Jay Bilas talks NBA Draft, college basketball, NIL & the evolution of the game
4/8/20261 hr 4 min
Kevin O’Connor sits down with basketball legend Jay Bilas to break down the evolution of basketball from college hoops to the NBA. Bilas shares insights on player development, coaching at every level and the impact of NIL and the transfer portal.
They discuss solutions to tanking, load management and the backwards incentives in the NBA today. Bilas also weighs in on top NBA Draft prospects like Aday Mara, Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff & more.
(1:23) Memories with Bill Raftery
(4:35) Love & evolution of basketball
(14:17) Tanking & load management solutions
(21:27) Why won’t NCAA & NBA work together?
(28:58) NIL, transfer portal & potential player contracts
(48:51) NBA Draft prospects to watch
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKevin O'Connor· Host0:00
I got Jay Bilas on the podcast today discussing the NBA draft, the state of college basketball, and a lot else in what I felt like was a pretty awesome conversation. Loved having Jay on. On Thursday, Tom Haberstroh and I are gonna be back recapping what's been a very busy week in the NBA. Malone is heading to UNC, the Bulls fire their front office, lots of injury news, Wemby, Lakers, Doc Rivers telling the Bucs to Google him. [laughs] It's the most Doc Rivers story ever. I can't wait to talk about that with Tom. And we're gonna talk about whatever else happens between now and then at 11:30 Eastern, live on YouTube on Thursday. But today, we got Jay Bilas on the show. Jay freaking Bilas. Let's go. Today's episode of "The Kevin O'Connor Show" is presented by GameTime. With the NBA back in full swing, nothing's better than being in the stands, but getting last-minute tickets to games can be a bit of a pain. The GameTime app makes it easy, though, for fans, because in just a few taps, you can get your tickets on time and at the best price. And what I love, fees are always included. I first noticed that when I was mapping out my concert calendar for the remainder of the season, 'cause I'm thinking about seeing this band called The Last Dinner Party, and I noticed when I was going to purchase tickets that it was so nice to see that there was no hidden fees at the end when deciding whether to buy the tickets or not. Finally, transparency. And with the GameTime guarantee, you know the tickets you're gonna get are 100% authentic. I go to