The 2022 NBA Draft is finally here, and with it comes the years-long culmination of evaluating the players in this class. We dropped our first big board for the 2022 NBA Draft the day after the 2021 NBA Draft was over. A lot has changed since our initial projection last June, but the top-two players on our preseason board stayed in the exact same spot all the way through the process. Now it’s time to post our final draft rankings of the cycle. As I reflect on this class, I’m struck by the feeling that this was one of my favorite draft classes ever to cover. What made this class so much fun to evaluate was having four prospects with a legitimate case to deemed as the best player in the class. Anyone scouting this draft class had to plant their flag on their No. 1 guy and live with the results. For me, that’s Duke forward Paolo Banchero. I also enjoyed having so many of the top prospects come from college basketball this season— especially when none of the top three players on next year’s board will ever step foot on a college campus. There isn’t one path to the NBA that’s inherently better than others, but I’m a sucker for watching top prospects fit into the storied traditions and pressure-packed atmospheres that college hoops specializes in.
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