Gonzaga’s Anton Watson still has a chance to earn the NBA Draft Combine invitation

After being rejected from the NBA Draft Combine, former Gonzaga basketball star Anton Watson received an invite to the G League Elite Camp this weekend.

Watson was one of 44 players invited to the G League Camp, which takes place May 10-11 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. If Watson performs well, he could earn an invite to the NBA Draft Combine. According to the NBA, “following that event, a select number of notable players will be invited to participate in the 2024 NBA Draft Combine.”

The NBA determines the invitation list for the Draft Combine and G League Elite Camp based on a voting process. NBA teams vote on the 75 players they want to evaluate, and the 78 players who receive the most votes are invited to the combine. The next 44 players will then be invited to the G League Elite Camp.

Other notable players on the G League Elite Camp list include Santa Clara’s Adama Bal, San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee, Arizona’s Caleb Love and Washington State’s Isaac Jones.

Watson played in the G League Elite Camp last season. He participated in two scrimmages over two days, scoring a total of 22 points and shooting 3-for-4 from the 3-point line.

His readings were a mixed bag. He was 6 feet tall without shoes and weighed 241.4 pounds. His wingspan was measured at 7-0, which is an impressive length. His body fat (19.1%) was the worst of any player in attendance, and his maximum vertical jump of 29 inches was tied with Michigan State’s Joey Hauser and Weber State’s Dillon James.

Watson used feedback from last year’s draft process to improve every aspect of his game in 2023-2024. He had six 20-point games, including two 32-point games, and averaged a career-high 14.5 points on 10.0 field goal attempts per game. The ball found his hands isolated in the post and on the perimeter more often, while he recorded a career usage rate of 20.8%.

Being more involved on offense, Watson was not limited on defense as he averaged 1.5 steals and grabbed 7.1 rebounds as the primary defender against the opponent’s best offensive player.

According to Evan Miya, Watson had the fourth-highest Bayesian performance rating of any player in the country in 2023-2024. BPR is a measurement of a player’s overall value to a team and takes into account an individual’s offensive and defensive performance rating. The three players with a higher BPR than Watson were named All-Americans: Purdue’s Zach Edey, UConn’s Donovan Clingan and Houston’s Jamal Shead.

“I think he’s a legitimate pro prospect,” Adam Morrison said on Gonzaga Nation. “I think he has legitimate 3-and-D potential. He needs to be able to make corner 3s. He has to be willing to guard Kevin Durant and let him score 35 points, playing every possession like it’s your last. So I think he has that chance because he moves well enough, he’s big enough and there are other guys with his frame and skills playing in the league.