Former Mizzou players Bates, Grill, Tonje still on board after 1st round of NBA Draft
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Former Missouri men’s basketball players Tamar Bates, Caleb Grill and John Tonje all went unselected in the first round of the NBA Draft on Wednesday.
That all three are still on the board for the second round, which takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday, is not especially surprising. For a time, Bates seemed like a potential first-round pick, but that was never a lock. The second round will air on ESPN.
He’ll be one of the better available players when that round begins. Draft analysts have highlighted Bates’ shooting efficiency and Division I-leading free-throw percentage, though some have suggested he’ll need to take more 3-pointers to stick in the pros as an offensive player.
Grill faces taller odds to be drafted. Teams like his 3-point shooting, but he is one of the oldest prospects in the class. He’s most likely to need to secure a roster spot by performing well at the NBA Summer League.
Tonje, who was limited by injuries during Mizzou’s 2023-24 season before transferring to Wisconsin, is in a similar situation to Bates.
The last Mizzou player to be taken in the first round is still Kobe Brown, who went 30th overall to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2023.
Positive vibes: New Mizzou women's hoops coach Kellie Harper gives a summer update
Read the full transcript of Mizzou beat writer Eli Hoff's chat
Bring your Tigers football, basketball and recruiting questions, and talk to Eli Hoff in a live chat at 11 a.m. Thursday.
Transcript
Eli ±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ĚýGood morning everyone, and happy Thursday. Crazy to think that July (and in turn, media days and the start of fall camp) is right around the corner. We'll take your questions and thoughts over the next few hours, so drop them in the chat window at your convenience.
Tom O:Â What is Drinkwitz plan at quarterback if Horn decides to play professional baseball?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ĚýWell, that would give Beau Pribula the job by default, wouldn't it? I'm sure there's been some thought about this possibility and what would happen if/when Horn goes in the upcoming MLB draft. Horn will have a decision to make at some point in time. The concern, if for some reason he stepped away from football ahead of this fall (which, to be clear, there's no indication will happen), would be depth behind Pribula. That would probably vault Zollers up to QB2 as a true frosh.Â
¸éłÜ˛ő˛ő:ĚýGood morning, Eli. The vibe I'm getting from across the media landscape is Mizzou will be challenged to win 10 games this year. Does a lot of that vibe come from finding out how Brady's replacement (Pribula, I assume) will perform?
Hoff:Â The national vibe is probably more than Mizzou will be challenged to win even eight games, to be honest. But I'd tell you that yeah, the challenging bar is 10. A lot of it is based on the idea of replacement in general, given how many positions have turned over. Quarterback is of course the most important. A good showing from the starting QB early on in the season (say, Week 2 vs. Kansas) would do a lot to assuage the doubts over replacing Cook at that position.
Fly Man:Â What have heard about some of the portal tampering allegations and how do you prove tgey actually happened? Example Illinois vs Georgia.
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ĚýI'll put it this way: I don't know of any specific tampering between two given schools or over one given player. But there's very much a consensus feeling in college sports (football and basketball in particular) that yes, this is happening. Maybe even to an extent where everyone's doing it to each other because there hasn't really been a consequence for it. It could be easy to prove if a coach texts a player on another team "Hey, hop in the portal and come here for $700k." Perhaps that's how it happens, but I don't think it does. Is it tampering if a team staffer texts a player's agent? Family member? High school coach? The rise of third-parties in recruitments probably makes it tougher to prove. And of course if the conversation is verbal, records are tough to find. I'll be interested to follow the Wisconsin v. Miami tampering suit, as will a lot of people. But I doubt it will come across as very cut-and-dry.
