NBA Draft 2017: Live updates, news and highlights

A look at recent draft history shows an interesting trend in which players are most often undervalued by NBA teams. In just the past two years, Patrick McCaw, Malcolm Brogdon, Josh Richardson, Norman Powell, and Tyler Johnson have all either been second-round picks or went undrafted. A little farther back Jae Crowder, Danny Green, and Wesley Matthews have been some of the biggest second-round steals of the past 10 years.

The common thread that ties them all together is an ability to play defense that got undervalued by NBA GM’s who tend to draft for offense first. All of them but McCaw were seniors when they were drafted.

One huge blockbuster trade loomed over the 2017 NBA Draft, and it wasn’t the one involving the No. 1 overall pick.

The Sixers grabbed the chance to draft Markelle Fultz No. 1 overall in a big, early trade with the Celtics, giving up No. 3 and a future pick. Fultz was a consensus No. 1 for most of the past year, and should make a big impact in Philadelphia.

LaVar Ball had a big night. His son, Lonzo, was selected second overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Draft. As LaVar was headed off the floor, the fans at Barclays Center gave him a piece of their minds. LaVar gave some lucky fan a souvenir, likely thumbing his nose at a jeering NBA fan.

Here’s a look at the hat.

Fans of the Thunder can get really excited about Terrance Ferguson. In a league where three-point shooting and players with low usage are necessary, the No. 21 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft will find a way to shine.

Ferguson turned down a chance to play at Arizona to compete professionally in Australia. He didn’t put up gaudy numbers last season with the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League, only scoring 4.4 points per game last season with the 36ers in 15.1 minutes of play. But he was a young player on a professional team, so it was difficult for him to find minutes.

After an exciting season with the North Carolina Tar Heels ended with an NCAA championship trophy, junior forward Justin Jackson will begin the next chapter of his basketball career with the Kings. Sacramento drafted Jackson, a volume perimeter scorer, No. 15 in Thursday’s NBA draft.

The gifted shooter averaged 18.3 points on 37 percent three-point shooting to lead the Tar Heels to a championship in a win over Gonzaga. Jackson’s best game of the season came in a losing effort against Kentucky, when he scored 36 points on 59 percent shooting in 38 minutes. Unfortunately, Malik Monk’s 49-point game powered the Wildcats’ a three-point victory.

Zach Collins wants to be the best big man coming out of the 2017 NBA draft, and that’s why the Portland Trail Blazers drafted him with the No. 10 pick on Thursday after a trade with the Kings. We’ve talked at length about the point guards in this draft, but Collins is an athletic seven-footer who could absolutely end up as a steal.

With Gonzaga making a run to the NCAA championship game in April, basketball fans got an extended look at Collins, a big man who’s a work in progress but has a few NBA-ready skills and a real chance to add more. In that championship game, Collins actually came off the bench but acquitted himself well, scoring nine points and snaring seven rebounds in 14 minutes before fouling out.

The Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets are discussing a deal involving Eric Bledsoe for Emmanual Mudiay and the No. 13 pick, according to ESPN’s Chris Haynes. The talks are “fluid,” according to Haynes.

Denver is a promising team full of young players looking to take another step, and adding Bledsoe as the team’s point guard would help them do just that. Mudiay was originally slated to be the team’s point guard of the future, but he has struggled in his first two seasons and it seems like Denver might be ready to move on from him.

The Cavaliers and the Spurs have been in talks about a trade involving Danny Green, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. San Antonio’s asking for a lot, though, and it doesn’t seem like any deal is imminent.

San Antonio might be trying to clear cap space and have also made LaMarcus Aldridge available. If the Spurs can clear enough money to have max free agent space, then there are several point guard prospects that might be attractive options for San Antonio — namely Chris Paul, but also Kyle Lowry and George Hill.

The Boston Celtics are continuing to engage in talks with the New York Knicks for a potential Kristaps Porzingis trade, according the ESPN’s Marc Stein. Knicks president Phil Jackson has opened the phone lines for deals on Porzingis in search for a mix of top-four lottery pick and established players, potentially on track to become a star, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.

The Knicks have reportedly asked for two first-round picks, including the Celtics’ No. 3 pick in this year’s draft, as well as promising rookie wing Jaylen Brown, per the New York Daily News’ Frank Isola. That asking price was too high for the Celtics, however, who will look to make a deal if Jackson comes down from his asking price.

Paul George or Jimmy Butler might be headed north if Minnesota gets its wish. The Timberwolves are actively showing interest in trading for one of those two, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, with both potentially on the move this summer.

The Timberwolves weren’t good last season, falling short of lofty expectations by winning just 31 games. But their core, led by 21-year-old Karl-Anthony Towns and 22-year-old Andrew Wiggins, is extremely promising.

As president of the New York Knicks, Phil Jackson is in charge of making most personnel decisions. Rule No. 1 when scouting potential draft prospects is most undoubtedly this: Keep your eyes open.

Jackson, according to ESPN’s Jay Williams, broke that rule when he fell “in and out of sleep” during a lottery pick’s workout.

The newest class of NBA players is on its way; we just won’t know who’s going where until after Thursday night.

That’s when the 2017 NBA draft will pair the NCAA and Europe’s top prospects with the franchises betting they’ll be superstars. Washington one-and-done star Markelle Fultz looks like he’ll be the first player selected, and a series of trades will give him a much softer landing spot than the typical team at the top of the draft. The woeful Brooklyn Nets struggled all the way to the bottom of the league standings, but won’t get the premier pick that comes with a 20-win season.