Undrafted NBA Free Agents 2015: Rumors and Predictions for Biggest Names

For many of the young college studs hoping to hear their names called by commissioner Adam Silver at the 2015 NBA draft, June 25 was the best night of their lives.

For those who didn’t have such a pleasure, not so much.

While the draft is over, the pool of collegiate talent is still deep. Undrafted free agents are agreeing to play on specific summer teams with the goal of making an NBA roster and landing a pro contract.

It’s common, too—these guys’ hoop dreams are far from over. Let’s take a look at three of the biggest names on the undrafted free-agent market.

Cliff Alexander

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

Life came at Cliff Alexander fast.

According to 247Sports, last year he was a top-five recruit, ranked ahead of Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell, the first two picks of the draft. On Thursday, he had to sit and suffer through 60 names that were not his.

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg was one of many who were baffled by Alexander not getting selected:

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Many mock drafts still projected Alexander as a late first-round pick when he entered in April, but some red flags began emerging. He measured at just over 6-foot-7 without shoes, he suffered a knee injury that hampered him during workouts and he failed to prove to skeptical scouts that he had good enough footwork, outside shooting or athleticism to make up for being undersized.

While that certainly explains why no NBA team used a first-round pick on Alexander, it's still shocking that none of them bothered to take a second-round flier on him. This is a kid that many compared favorably with Towns and Jahlil Okafor as recently as a year or two ago.

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Basketball Insiders’ Alex Kennedy went as far as to say Alexander going undrafted was “shocking”:

ESPN’s Bomani Jones sang a bit of a different tune and put some of the blame on Kansas coach Bill Self, who hasn’t really produced the type of NBA talent that Kentucky’s John Calipari has:

It was likely a combination of reasons as to why the 6’7” forward didn’t get picked. He was probably going to be ineligible at Kansas next season after sitting out the remaining games of 2014-15, as his mother was found to be accepting improper benefits.

Throw that in with some nagging injuries in college and throughout his draft workouts, plus the fact that he only averaged 7.1 points and 5.3 boards last season…and you’ve got yourself a whole bowl of bad.

At least Alexander has the right mentality:

It’s currently unknown whose summer team Alexander will join, as Kennedy explained:

However, it’s a near-definite that he’ll play over the summer and have a shot to carve out a home for himself somewhere in this league.

Aaron Harrison

Aaron Harrison was the odd man out. Sigh.

While six of his Kentucky teammates—including his twin brother, Andrew—got new homes and new hats on Thursday, Harrison didn’t. In failing to get drafted, the sophomore became Coach Cal’s first underclassman to declare and not get selected, according to Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal.

“He'll be fine,” Calipari said of Harrison prior to the draft, per Tucker. “I think he'll have teams busting his door down—if he didn't get drafted—to get him to camp.”

According to Jeff Goodman of ESPN, the clutch guard should be suiting up for the Charlotte Hornets’ summer league squad:

Harrison might have been better off staying in school another year, separating his reputation from his brother’s and improving his draft stock a bit. Still, there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t face injury or a dip in playing time, being that Kentucky is stocked to the brim with talent every year.

James Crisp/Associated Press

“I think he'll be in the league for a while,” Calipari also said. “I believe that because of being able to play multiple positions. He's not locked into any position—6’6”, at his size, everyone knows the kid makes game-winning shots. There's not a whole lot in the league like that, let alone a guy in the draft like that.”

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Harrison thrive over the summer and find himself on a roster next season. It would, however, be weird—that's just not the traditional Wildcat way of reaching the pros.

Quinn Cook

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

The fall of Duke guard Quinn Cook really didn’t generate too much talk on draft night, which was a bit confusing—because this kid can play.

Miles Reynolds, a guard for the Saint Louis Billikens, made an interesting point in regard to players taken over Cook:

Production versus potential is a tough debate.

To Reynolds’ credit, Cook had the numbers. As a senior under Mike Krzyzewski, the SG averaged 15.3 points, while shooting 45.3 percent from the field, 39.5 percent from deep and 89.1 percent from the stripe.

In each of his four years as a Blue Devil, Cook got better and better. It was pretty darn surprising not one team, especially in the second round when unknown foreign talent is going left and right, didn’t think Cook could help their team immediately.

David Goldman/Associated Press

Fortunately for the 22-year-old, though, he already has a team lined up in the Oklahoma City Thunder, per Kennedy:

Cook hails from Washington, D.C., which is the same hometown as Thunder megastar Kevin Durant. Could KD have lobbied for his team to give Cook a shot?

Regardless, Cook could fit in well at OKC as a shooter capable of opening things up for Russell Westbrook and his “big bro,” KD.