Fly Man:Â Hi Eli, roll out your starting 5 basketball players for the opener on Nov 3rd?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ĚýI feel more confident that this prediction will look silly than I do in it being right — I'll hopefully get to take in a summer practice soon and can then have a little better sense of these transfers and how they'll slot in. Right now, my guess would be: Ant Robinson, Sebastian Mack, Jacob Crews, Mark Mitchell, Shawn Phillips. Maybe Barrett or Boateng start ahead of Phillips for a smaller look. Maybe Pierce beats out Crews.Â
´ł´Çłó˛Ôł˘:ĚýGood morning Eli-Just curious on how you ended up at Missouri. Believe you are from the Twin Cities area. Educate me...
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ĚýHappy to. Yes, I grew up in Minnesota in the Twin Cities area. I knew I wanted to pursue journalism, and Mizzou's journalism school was the obvious place to do it. I didn't know that much about Missouri (the school or the state) but came down for the J-School. Besides a short stint in D.C., I haven't left. After picking up my bachelor's from MU, I stuck around to get my master's. Midway through that program, the P-D hired me while I finished the degree — and here we are now! I love living in Columbia and getting over to the STL area when I can... and I look forward to the day that there are three lanes of freeway on the stretch in between.
ł˘łÜ:ĚýNot sure how Mizzou-related this is, but do you have any insight as to why stadium funding is such a bigger discussion point for professional teams as opposed to universities?
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ĚýThere are probably more factors than just these, but the price tag is one. A lot of modern stadium projects are in the billions now, whereas Mizzou's renovation (which is only one-fourth of the stadium, to be clear) is $250 million. There's also talks of tax breaks/public funding for big pro stadiums in a way that there isn't for college stadiums.Â
¶Ů°äłŇ:ĚýEli: I keep thinking about this transfer portal for Mizzou men's BB and how underwhelming it is. It seems to me that if Mizzou is going to take the next step forward and move from a team that is competitive and can make the tourney to a team that can do real damage, Gates needs to ditch his obsession with tons of players and with size without talent. If he knew that funds were limited because of retaining their best players, then he needed to be more judicious with where to spend. For instance, signing two 7-footers that can't score is just a waste. I'd rather they combine that money to get a better player.
±á´Ç´Ú´Ú:ĚýI get that in principle, but it's awful risky to go into a season with eight players you feel comfortable using. There's a balance to find with this, like anything, right? The coaching staff prioritized guys that they think have a kind of upside to where they can coach them into something worth more than what the initial price perhaps was. We'll see if that works. Players with size and talent are the most expensive players and rarely stick around college ranks for long, so that's always going to be tough.Â
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Mizzou continues hot recruiting week with 2 more commitments, including Edwardsville WR
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri football has remained hot on the recruiting trail with two more verbal commitments this week, one coming from a Big Ten market and another from a local program.
Khalief Canty, a three-star offensive lineman from Detroit, committed to the Tigers on Tuesday. He attends Cass Technical High School there, but picked Mizzou over Michigan State.Â
Then, on Wednesday morning, Edwardsville wide receiver Devyon Hill-Lomax verbally committed to MU. Hill-Lomax is rated a three-star prospect by 247Sports. He picked Missouri over Cincinnati and Purdue.
They're the second and third recruits, respectively, to commit to Mizzou this week. The Tigers now have seven commitments in the 2026 cycle and are expected to continue picking up more as the summer goes.
Edwardsville junior Devyon Hill-Lomax makes a reception during football practice on June 26, 2024 at Edwardsville High School in Edwardsville, Ill. Paul Halfacre, Post-Dispatch
Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz speaks with the media on Wednesday, April 9, 2025. about the team's quarterback competition. (Video by Mizzou Network, used with permission of Mizzou Athletics)
Where Mizzou prospects Tamar Bates, Caleb Grill stand heading into 2025 NBA draft
Missouri guard Tamar Bates is defended by Illinois guard Tre White in the second half of the Braggin’ Rights rivalry game on Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, at Enterprise Center.
Post-Dispatch photo
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Two former Missouri men’s basketball players stand a solid chance of being selected in the NBA draft this week, with the possibility of three MU products joining the professional ranks.
Guards Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill, who each spent two seasons with the Tigers, could parlay key roles on last season’s NCAA Tournament team into draft spots. Guard John Tonje, who played a limited role in Mizzou’s 2023-24 due to injury before transferring to Wisconsin, could also be selected.
