NBA Scout: Emoni Bates 'Not Even on Our Board. Just Too Much of a Circus'

Coming out of high school, Emoni Bates was viewed as a prospect with the potential to be a future star in the NBA. However, his stock has fallen so far that some teams aren't even considering selecting him in Thursday's NBA draft.

The Athletic's Seth Davis spoke to multiple NBA draft scouts for candid assessments of top prospects, and one of them offered a brutal evaluation of the former Eastern Michigan forward:

"He's not even on our board. Just too much of a circus. He has a scorer's mentality but bad shot selection. He's one of those athletic-looking guys that's not really athletic. He has no interest in playing defense or utilizing his other abilities. He needs to learn how to play with other good players. Very talented skill-wise. He was good at the combine but his body needs a lot of work. I've heard he's done a pretty good job during his workouts."

Bates didn't live up to expectations after being universally regarded as a top-five prospect in the class of 2021, as his freshman year at Memphis was hindered by injuries. After transferring to Eastern Michigan, he averaged 19.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

The 19-year-old was arrested in September after he was pulled over while driving someone else's car and a gun was found in the vehicle. The charges were dropped in October.

Last month, a scout told Forbes' Adam Zagoria that Bates "will probably be an early-to-mid [second-round] pick," adding that he has "tons of talent," but "off-the-court issues have killed his positioning."

It will be interesting to see if a team is willing to take a chance on Bates on Thursday.