Will Cal's Chris Bell or John Camden Be Taken in NBA Draft?

NBA scouts are taking a look at Cal players Chris Bell and John Camden in advance of the NBA draft, which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday.

It's unlikely either will be drafted, but their ability to make three-pointers intrigues NBA officials enough to bring them in for workouts. It only takes one team to like Bell or Camden enough to make one of them a late second-round pick.

Bell is ranked the 81st-best pro prospect on the NBA Draft Big Board posted by CBS Sports, and that puts him on the fringe of being taken among the 60 picks in this week's NBA Draft. However, the NBA Draft Simulator ranks Bell No. 183 among draftable players, and places Camden at No. 219. Those are not optimistic ratings.

Bell had workouts with at least eight teams -- Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings. There were also reports that the Golden State Warriors gave him a courtesy look as the local pro team. And there may have been other workouts.

Chris Bell from Cal following his workout with the Sacramento Kings: pic.twitter.com/mlatWTeBZ2
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) June 11, 2026

Bell was hoping to show he could consistently hit the three-point shot and play defense at the NBA level. A lot of players are in the NBA because they do those two things, which have become increasingly important in recent years.

The 6-foot-8 Bell was an excellent long-distance shooter for Cal, and he got better late in the season. He made 40 percent of his three-pointers for the season, and hit 48.1 percent of them over the final 12 games of the season. He was on fire in the Bears' National Invitation Tournament win over Illinois-Chicago when he made 7 of 8 shots from beyond the arc and scored 31 points.

The college three-point-line distance of 22 feet, 1.75 inches is more than a foot shorter than the NBA three-point line of 23 feet, 7 inches, but the NBA line is only four inches longer in the corner, which is where Bell took most of his deep shots.

Camden has not received as much interest from NBA teams as Bell, but like Bell, Camden's appeal is his long-range shooting and his defense.

The Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers brought Camden in for workouts, and there were reports that he also worked out for the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Orlando Magic.

At 6-foot-8 Camden made 39.5 percent of his three-point shots and his smooth stroke appeals to NBA scouts. His 26-point performance when he hit 4-of-5 three-point shots in the Bears' road upset of Miami was impressive.

Neither Bell nor Camden had eye-popping scoring numbers at Cal. Bell averaged 14.2 points and Camden put up 13.8 points per game. But they are hoping to fit a niche.

Assuming they go undrafted, they will want to latch on to an NBA summer league team to show what they can do. It might help them get on a foreign team if that's what they would like to do.

Cal did not have any players selected in last year's NBA draft, but Jaylon Tyson was a first-round selection in 2024, the first time since 2017 that a Golden Bears player was taken in either of the two rounds.

Before Tyson, the last first-round pick from Cal was Jaylen Brown in 2016. Brown was the third overall selection 10 years ago, and the only Cal player selected higher than that was Jason Kidd, who was the second pick of the 1994 draft.

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