Of the three, Bates has the best chance of going off the board during the first round, which begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Brooklyn, New York. The first round will be televised on ESPN and ABC (KDNL, Channel 30 locally). The second round, taking place at 7 p.m. Thursday, will air on ESPN.
Bates was a popular invite to pre-draft workouts held at NBA team facilities.
“It’s been amazing, and it’s been a blessing, for sure,” Bates told reporters after one such workout with the Golden State Warriors. “Going from city to city, might be a little tired, a little sore, but I’ve been telling everybody the same thing: that these are great problems to have, just because this is a dream that myself and my peers and teammates (have) been trying to accomplish forever.”
Draft analysts are mixed on Bates’ pro potential. For a time, it seemed like he could slide into the back end of the first round. As of this week, however, a spot in the middle of the second round seems more likely.
Bates’ 6-foot-10 wingspan helps his stock, as does a very efficient pair of seasons at Mizzou that saw him nearly shoot 50% from the field, 40% from 3-point range and 90% from the free-throw line.
Bates led all Division I players in free-throw percentage last season, converting 94.6% of his shots from the charity stripe and making every free throw he took in Missouri’s final 12 games of the campaign. That’s attractive to NBA teams: While 3-pointers become deeper and layups harder to manage in the pros, a free throw is a free throw at both the college and NBA levels.
Still, some analysts have concerns about Bates’ offensive versatility. The Athletic ranked him as the No. 54 prospect in this draft class with the following scouting report:
“Somehow, he only tried 8.5 3s per 100 possessions last season; I get that he’s better with his feet set and more comfortably attacking the paint in straight lines once he dribbles, but man, it feels like there is some money left on the table there. That said, Bates is also quite efficient inside the arc — 59.1 percent on 2s last season. He just can’t create off the dribble for himself or others.
“Bates has a 6-10 wingspan and had a high steal rate as a senior, helping offset some of his physical disadvantages at that end, but his calling card will be as an offensive player. There is some Isaiah Joe potential here if he can hunt 3s more efficiently, and he might still be undervalued.”
The reference to Joe, a guard on the NBA title-winning Oklahoma City Thunder, is a key model for the type of player Bates wants to be at the next level: an efficient shooter who can provide some defensive value. Other players in the “3 and D” category Bates said he’s modeling his game after include the San Antonio Spurs’ Devin Vassell and the Detroit Pistons’ Malik Beasley.
That’s a relatively similar mold to what Grill is chasing.
“The feedback I’ve got is to keep playing to my strengths and doing what I did at Mizzou this past season, and that’s shoot the ball at a very good level and then keep having high intensity on the defensive end and keep bringing toughness, is what I do,” he said after his workout with the Warriors.
Grill was a prolific 3-point shooter for much of his last season at Mizzou, a trait that could land him a spot in the NBA. His age — he’ll be 25 when the season starts — is a limiter, but a strong jumper is still a strong jumper.
According to ESPN’s big board, Grill is the No. 63 prospect in the draft class, which would position him on the bubble of being a late second-round pick or going undrafted.
Either way, he and Bates are likely to need to prove themselves during NBA Summer League to earn a two-way or permanent roster spot.
The same is true of Tonje, who projects as a mid-second round pick after enjoying a breakout season at Wisconsin.
The most recent MU player to be taken in the NBA draft was forward Kobe Brown, who was taken by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round of the 2023 event.
Mizzou football picks up commitment from Chicago running back
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Fresh off another weekend of official visits, Missouri football picked up another verbal commitment in its 2026 class.
Running back Maxwell Warner, a three-star prospect out of Chicago, committed to the Tigers on Monday. He's rated as the No. 53 running back in the country and No. 24 player in Illinois by 247Sports.
