Even as the NBA Playoffs continue, the focus of the Toronto Raptors and most other eliminated teams is on the 2024 NBA Draft. The two-night event is six weeks away, leaving precious little time for teams to work through their draft rankings and determine which players would be the best ones to target and avoid.
That also means that as NBA fans we only have six weeks to learn the personalities and skillsets of this year's draft class. One exercise that helps us to do that is a mock draft, laying out the top players in an order by which they could be selected on draft night.
The 2024 NBA Draft could be a wild one
This year's draft will be particularly difficult to get to know and predict, as there is very little industry consensus on who the best players in the class are, let alone where the rest of the 58 picks will shake out. There may be increased clarity by the time the draft arrives, but it's also possible the chaos of 2013 occurs, when Anthony Bennett was a surprise selection with the first pick.
This year's draft is similar to that 2013 class for another reason, in that it's largely considered to be bereft of star-level talent at the top. There will invariably be players from this class who surprise, just as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert did in 2013. From a projection standpoint, however, there are no can't-miss star players like Victor Wembanyama was last year, or even to the level of Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson.
While this is a Toronto Raptors website, this draft is being conducted from a full league perspective. The lottery was randomized until the Raptors were at the top to illustrate who they would take if they landed the top pick, and every pick after will be conducted from that team's point of view combined with our draft rankings.
We therefore begin at No. 1 and walk through every pick in the first round. Will we see another French big man at the top? Where will Kentucky's guards land? Do the national champion UConn Huskies dominate the draft board? Let's dive right in.