Twenty players have received invitations to attend the 2022 NBA draft and sit in the green room, sources told ESPN.
Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren, Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey, Keegan Murray, Bennedict Mathurin, Dyson Daniels, Shaedon Sharpe, Jalen Duren, AJ Griffin and Johnny Davis received the first batch of 11 invites last Thursday, followed by Ousmane Dieng, Jeremy Sochan, Ochai Agbaji, Mark Williams and Malaki Branham on Monday.
TyTy Washington, Tari Eason, Jalen Williams and MarJon Beauchamp received what are believed to be the final four invitations Wednesday for the June 23 draft. The green room is a staging area in front of the NBA draft podium where players, families and agents await commissioner Adam Silver calling a player's name upon selection.
The process of deciding which players to invite to the draft involves communication with presidents or general managers of teams picking throughout the first round. Teams are asked to vote on the 25 players whose names they expect to hear called first. This is to ensure that players aren't sitting for very long under the bright lights before a national television audience as the second round approaches.
Receiving an invitation is considered a positive sign for a player's draft stock, although there have been instances in the past of prospects falling to the second round while sitting in the green room. Examples include Bol Bol, Deyonta Davis, Nic Claxton, Maciej Lampe and Rashard Lewis.
All 20 players invited are projected among the top 23 prospects in the latest ESPN Top 100 rankings.
Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft expert and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and international teams.
