G League Draft: Nets select two Americans who last played in Bulgaria

Do the Nets scout the Bulgarian National Basketball League? Seems so after the Long Island Nets took two American players who recently played there in the second and third rounds of the G League Draft Saturday.

Chris Walker, a 7’1” power forward, was taken with the 40th pick in the Draft and Jaylen Fisher, a 6’3” guard, was taken 20 picks later in the conference call selection process. Walker, a Florida product, played for Rilski Sportist Samokov and Fisher, a Texas Christian product, for Chernomorets in the NBL of the Eastern European country’s pro league prior to the pandemic. Walker is 26, Fisher 24.

Long Island also acquired another seven-footer, Adam Woodbury, on Friday, trading their second rounder in next year’s draft for his rights. Woodbury, 27, has played 148 G League games (43 starts) for four different affiliates, most recently, Grand Rapids, last year. He averaged 10.1 points and 8.2 rebounds for the Drive.

Before the recent acquisitions, Long Island’s presumed roster was long on wings and guards, but short on bigs.

Walker, who was once both a MacDonald’s All-American and a starter in the Jordan Brand Classic, is an athletic 7-footer who has bounced around the basketball world, playing for the Rockets and Bulls Summer League teams as well as for clubs in G League, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Turkey. Last season in Bulgaria, he averaged 7.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in five games. He last played for an NBA team in 2018-19 when he played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers as they won the G League title, beating Long Island in the Finals.

Fisher, a combo guard, averaged 17 points in four games in the Bulgarian League in 2019-20 before the pandemic hit.

Long Island has been building up its roster over the past several weeks as the team prepares for a November 8 opening night vs. the Delaware Blue Coats in Delaware. In addition to the two picks and Woodbury, the Nets will have access to multiple players who were either drafted by Brooklyn or spent time in training camp including Kessler Walker and David Duke Jr., the two two-way players signed by the Nets, as well as Brandon Rachal, Jordan Bowden, Josh Gray and Bryce Brown, all of whom were waived by Brooklyn. They are also expected to sign their two late second round picks, Marcus Zegarowski and RaiQuan Gray, directly to G League deals.

Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe, the Nets two first round picks, are likely to spend some time in Long Island as well.

• LONG ISLAND NETS ACQUIRE TWO PLAYERS IN 2021 NBA G LEAGUE DRAFT - Long Island Nets