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The talent available late in the NBA<\/a> Draft has declined since the NIL era of college sports makes returning to college more lucrative than a second-round salary. Still, Wednesday’s second round featured plenty of players who fans might see a lot of next season.<\/p>\n Here are five second-round picks who could make a much bigger impact next season than their draft position suggests.<\/p>\n The Minnesota Timberwolves<\/a> need another three-point shooter with Donte DiVincenzo recovering from an Achilles tear, and Evans is one of the best shooters in the draft. As part of a Duke team that reached the Elite Eight, Evans put up 7.4 three-pointers a game, making 36.1 percent on a high degree of difficulty.<\/p>\n Evans shot well on deep threes, showing he has NBA range. He’s slender, but stands 6-foot-7 in shoes and should get plenty of opportunities to earn minutes and sink triples for a Wolves team that desperately needs more three-and-D wings.<\/p>\n North Carolina’s Veesaar may be skinny, but he’s a 6-foot-11 big man who averaged 17 points and 8.7 rebounds last season while shooting 42.6 percent from three-point range. Atlanta Hawks<\/a> coach Quin Snyder favors a three-point heavy attack, with starting center Onyeka Okongwu taking 5.2 threes per game last season. Bringing Veesaar off the bench could let them play the same style.<\/p>\n The playoffs exposed the lack of athleticism on the Denver Nuggets<\/a> roster. Denver was overwhelmed by the faster Minnesota Timberwolves, who they struggled to defend.<\/p>\n That’s why Brazile could get real minutes with the Nuggets. He’s a hyper-athletic 6-foot-10 forward who puts up highlight-reel dunks, along with big block (1.6 per game) and steal (1.5) numbers. Playing with Nikola Jokic, Brazile could cover some of the Nuggets defensive weaknesses while finishing a number of Jokic lobs.<\/p>\n On a different team, the 6-foot-2 Conwell might spend serious time in the G League working on his good-but-not-great shooting and ball handling. On the Miami Heat<\/a>, who traded four rotation players in the Giannis Antetokounmpo deal, Conwell could see the court quite a bit.<\/p>\n Conwell fits what the Heat have often looked for in their bench under Erik Spoelstra. He’s a good shooter, he plays extremely hard and he’s strong. It’s similar to what 6-foot-2 Gabe Vincent provided for the Heat in their 2023 NBA Finals run despite going undrafted out of college, which should make Conwell feel better about only<\/em> dropping to No. 37.<\/p>\n1. Isaiah Evans, Minnesota Timberwolves<\/h2>\n
2. Henri Veesaar, Atlanta Hawks<\/h2>\n
3. Trevon Brazile, Denver Nuggets<\/h2>\n
4. Ryan Conwell, Miami Heat<\/h2>\n
5. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, San Antonio Spurs<\/h2>\n