Octagon’s basketball and hockey divisions have signed top prospects for the NBA and NHL drafts, respectively, including one player vying for the top spot in the hockey draft and two projected NBA lottery picks.
Octagon Basketball has signed Texas Tech guard Jarrett Culver and Duke guard/forward Cam Reddish. Website nbadraft.net ranked Culver No. 7 and Reddish No. 8 on its mock draft last week.
Agents Chris Emens and Ron Shade are representing Culver, who was the Big 12 Player of the Year. Agent Omar Wilkes is representing Reddish.
Additionally, Octagon has signed two players from Canada who also are expected to be drafted: Florida State forward/center Mfiondu Kabengele and Arizona State guard Luguentz Dort. Emens represents Dort, while Alex Saratsis, who counts Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo among his clients, is representing Kabengele.
“Domestically, this draft class is one of our best classes in years,” said Jeff Austin, Octagon Basketball managing director. “The amount of talent in our class is tremendous.”
The NBA draft is set for June 20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Finnish teenage sensation Kaapo Kakko has won on every international level.getty images
The NHL draft, meanwhile, will be held June 21-22 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and Octagon is representing Finnish wing Kaapo Kakko, who turned 18 in February and is the youngest player to win gold in the IIHF’s World U18 Championship, World Junior Championship and World Championship.
Along with U.S. National Development Team center Jack Hughes, Kakko is seen as one of the likely top two picks in the draft, although most experts put Hughes first. Kakko, who was ranked No. 1 among international skaters by NHL Central Scouting last week, is represented by Octagon Hockey Managing Director Mike Liut.
Octagon also is representing Mississauga Steelheads defenseman Thomas Harley, who was ranked No. 9 among North American skaters by the NHL service last week, as well as Kitchener Rangers defenseman Michael Vukojevic, who was ranked No. 55 among North American skaters. Both played in the Ontario Hockey League and were members of the Canadian U18 men’s national team.
Agent Andy Scott is representing Harley, and agent Rob Hooper is representing Vukojevic.
Additionally, Octagon is representing defenseman Martin Hugo Has, defenseman Kaedan Korczak, left wing Adam Liska, defenseman Quinn Schmiemann, wing Vladislav Mikhailov, wing Kirill Slepets and defenseman Lev Starikov.
Allan Walsh is representing Has and Liska, Rick Valette is representing Korczak and Schmiemann, and Liut is representing Mikhailov, Slepets and Starikov.
■ NFLPA MEETING WITH AGENTS: NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith and President Eric Winston met with a small group of agents at last month’s Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles to talk about helping their clients save money in the event of a work stoppage.
It was the fourth such meeting between the union and agents in recent months. The NFL and NFLPA announced in April that they had begun negotiations for a new collective-bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires after the 2020 season.
In a letter to agents last week, Smith urged them to set up a structured savings and budgeting plan in the event of a work stoppage and said the union was advising players to plan for a stoppage of at least a year.
“Having a membership that is financially stable will only increase the chances of NFLPA player leadership getting a new CBA that will benefit not only players currently in the NFL but also the players that come after them and the ones that came before them,” Smith wrote.
■ GSE SIGNS TENNIS PLAYERS: GSE Worldwide has signed tennis players Aryna Sabalenka and Danielle Collins for representation.
Sabalenka, a native of Belarus, was ranked No. 11 and Collins, an American, was No. 36 on the WTA Tour site last week. Agent John Tobias is representing both players.
Sabalenka had formerly been represented by Swedish agency Wesport. Collins was formerly represented by NFL player agent Andrew Kessler, who dabbled in tennis for a few years.
Liz Mullen can be reached at lmullen@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @SBJLizMullen.
