Latest news with #Toppin
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NBA Draft: Underclassmen are returning to college in record numbers
Eleven days after squandering a late nine-point lead in an agonizing Elite Eight loss to Florida, Texas Tech received a much-needed morale boost. JT Toppin, a second-team All-American and the reigning Big 12 player of the year, announced earlier this month that he intends to return to the Red Raiders for his junior season. Projected as a potential second-round pick by NBA scouts and draft analysts, Toppin is exactly the sort of prospect who might have turned pro in the pre-NIL era but now can benefit financially from remaining in college. The 6-foot-9 forward is expected to make about $4 million in NIL earnings at Texas Tech next season, according to Matt Norlander, a sum that exceeds the 2025-26 rookie salary scale for all but the NBA's top 15 draft picks. The skyrocketing NIL market for proven talent across college basketball has made decisions like Toppin's more and more common this draft cycle. Underclassmen who are fringe NBA prospects are returning to college in record numbers rather than chasing NBA two-way contracts or paydays overseas. Only 106 players entered the 2025 NBA Draft as early entry candidates, the league announced on Tuesday morning. That's the lowest number of early entrants since 2015, down from a peak of 353 in 2021. Braden Smith, a first-team All-American and the nation's best point guard, revealed earlier this month that he's 'running it back one last time' at Purdue, potentially cementing himself as the preseason Wooden Award favorite. Thomas Haugh, one of the pillars of Florida's national title run, recently said that he's returning to the reigning champs despite wowing NBA scouts during a breakout NCAA tournament. Alex Karaban, the last remaining stalwart from UConn's back-to-back title teams, announced on Tuesday that he's coming back for his senior season in hopes of solidifying himself as a 2026 NBA Draft pick while chasing a third championship. Isaiah Evans is returning to Duke. Flory Bidunga is doing the same at Kansas. So is Trey Kaufman-Renn at Purdue, Richie Saunders at BYU and Jackson Shelstad at Oregon. You'll also see Big East player of the year RJ Luis, Mountain West player of the year Donovan Dent and Missouri Valley player of the year Bennett Stirtz, albeit all playing for different college teams than they did this past season. The glut of returning talent to college basketball reflects the money that deep-pocketed, top-tier programs are spending to try to build the best possible rosters. The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman reported earlier this month that as many as 15 teams will have $10 million rosters next season. Those in the NIL space who have spoken to Yahoo Sports say that it will take up to $6-8 million just to be competitive in a power conference. That's a big leap from even a year ago when only the most coveted transfers and prized freshmen could expect to earn seven figures. It's an even more enormous jump from a few years ago when college basketball's biggest brands helped arrange six- or low-seven-figure NIL deals to tempt back-to-the-basket centers Armando Bacot, Hunter Dickinson, Drew Timme and Oscar Tshiebwe back to college. 'There's not that big of a market in the NBA for a certain type of big man,' Bacot told Yahoo Sports in 2022, 'so being able to come back to college and make money is a really good option.' Is this salary structure sustainable? Will fringe pro prospects continue to earn more as college stars than they can yoyo-ing between the G League and the end of an NBA bench? We'll see. But for now, this current setup is a coup for players who are finally able to earn market value and for the sport of college basketball as a whole. Talented underclassmen are returning to college basketball at the highest rate in a decade plus. That can only drive interest in the sport.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NBA Draft: Underclassmen are returning to college in record numbers
Eleven days after squandering a late nine-point lead in an agonizing Elite Eight loss to Florida, Texas Tech received a much-needed morale boost. JT Toppin, a second-team All-American and the reigning Big 12 player of the year, announced earlier this month that he intends to return to the Red Raiders for his junior season. Projected as a potential second-round pick by NBA scouts and draft analysts, Toppin is exactly the sort of prospect who might have turned pro in the pre-NIL era but now can benefit financially from remaining in college. The 6-foot-9 forward is expected to make about $4 million in NIL earnings at Texas Tech next season, according to Matt Norlander, a sum that exceeds the 2025-26 rookie salary scale for all but the NBA's top 15 draft picks. The skyrocketing NIL market for proven talent across college basketball has made decisions like Toppin's more and more common this draft cycle. Underclassmen who are fringe NBA prospects are returning to college in