Hornets pre-draft workouts June 15 – 18

There’s been a little bit of news around the Charlotte Hornets heading into draft week. Michael Jordan is selling the team and the top two non-Wemby prospects are coming in for second workouts. Even with all that going on, the front office and coaching staff continue to churn through workouts with some of the less heralded prospects. Let’s look at who’s come through Charlotte in the last few days.

June 15

  • Damion Baugh, guard, TCU, unranked
  • Keyontae Johnson, guard, Kansas State, 44
  • Mojave King, wing, G League Ignite, 75
  • Marcio Santos, big, Franca, unranked
  • Derrick Walker, forward, Nebraska, unranked
  • Eric Williams Jr., wing, San Diego, unranked

A couple of top 100 prospects in this workout. Keyontae Johnson is a feel good human interest story. He suddenly collapsed during an early season game during his junior season at Florida. He went almost two years without playing in a competitive basketball game. He finally received clearance and played his final collegiate season at Kansas State where he averaged 17.4 points per game and led the Wildcats to a 3 seed berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Mojave King has a case for the best name in the draft. He played with G League Ignite last season and projects as a 3&D wing provided his shooting production can catch up with its potential.

June 16

  • Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu, big, Memphis, unranked
  • Markise Davis, wing, Arkansas State, unranked
  • Dexter Dennis, wing, Texas A&M, unranked
  • Isaih Moore, big, Fresno State, unranked
  • Justin Powell, guard, Washington State, 82
  • Donald Carey, guard, Maryland, unranked

The only top 100 player from this group is Justin Powell out of Washington State. He’s a good-sized guard with a sweet outside shot. He was a 42% 3-point shooter across his three year college career that featured one season each at Auburn, Tennessee, and Washington State.

June 18

  • Kam’ron Blue, wing, Coppin State, unranked
  • GG Jackson, forward, South Carolina, 26
  • Terry Roberts, guard, Georgia, unranked
  • Vincent Valerio-Bodon, wing, Sopron KC, unranked
  • Jalen Wilson, forward, Kansas, 48
  • Isaiah Wong, guard, Miami, 61

A better crop of workouts here. GG Jackson is the most high profile name in attendance and could be in play with the 27th pick. He has dynamic shot creation ability that’s rare for a player his size. He struggled with decision making and consistency during his lone collegiate season, but that’s to be expected for the youngest player in the draft class. He won’t turn 19 until December.

Jalen Wilson is one of those guys that was a really good collegiate player but doesn’t have one defined skill that you can point at and say that’s what he’ll be good at in the NBA. He’s a good basketball player though, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him carve out a role for himself.

Wong profiles similarly to Wilson, just as a guard. He was arguably the best player on a Miami team that overachieved and made it to the Final 4 of this year’s NCAA Tournament. He’s a good player and a decent scorer, so he’ll probably be on the fringes of the NBA for a long time.

Here’s the full list of visits that we’re aware of:

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