Warner attends Whitney Young High School — coincidentally, where MU men's basketball coach Dennis Gates won a 1998 state championship as a player.Â
With Warner's commitment, Mizzou is up to five in the 2026 cycle. SLUH linebacker Keenan Harris, quarterback Gavin Sidwar, wide receiver Jabari Brady and tight end Isaac Jensen have also committed.
The Tigers will likely to continue to pick up a few more verbal commitments this summer as high school players make decisions ahead of their senior seasons.
'Checkmark No. 1': New Mizzou hoops GM sees emphasis on player retention
COLUMBIA, Mo. — For Missouri men’s basketball, the keyword starts with the same letter as roster-building.
It’s fitting, because retention is at the core of coach Dennis Gates’ program, heading into his fourth season at MU. Even in the age of constant player movement, it’s becoming clearer that Gates’ emphasis is going to be on players who stay more than players who arrive.
It was evident, immediately, to Tim Fuller, Mizzou’s first men’s basketball general manager.
“Retention, for Coach Gates and his culture and what he wants to build moving forward, is checkmark No. 1,” Fuller said. “And then evaluating the transfer portal and filling in the gaps through elite high school recruiting is checkmark No. 2.”
Fuller, as the GM, will play a key role in helping Gates shape future rosters, so that understanding of the program’s priorities is notable. It’s also unsurprising, given how the Tigers operated in the transfer portal this offseason.
There were acquisitions, naturally, as every team needs to make. Guard Sebastian Mack transferred from UCLA to become an immediate contributor in the backcourt. Arizona State transfer Shawn Phillips Jr. is on track to be the primary traditional center, for however much that role is used. Jayden Stone has been out of the game for close to a year, but he could be a bench scorer if he avoids rust. Jevon Porter could be a 3-point and rebounding threat if he can adjust to the Southeastern Conference. Luke Northweather will provide depth upside and some local flavor.
But with all due respect to those incoming transfers and Missouri’s two-player freshman class, there weren’t any groundbreaking additions. Contributors and valuable options, yes, yet the Tigers’ two biggest wins of the transfer portal cycle never entered it.
That’s power forward Mark Mitchell and point guard Anthony Robinson II, both of whom turned down the likely lucrative offers they would’ve received in the portal to stick around as stars for Mizzou.
Mitchell is one of the best returning players in the SEC, particularly when it comes to scoring. Robinson is already one of the league’s premier defenders.
Combine them with a returning core of Trent Pierce, Jacob Crews and T.O. Barrett — plus relative unknowns Annor Boateng and Trent Burns — and Gates’ vision becomes clearer. All of these present returners were, of course, newcomers at some point. Funneling them into positions where they become the necessary bridges between teams and seasons is where MU’s philosophy shows.
“Coach Gates, when he first came to the University of Missouri, brought several players from Cleveland State with him,” Fuller said. “They knew his system, they knew the culture, they knew him. You saw what that team was able to do: some phenomenal things. Obviously, we all know the injury bug hit (in 2023-24), but then Coach was able to retain the guys that he needed to retain.”
That included players like Tamar Bates, Caleb Grill and Robinson.
The next season, this past one, “we saw what that team was able to do,” Fuller said.
Will it work? Summer practices have only just begun, and the season is still more than four months away, so that’s a question for later on. What’s apparent now is how retention will inform the shaping of Fuller’s new role.
As a former Mizzou assistant himself a decade ago, Fuller has underscored how he wants the GM position to be one that makes life easier for Gates and MU’s assistant coaches. At the moment, Fuller is connecting them with the agents they’ll need to know come portal season. And at that point, Fuller’s ability to focus on the portal while coaches focus on the postseason will theoretically be the time a GM becomes a major asset.
By looking for the new — “checkmark No. 2,” as he called it — Fuller gives the coaching staff more bandwidth for retention, the top priority.
“The assistant coaches’ main responsibilities and their day-to-day is about building the proper relationships with the current players and the retention of those players,” Fuller said. “Because the first players that you have to recruit, when it comes to the transfer portal, are your own — making sure that you’re retaining the guys that you want to keep.”