record numbers rather than chasing NBA two-way contracts or paydays overseas. Only 106 players entered the 2025 NBA Draft as early entry candidates, the league announced on Tuesday morning. That's the lowest number of early entrants since 2015, down from a peak of 353 in 2021. Braden Smith, a first-team All-American and the nation's best point guard, revealed earlier this month that he's 'running it back one last time' at Purdue, potentially cementing himself as the preseason Wooden Award favorite. Thomas Haugh, one of the pillars of Florida's national title run, recently said that he's returning to the reigning champs despite wowing NBA scouts during a breakout NCAA tournament. Alex Karaban, the last remaining stalwart from UConn's back-to-back title teams, announced on Tuesday that he's coming back for his senior season in hopes of solidifying himself as a 2026 NBA Draft pick while chasing a third championship. Isaiah Evans is returning to Duke. Flory Bidunga is doing the same at Kansas. So is Trey Kaufman-Renn at Purdue, Richie Saunders at BYU and Jackson Shelstad at Oregon. You'll also see Big East player of the year RJ Luis, Mountain West player of the year Donovan Dent and Missouri Valley player of the year Bennett Stirtz, albeit all playing for different college teams than they did this past season. The glut of returning talent to college basketball reflects the money that deep-pocketed, top-tier programs are spending to try to build the best possible rosters. The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman reported earlier this month that as many as 15 teams will have $10 million rosters next season. Those in the NIL space who have spoken to Yahoo Sports say that it will take up to $6-8 million just to be competitive in a power conference. That's a big leap from even a year ago when only the most coveted transfers and prized freshmen could expect to earn seven figures. It's an even more enormous jump from a few years ago when college basketball's biggest brands helped arrange six- or low-seven-figure NIL deals to tempt back-to-the-basket centers Armando Bacot, Hunter Dickinson, Drew Timme and Oscar Tshiebwe back to college. 'There's not that big of a market in the NBA for a certain type of big man,' Bacot told Yahoo Sports in 2022, 'so being able to come back to college and make money is a really good option.' Is this salary structure sustainable? Will fringe pro prospects continue to earn more as college stars than they can yoyo-ing between the G League and the end of an NBA bench? We'll see. But for now, this current setup is a coup for players who are finally able to earn market value and for the sport of college basketball as a whole. Talented underclassmen are returning to college basketball at the highest rate in a decade plus. That can only drive interest in the sport.
New York Post
22-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Obi Toppin's all-too-familiar dunks helped bury Knicks during Game 1 collapse
Obi Toppin once dreamed of making timely plays leading to playoff victories at Madison Square Garden, and the former Knicks lottery pick accomplished that Wednesday night against his first NBA team. Tyrese Haliburton and sharpshooting Aaron Nesmith generated all the headlines, but Toppin registered two key dunks in overtime of the Pacers' historic 138-135 comeback victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. Advertisement Toppin, the eighth overall pick by the Knicks in the 2020 NBA Draft out of Dayton, posted eight points and 10 rebounds in 20 minutes to fall just shy of his first career postseason double-double. The Brooklyn native made up for a wide-open missed dunk in the first half of the series opener, with a put-back slam following a missed 3-point attempt by Haliburton to give the Pacers a one-point lead with 54 seconds left in the extra session. 3 Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) dunks in overtime during Game 1 against the Knicks on May 21, 2025. Getty Images Advertisement 'Just being in the right place at the right time,' Toppin said after the game. 'We know if we win the rebounding battle against the Knicks we'll be in good position to win. So I just try to crash and grab every rebound.' Toppin also extended the Indiana cushion to three with another flush with 14 seconds on the clock for the final points of the game, capping the Pacers' comeback from 14 points down with under three minutes to play in regulation. Jalen Brunson lamented after the game that the Knicks 'should have fouled' Toppin instead allowing that uncontested dunk. The win, which also featured a game-tying jumper by Haliburton to end the fourth quarter, marked Indiana's third comeback win of these playoffs after trailing by seven or more with no more than 50 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter or overtime. 3 Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) celebrates his dunk in overtime during Game 1 against the Knicks on May 21, 2025. Getty Images Advertisement NBA teams are now 4-for-1,702 under those parameters in playoff history, and the Pacers have done it once in each round this spring against the Bucks, the Cavaliers and the Knicks. 