Trail Blazers Kick Off Predraft Workouts With Jaylon Tyson, Adem Bona

📍 TUALATIN, Ore. — Five weeks out from the draft, the Trail Blazers have started the process of hosting players for in-person workouts at their practice facility.

Thursday’s session, the first one since last weekend’s lottery, was a low-key affair. None of the six players they worked out are likely in play for their No. 7 overall pick. Only two of them, Cal wing Jaylon Tyson and UCLA center Adem Bona, are projected to be drafted at all—in the second round for Bona and potentially late first or early second for Tyson.

The other four prospects, WVU’s RaeQuan Battle, Kansas State’s Arthur Kaluma, Kentucky’s Ugonna Onyenso and Florida’s Will Richard, are deciding whether to stay in the draft or go back to school before the May 29 withdrawal deadline. If any of them decide to stay in the draft, they’ll almost definitely be undrafted free agents who could be angling for a Summer League or training camp invite somewhere.

In most cases, this is one of if not the first workouts these prospects have done since the predraft combine in Chicago last week, where in addition to scrimmaging in front of scouts and executives from all 30 teams, they met with some teams to start the get-to-know-you process and get feedback on what they need to improve on and where they might be projected to go in the draft.

“The first day [of the combine] was a little shaky, but the second day I picked it up,” Bona said. “I feel like I got pretty good feedback. I did most of the things I wanted to show out there, the things teams wanted to see from me. It was good for me.”

The Blazers hold two second-round picks, No. 34 and No. 40. If they keep both of them, it will likely be to fill two of their three two-way spots for next season. Both Bona and Tyson are seen as projects more than they are finished products, but both could potentially fit the archetype of upside- and tools-focused players this front office has favored.

Bona is projected to go late in the second round, while Tyson is on the border between the first and second rounds in most mock drafts. But in a draft this wide-open, those projections mean less than ever, especially this far out.

“It’s something we pay attention to,” Tyson said. “It’s all over social media. But I try to get the real feedback from my agent and my trainer. Sometimes, the media is persuasive. But I try to get feedback and correct those areas.”