NEW YORK — Former Kentucky big man Willie Cauley-Stein called a report that concerns about his ankle had caused his NBA Draft stock to dip “politics” here on the eve of the Draft.
“Politics, people are going to put the stories out there but I don’t feel any pain,” Cauley-Stein said here at the Westin hotel in midtown Manhattan. “My game didn’t look hindered at all. I increased my vertical about five inches so I’m putting my chin on the rim so I don’t think anything’s wrong with it. A lot of it’s just talk.”
Asked why such a report might surface, he said, “Who knows? It’s a dirty business.”
Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress wrote this week that Cauley-Stein’s foot was “giving lottery teams pause.”
“Five separate NBA teams we spoke with all indicated varying degrees of concern after consulting with their team doctors this week, with some saying it may cost the Kentucky big man a few spots on draft night,” he wrote. “There is some maintenance that needs to be done there, as it’s not completely clear whether the injury healed in a proper way. The pin that was inserted is supposed to be sitting at a 90 degree angle, but instead it’s at 45 degrees. That, plus some question marks about his background that came up could cause him to drop a few slots.”
Givony currently has Cauley-Stein going No. 11 to the Indiana Pacers.
