The week of NBA Draft is finally here. After months of deliberation among perhaps one of the most interesting draft classes in the 21st century, we are closer to getting the answers to some of the most pressing questions surrounding the sport. Another wrinkle: The NBA Draft is a two-day event for the first time, giving teams more opportunities to make trades during the draft.
The Atlanta Hawks made a shocking jump from the mid-lottery to the No. 1 overall pick last month, but it’s still unclear who the team is targeting. French big man Alex Sarr has been the consensus top pick for the last few months, but according to the latest reports, Atlanta could be deciding between UConn’s Donovan Clingan or French forward Zaccharie Risacher if they keep the selection.
We decided to look at 11 mock drafts from analysts at CBS Sports, ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report and Yahoo to create our own mock draft listing each player who was mocked the most times at each specific spot in the first round. There is a mutual consensus among draft analysts on who will be taken with the first few picks, but after that, it’s a free-for-all.
If you want to see who CBS Sports experts Kyle Boone, Adam Finkelstein, David Cobb, Travis Branham, Gary Parrish, Colin Ward-Henninger, and yours truly are mocking to your favorite team(s), the link for each mock is below. If you don’t like mock drafts and rather see who the best players from this class will be in 10-15 years, Matt Norlander’s big board may be for you.
CBS Sports mock drafts: Boone | Finkelstein | Cobb | Branham | Parrish | Ward-Henninger | Salerno
Let’s take a look at our consensus mock draft, with the real draft taking place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn later this week.