2011 NBA Draft Rumors Featuring Klay Thompson, Reggie Jackson And Courtney Lee

The 2011 NBA Draft is here and that means everyone should be really, really excited. The rumors for the next 12 hours are probably going to include plenty of smokescreens, trade proposals only one of the teams know about and tidbits that seem completely implausible until the second they happen (Long live Pape Sy!).

Not a lot of groundbreaking things have happened since the last rendition of Ridiculous Upside's ridiculous NBA Draft rumors, but there's a reason you woke up bright and early to check this page out and dadgummit, I'm going to make it with your while.

Klay Thompson is, as my friend Chris Traeger might say, literally on every team's wishlist heading into this evening's festivities. The San Antonio Spurs, Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and New York Knicks are all angling to select him somewhere in the lottery according to a combination of Yahoo's Marc Spears and ESPN's Chad Ford.

Reggie Jackson rumors are all the rage these days considering nobody really knows anything about the guard who's skipped everything since Boston College's season ended. Luckily, ESPN's Andy Katz recognized that people were fiending for Jackson news and dropped a doozie in one of his reports Wednesday night.

A number of teams are trying to figure out where Boston College's Reggie Jackson could go in the first round, but the consensus is that he is a lock for No. 31 Miami Heat with a multiyear guaranteed deal. Jackson hasn't done anything since the end of the season, bypassing the draft process without working out or conducting any interviews. His camp said he has jumper's knee and didn't have surgery.

I've been told by Jackson's camp that he did actually have surgery, but the real juicy part of that paragraph is that the Heat have already given him a multi-year guarantee if he falls to them. For some reason, I think the Boston Celtics might snatch him up before he falls to the second round.

The newest trade rumor that seems plausible, isn't really new, it just includes an addition. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express is reporting that the Houston Rockets have added Courtney Lee to their trade proposal to the Milwaukee Bucks. Lee, the 14 and 23 picks for Ersan Ilyasova and the 10 pick seems like it might work, but they must like someone quite a bit that they're not willing to wait just a few picks.

If that Rockets trade doesn't happen, Katz is reporting in the link above that the team has offered at least 10 packages to the Minnesota Timberwolves for the No. 2 pick. Daryl Morey vs. David Kahn would be a fun conversation to watch.

For more draft related rumor mongering, be sure to check CBS Sports' Ken Berger's roundup (he's been doing amazing work on the lockout coverage, by the way) and the other post from Katz on Wednesday night.