'Unprecedented for other teams. But for us, we're just going to keep playing until the buzzer, the last whistle and that's what happened [Wednesday night],' Toppin said. 'I feel like we're just super resilient. With us, you've gotta play until the last buzzer goes off. I feel like everybody on this team is going to work 110 percent every single game until the last buzzer. 'I feel like that's what happened, I feel like they slowed down at the end and we just kept it going.' Advertisement Follow The Post's coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series. After three so-so seasons in New York stuck behind since-traded All-Star power forward Julius Randle, Toppin was dealt to Indiana in 2023 for two future second-round picks. The teams now have met in the playoffs in each of his first two seasons with the Pacers, who will look to grab a 2-0 series lead Friday night before the series shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Sunday. The 27-year-old Toppin has earned more consistent minutes with the Pacers, averaging 10.4 points in 20.3 minutes per game while appearing in 161 of 164 possible regular-season games. 3 Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) dunks during Game 1 against the Knicks on May 21, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images But the former MSG fan favorite and 2022 Slam Dunk champion always enjoys returning to his hometown and first NBA home arena, especially in the postseason. 'Always fun playing back in the Garden,' Toppin said. 'And definitely coming out here with a win.'
New York Post
22-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
Jalen Brunson says Knicks ‘should have fouled' Obi Toppin late in OT
Among the many mistakes the Knicks made late in the fourth quarter and overtime, one was their inability to foul Obi Toppin late in the extra session. The Pacers had possession and a one-point lead with 20.0 seconds left when the Knicks allowed Toppin to go in for a dunk that pushed the lead to three. 'I think we should have fouled,' Jalen Brunson said. 'We just didn't.' Coach Tom Thibodeau and Josh Hart both said the plan was to foul Toppin, but the Knicks didn't get a hold of him. On the ensuing possession, Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns missed potential game-tying 3-pointers as the Knicks blew a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead to drop Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, 138-135, at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Toppin, the former Knick, scored four of his eight points in overtime and finished with 10 rebounds along with a plus-nine rating in 20 minutes. Obi Toppin slams home a dunk after the Knicks were unable to foul him in the closing seconds of overtime in their 138-135 Game 1 loss to the Pacers on May 21, 2025. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post Warriors forward Draymond Green is part of TNT's pregame and postgame coverage and was in attendance Wednesday night. Follow The Post's coverage of the Knicks in the 2025 NBA Playoffs Sports+ subscribers: Sign up for Inside the Knicks to get daily newsletter coverage and join Expert Take for insider texts about the series. Green ripped Towns in March for missing a game against the Warriors, claiming he was scared of Jimmy Butler, not knowing that Towns was mourning the loss of a family friend. Asked if he has cleared the air with Towns, Green told The Post's Peter Botte: 'We're not going back to that. This is his moment, not mine.' The two coaches in this series, Indiana's Rick Carlisle and Thibodeau, are friends. They go back a long way. CHECK OUT THE LATEST NBA STANDINGS AND KNICKS STATS 'At the end of my playing career I was trying out for the Timberwolves, a franchise that was just starting and at the first free agent camp he was one of Bill Musselman's assistants,' Carlisle recalled. 'That was kind of the first time I got to know him a little bit, of course over the years. He's had a great career, an amazing impact as an assistant coach for many many years and he's had a high impact as a head coach.'
USA Today
22-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Obi Toppin's devastated reaction to dunk whiff was priceless
Obi Toppin's devastated reaction to dunk whiff was priceless Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin tried to throw down a commanding dunk during the first game of the 2025 NBA Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night, but it didn't go according to plan. Toppin got air during the road game to open the conference finals and attempt a dunk, but he hit the corner of the rim and saw the ball ricochet off his hand for the brutal whiff. The reaction on Toppin's face just summed up so much of what it's like to miss on a dunk in front of the entire world, and we shared in his pain watching this in slow motion. Oh, the agony! It happens, though. You'll get it next time!
