Yes!

I am very surprised. But good on him and I hope he gives this opportunity an excellent shake.

Surprising but so awesome. Well done to the kid. That'll shut some people up (but not all obviously)

Boom! congrats to the kid, draft n stash I'm sure will be in red next season...

Hugo missed out...

Luuuke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hugo picked last...

So at pick 56, is he likely to get a roster spot?
If not, would they force him into the Gumby League, or would they allow him to keep playing in the NBL.

And, if the latter, does he now qualify as a Next Star?

Wouldnt be a next star. And yes, could play in the NBL. Most likely a draft and stash situation. But for all of the shit talk - some of which I've engaged in - it's a big deal to be drafted. it means out of all the players in the world of the applicable age group, you are seen as one of the 60 best, and most likely to make a splash in the NBA. It means that top scouts in the world see Luke Travers as having great potential and he will likely make at least a high level player of himself, wherever his basketball journey takes him. Some guys have surprised and made NBA careers for themselves so hopefully Travers goes on to do that.

Next Stars are for undrafted players which Travers isn't now.

Pick #56 would suggest he would be unlikely to ever play in the NBA especially with a win now team like the Cavs his best opportunity would've been getting picked by a bad team.

Assuming the Cavs aren't willing to offer him a contract this season they may say go back to Perth or perhaps even direct him to go to Europe like Houston did with Newley opting out of his just signed 36ers contract.

One good thing for Perth is if the Cavs do sign him this year as he's still under contract to Perth for one more year then the Wildcats would get buy out money 2nd rounders is around $200K I think.

"Next Stars are for undrafted players which Travers isn't now."

What about Jessup?

And Didi

DiDi Louzada was a draft and stash Next Star.

Anyone see where Sotto got drafted?

Sotto wasn't drafted

Jessup was signed by the NBL before he was drafted but yes I forgot about Didi Louzada. The original point of the Next Stars program was to lock a young player in for 2 years the year before he becomes draft eligible so the NBL gets buy out money once drafted/signed.

But as we see virtually every year with the NBL they change and tweak rules to suit.

Can't believe that bum Travers got drafted and they overlooked the supremely skilled Kai Sotto. NBA is more racist than Pauline Hanson.

Sotto should have played another year in the NBL before putting himself up for the draft. He had a mixed season at best with Adelaide, showed lots of promise but another year might have helped him develop further.

Lets all bow our heads and have a moment of silence for the people from the Philippines... Kai "Jordan" Sotto unfortunately didnt get selected.

Hopefully the NBL dont blow smoke up his ass now every time he grabs a rebound, this way we wont be bombarded with Filipinos flooding NBL social media with rubbish.

What's the ruling these days with second rounders, do Cleveland own his rights for ever? Almost would have been better go undrafted. Could end up a Newley situation, where we are seeing him traded in 2040 somehow.

Even though he's still under contract to the Sixers I'm not sure Sotto will be back next season, he seemed to give a fairly strong 'farewell' message at the end of the season but some of that could've been agent spin to give the appearance he expected to get drafted.

It was always going to be touch and go if Sotto got drafted I thought he showed enough potential that an NBA team might take a flyer on him late in the second round, you can't teach height and all that but clearly NBA teams didn't rate him that highly.

Shall be interesting to see if he does come back to the Sixers or not but you would think after this set back they might direct him towards Europe.

What's the ruling these days with second rounders, do Cleveland own his rights for ever?

Sotto would struggle in the top euro leagues, there five men are mostly massive and strong, yes Sotto got height but there is more to it.

"There was a British big drafted by the Spurs one year and they kept declining to offer him a contract so after about 5-6 years of waiting he forced their hand by 'accepting' their tender much to the Spurs chagrin. He turned up for media day first day of training camp got weighed, pics etc and then the Spurs cut him the next day lol"

i've often wondered how this works. If a guy's draft rights are held by one team and say 5 other teams want him but the drafting team refuses to trade but also refuses to sign him, there has to be a way out of it.

Who says Sotto has to play in a top league in Europe? There are shitloads of leagues in Europe plenty even below NBL standard.

The point is his agent will likely want him to start earning as much as he can now and he would likely make more over there than in the NBL not to mention the Asian options too.

congrats to Luke Travers, took an opportunity by going overseas and obviously showed enough to get drafted!

Wouldn't surprise me if Kai Sotto gets signed on a two way contract or ends up in the G League.

Good luck to the bloke it would be sick to see an Aussie mullet flying around in the NBA.

Well done to the mullet!
Cleveland understands the Aussie "style" from the Delly days (& Exum to lesser extent) so he should get a good opportunity at summer league. Hopefully that leads to the Cav G league team, probably better to not come back to Perth and stay there to learn the get a feel for the US style and expectations.

"A team can sign a draft-and-stash player to a Next Star deal, provided they were drafted in the most recent NBA draft. Players who enter the NBA draft and are not drafted are ineligible."

see https://spatialjam.com/contracttracker

The hate in this thread is ridiculous...

"Next Stars are for undrafted players which Travers isn't now"

No, Next Stars is for Next Stars, which having been drafted he hopefully now is.
The principle advantage to the team is that he's supernumerary, but the quid pro quo is that he could be yanked at any time

If he doesn't make the roster, he would be better off going the G league route. So many players were called up from the G league this year. You are in front of nba coaches and playing in the same system. Wish him all the best.

@Zodiac You're referring to the great Ryan Richards i’m presuming? Who has since played for about 30 teams around the world