With the calendar turning over to 2023, it’s time for another look at the upcoming draft. There’s still a long way to go from here, but NBA teams have been canvassing the globe per usual, and the shape of the class has begun to make a bit more sense. Apart from the fact there’s a generational prospect at the very top, and an excellent one right behind him, the actual depth of this draft has been somewhat up for debate in league circles—a number of college freshmen are underperforming, and there has been very little stratification in terms of quality both within a top tier of lottery-level players as well as a large middle portion of the draft. Some promising names emerged as first-round caliber players in November and December, but there’s plenty left to be determined.
This mock draft is built primarily on intel gleaned from a wide range of NBA scouts, executives and other sources around the basketball industry, in addition to my own ongoing scouting process in live settings as well as film review. Per usual, this exercise seeks to project what the draft would look like if it took place on a given day.
To set the order, I ran a Tankathon simulation using team records and draft odds as of Jan. 11. This is the first mock draft I’ve done that begins to factor in team fit in the lottery. Also note that these are not prospect rankings—for that, check out SI’s latest big board.
