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Illinois Basketball's Will Riley Receives NBA Draft Green Room Invite

Riley became the second Illini – alongside Kasparas Jakucionis – to receive an invite to the NBA Draft green room

Jackson Langendorf

May 14, 2025; Chicago, Il, USA; Will Riley talks to the media during the 2025 NBA Draft Combine at Marriott Marquis Chicago. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
May 14, 2025; Chicago, Il, USA; Will Riley talks to the media during the 2025 NBA Draft Combine at Marriott Marquis Chicago. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images / David Banks-Imagn Images
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Receiving an invite to the NBA Draft green room is the sort of confirmation every basketball prospect desires. You may see your name in the first round of mock drafts across the board from every NBA expert known to man, but it won’t keep the worries from creeping in or the anxiety at bay.

Once the league offers a green room invitation, however, you should be able to sit back, relax and be reasonably comfortable that your name should be called in the first round.

What's exciting for Illinois basketball and Will Riley is that it's exactly what Riley received on Monday, earning a spot alongside fellow Illini teammate and future NBA draftee Kasparas Jakucionis.

Riley and Jakucionis are two of 19 current draft prospects to have been formally invited to the green room, putting them in a kind of elite status.

Nothing is written in stone. There have been far too many cases of players who show up to the draft, take an earned seat in the green room and don't hear their name called until deep into the first round – or all the way into the second.

Although the expectation was that Jakucionis would spend a portion of his NBA Draft day in the league's green room, there were no certainties regarding Riley receiving a similar summons.

But now Riley's invitation would seem to bring him a step closer to a first-round selection and, together with Jakucionis, an opportunity to make Illinois basketball program history.

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Jackson Langendorf
JACKSON LANGENDORF

Primarily covers Illinois football and basketball, and Kansas basketball, with an emphasis on analysis, features and recruiting. Langendorf, a third-generation University of Illinois alum, has been watching Illini basketball and football for as long as he can remember. An advertising student and journalism devotee, he has been writing for On SI since October 2024. He can be followed and reached on X @jglangendorf.

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