynamic talents, it's unlikely to happen any time soon. Paul's Phoenix Suns traded away their 2023 pick for Kevin Durant, and Morant's Memphis Grizzlies have played themselves out of the lottery, sitting second in the Western Conference.

In other years, Henderson would likely be the draft's top-rated prospect, but he has had to settle for second-best on most draft boards with generational talent Victor Wembanyama waiting in the wings.

Henderson, however, still believes he should be the top prospect. When he faced off against Wembanyama on Oct. 4, Henderson put up 28 points and nine assists, rivaling the seven-footer's 37 points and five blocks.

"I'm one of none," Henderson told Krysten Peek of Yahoo Sports shortly after that game. "Very few come like me ... just my competitiveness and the dog in me.

Scoot Henderson is widely expected to be one of the top three picks in the 2023 NBA draft, and despite rumors that he could potentially sit out the remainder of the G League season with an injury, he's returning to the court Tuesday night.

ESPN's Jonathan Givony reported Tuesday that a number of NBA executives believed Henderson, who hasn't played since Nov. 18 because of a concussion following a nasal fracture, will sit out the remainder of the 2022-23 G League season because of the ailments.

Henderson's team, the G League Ignite, "shot down" that belief, saying he "is an elite competitor who refuses to entertain that type of discussion and will be back on the court soon," per Givony.

Wembanyama is expected to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick, and Henderson is in line to go second overall.

Henderson is in his second season with the Ignite. In six games before being sidelined by injury, the guard averaged 21.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.7 steals while shooting 48 percent from the floor and 47.1 percent from deep.

It marks a solid improvement from 2021-22 when he averaged 14 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.6 steals in 11 games on 43.6 percent shooting from the floor and 17.4 percent from beyond the arc.

In a recent interview with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Henderson described how his G League experience has helped him develop into a better player:

"I feel like it helped me develop as a person. I have a lot of time off of the court being a pro. Basketball is basically a job and something you've got to perfect. It just helped me find out who I was and learn a bunch off the court, and it gave me that pro mindset heading to the next level."

NBA executives and scouts have compared Henderson to Donovan Mitchell, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook and John Wall, but he told Scotto that he hopes to play like a combination of different players:

"I want to be like Andre Miller with the pace and the ability to see the floor. Pass like Chris Paul and be smart. On a skillset level, I want to be like Damian Lillard. I want to be a clash of all those guys. On defense, be like Jrue Holiday. I watch all of their film and try to be that one whole player."

While Wembanyama is the prized jewel of the 2023 draft class, one lucky team is going to get a great consolation prize in Henderson.