ESPN analyst Chad Ford tweeted last Friday that guard Gary Harris and forward Adreian Payne are among 21 players who have been invited to the green room for Thursday’s draft.
A green room invitation is traditionally a strong indicator that a player could be a high draft pick, and recent mock drafts support the notion that Harris and Payne could become lottery picks.
Harris, who averaged 14.9 points, 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals during two years at MSU, is a near-consensus lottery pick. NBA.com’s consensus mock draft, which weighs predictions from 12 sources, places Harris at No. 12 to the Orlando Magic.
CBS Sports listed Harris at No. 9 on June 19. On the low end of the spectrum, Harris is listed at No. 13 by NBA Draft Insider, and three mock drafts pegged Harris outside of the lottery.
Despite middling college assist numbers, many mock drafts consider Harris, an undersized shooting guard who measured 6-foot-4 inches tall at the 2014 NBA Draft Combine, a player who could potentially transition to the point guard position in the NBA.
23-year-old Adreian Payne, who averaged 16.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and .423 3-point shooting at MSU last season, is a potential late lottery pick according to eight of the 12 mock drafts on NBA.com.
Despite being old by NBA draft standards, Payne’s shooting and athletic ability enables him to stand out from the rest of the big man crop.
If Harris and Payne are drafted in the lottery, it would be the first time in MSU history two MSU players are drafted in the top-14.
MSU hasn’t had two first round picks since 2006, when guard Shannon Brown went No. 25 to the Cleveland Cavaliers and guard Maurice Ager went No. 28 to the Dallas Mavericks.
MSU had consecutive drafts with two picks at the beginning of the millennium — guard Mateen Cleaves and forward Morris Peterson went No. 14 and No. 21, respectively, in the 2000 draft, and guard Jason Richardson and center Zach Randolph went No. 5 and No. 19, respectively, in the 2001 draft.
