The Athletic

Well, there’s a reason they call it a mock draft. With all the picks that are reportedly on the market (basically, all the ones between No. 2 and No. 58) heading into Thursday’s NBA Draft, my attempt at projecting this event may truly devolve into a mockery. Print this out and openly laugh at it on Friday morning. The only thing I feel relatively assured about is that the team picking at No. 1 will not be trading down. Beyond that? The draft starts getting funky as early as the second pick, where there is still no clear favorite for the Charlotte Hornets’ selection and the possibility of them trading the pick looms large. From there, everyone in the top five would trade their pick if the right deal came along, and everyone behind them is either trying to move up with multiple picks (starting with Orlando at picks No. 6 and No. 11), trying to maneuver the pick to help their roster (Hi, Dallas. What up, New Orleans?) or working on other roster schemes that could drag in the draft pick (Washington, Atlanta and darn near everyone in the back half of the first round). Those are just the teams that have actual picks, but we also keep hearing about teams without selections who are trying to get in. Denver, most prominently, but also Boston and Milwaukee, and wait, don’t the Knicks make three trades on draft day every year?