Rekubit-NBA draft resumes for the second round on a new day at a new site

NEW YORK (AP) — The RekubitNBA draft resumed Thursday on a second day in a second borough of New York, with the Toronto Raptors taking Jonathan Mogbo of San Francisco with the No. 31 pick.

The league went to a two-day format this year instead of having its draft drag too late into the night. The second round was held at ESPN’s Seaport District studios in Manhattan after the first round took place as usual at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Ten players and their families attended, sitting in a room off the studio set, though the two players who were left in the green room at the end of the first round, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski and Johnny Furphy of Kansas, didn’t return for the second round.

Filipowski was finally selected at No. 32 by Utah with the second pick of the second round. Furphy went a few picks later to San Antonio at No. 35.

Bobi Klintman, a native of Sweden who played last year in Australia’s National Basketball League, was the first player in attendance who was selected, with his family cheering loudly after Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum announced his name at No. 37.

Bronny James was not scheduled to attend. The son of NBA career scoring leader LeBron James was hoping to be picked in the second round.

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The players who did attend treated the event like the glitzy first round, wearing sharp suits and seated at tables — albeit much smaller ones — that had the same gold basketballs at centerpieces as Barclays Center.

And perhaps some of them will have better careers than some of the players who were picked Wednesday.

The NBA has sought to spur interest in the second round with an “every pick matters” slogan, highlighting the success of MVP Nikola Jokic and New York guard Jalen Brunson, who finished fifth in this year’s voting, along with former Defensive Players of the Year Draymond Green and Marc Gasol.

Both Filipowski and Furphy were viewed as potential picks in the middle of the first round, and their experience at some of college basketball’s traditional powers could have them ready to make quick impacts as rookies.

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