SPOKANE, Wash. — Three Inland Northwest standout basketball players; Gonzaga's Anton Watson and Washington State's Isaac Jones and Jaylen Wells, have been invited to the G League Elite Camp in Chicago to improve their chances of making it into the NBA.
Watson, Jones and Wells are among 44 other players who received invitations and will head to Chicago to participate in the camp on May 11–12.
This three-day camp will give each of these NBA Draft prospects an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of NBA and NBA G League scouts, coaches and front-office executives. The athletes will participate separately in five-on-five games and strength and agility drills.
Anton Watson finished up his college career with the Gonzaga Bulldogs this past season. The Spokane native averaged a career-high 14.5 points in his final season and made 41% of his 3-point shots. He finished the season playing in 151 games and stacked up 1,447 career points, 780 rebounds, 299 assists, 215 steals (which is second all-time in Gonzaga history behind only John Stockton) and 87 career blocks.
Recently, it was announced that Watson signed with sports agency 'Young Money APAA Sports, founded by rapper Lil' Wayne and Cortez Bryant. The sports agency provides several services to college athletes and NBA and NFL players, including contract negotiations, marketing and endorsement opportunities, financial planning, legal support, and career guidance, according to their website.
Now, he is going back to the G League camp for the second year with hopes of increasing his chances of getting into the NBA.
For Isaac Jones and Jaylen Wells, this is their first time receiving this invitation.
Jones just finished out his final season with the Cougars and made an impact on the team. The fifth-year excelled at WSU, where he excelled on the glass, averaging 7.6 rebounds per game, which is fourth in the Pac-12. He also had 10 double-doubles this season, including the first NCAA Tournament double-double in school history.
He also recently attended the Portsmouth Invitational, a college all-star tournament for upperclassmen, where he was the third-leading scorer, averaged 18.4 points per game and was seventh in rebounding with 7.3 per game.
For Wells, he is going into his senior season, but since the departure of Kyle Smith, who took a coaching position at Stanford, he has since declared for the NBA Draft and has entered the transfer portal. Wells was the Cougs third-highest scorer last season, as he averaged 12.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. He ended the year shooting 43.6% from the field, 41.7% from three, and 81.4% from the free throw line. Wells hit his season-high of 27 points this season and collected two double-doubles on the year.
Now, he is hoping this camp possibly opens doors for him in the NBA, but until then, he still needs to decide where he will play during the 2024–25 season.
After this camp, six players will be chosen to participate in the NBA Draft Combine, which takes place from May 12–19 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.
While those three try to make it to the combine, Gonzaga wing Michael Ajayi, who recently transferred from Pepperdine, is the only local player to be invited to the NBA Combine.
In Ajayi's single season at Pepperdine, he was named to the first-team All-WCC as he led the Waves in average points per game with 17.2, rebounds with 9.9, steals with 0.9, and blocks with 0.5, while shooting 47% from three-point range and 46.7% from the field.
We will have to see after the G-League Elite Camp if any additional players from the Inland Northwest make it to the NBA Draft Combine.
