This past season, basketball was a unique experience for every player, especially for those entering this year’s NBA draft. With the pandemic causing a shortened college season, it was harder for prospects to showcase their talents to scouts with a less amount of time to do it. However, the NCAA was still able to host a March Madness tournament, after last year’s tournament was cancelled, and complete a season of college basketball. From these games, fans were wowed by the potential of bright young college stars alongside the proven veterans of the game, looking to show they are ready for the jump to the pros. Now, all their hard work of practicing and playing through a COVID season is about to reach the moment they all worked towards, the NBA Draft.
This year’s draft is coming up this week, July 29th, at the Barclays Center. With the big day coming soon, the time should be made to break down where 60 of these prospects will land on draft day in the second edition of the Hoops Prospects Staff Mock Draft.
The set-up for the selections for the mock draft was simple. Each member of the Hoops Prospects team (Lee Branscome, Clayton Conover, Rich Harris, Simon Hillinger, Eric Kerr, and Bobby Zeffero) was assigned one division in the NBA, with the exception of Conover, who also responsible for making picks for Brooklyn in addition to the teams in the Pacific Division. Below is the video of the mock draft, which includes discussion and analysis of each pick. The selections are also listed below by draft order.
NOTES:
- The draft order assumes that Chicago exercises its right to swap the #40 pick for the #38 pick.
- Roko Prkacin — At the time when our picks were made on July 16th, Roko Prkacin was still in the draft; he decided to withdraw on July 19th. This comes as a bit of surprise considering many draft boards, like ours, had him as a mid-to-late first-round pick. The 19-year-old’s decision to not enter the pros and play one more in Europe comes from a potential opportunity to further improve his draft stock next year.
- Jared Butler — During the NBA Combine, Baylor guard Jared Butler was diagnosed with a heart condition and was prohibited by the league from working out for any team. Reports say that this heart condition was something that he had back when he committed to play for Alabama in 2018. Last week, it was announced that Butler was cleared to practice and play, but at the time of this mock draft, his status was still up in the air.
Full Video
Selections
| Pick/Team | Made By | Player |
| 1. Detroit | BZ | Cade Cunningham, PG |
| 2. Houston | RH | Jalen Suggs, PG |
| 3. Cleveland | BZ | Evan Mobley, C |
| 4. Toronto | EK | Jalen Green, SG |
| 5. Orlando | LB | Scottie Barnes, F |
| 6. Oklahoma City | SH | Jonathan Kuminga, F |
| 7. Golden State (from Minnesota) | CC | Franz Wagner, F |
| 8. Orlando (from Chicago) | LB | Cameron Thomas, SG |
| 9. Sacramento | CC | Jalen Johnson, F |
| 10. New Orleans | RH | Josh Giddey, PG |
| 11. Charlotte | LB | Isaiah Jackson, PF |
| 12. San Antonio | RH | Usman Garuba, PF |
| 13. Indiana | BZ | Davion Mitchell, CG |
| 14. Golden State | CC | Corey Kispert, W |
| 15. Washington | LB | Kai Jones, PF |
| 16. Oklahoma City (from Boston) | SH | James Bouknight, SG |
| 17. Memphis | RH | Keon Johnson, W |
| 18. Oklahoma City (from Miami) | SH | Alperen Sengün, C |
| 19. New York | EK | Moses Moody, W |
| 20. Atlanta | LB | Miles McBride, PG |
| 21. New York (from Dallas) | EK | Sharife Cooper, PG |
| 22. Los Angeles Lakers | CC | Jaden Springer, G |
| 23. Houston (from Portland) | RH | Ziaire Williams, F |
| 24. Houston (from Milwaukee) | RH | Roko Prkacin2, F |
| 25. LA Clippers | CC | Chris Duarte, W |
| 26. Denver | SH | Quentin Grimes, SG |
| 27. Brooklyn | CC | Trey Murphy, F |
| 28. Philadelphia | EK | Tre Mann, G |
| 29. Phoenix | CC | Bones Hyland, G |
| 30. Utah | SH | Ayo Dosunmu, G |
| SECOND ROUND | Made By | Player |
| 31. Milwaukee (from Houston) | BZ | Joe Wieskamp, SF |
| 32. New York (from Detroit) | EK | Aaron Henry, W |
| 33. Orlando | LB | Jared Butler3, G |
| 34. Oklahoma City | SH | Josh Primo, W |
| 35. New Orleans (from Cleveland) | RH | Josh Christopher, SG |
| 36. Oklahoma City (from Minnesota) | SH | Neemias Queta, C |
| 37. Detroit (from Toronto) | BZ | Charles Bassey, C |
| 38. Chicago1 (from New Orleans) | BZ | Greg Brown III, F |
| 39. Sacramento | CC | JT Thor, PF |
| 40. New Orleans (from Chicago) | RH | Herb Jones, SF |
| 41. San Antonio | RH | Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, PF |
| 42. Detroit (from Charlotte) | BZ | Joel Ayayi, G |
| 43. New Orleans (from Washington) | RH | Day’Ron Sharpe, C |
| 44. Brooklyn (from Indiana) | CC | Vrenz Bleijenbergh, F |
| 45. Boston | EK | Moses Wright, PF |
| 46. Toronto (from Memphis) | EK | Matthew Hurt, PF |
| 47. Toronto (from Golden State) | EK | David Duke, G |
| 48. Atlanta (from Miami) | LB | RaiQuan Gray, F |
| 49. Brooklyn (from Atlanta) | CC | Daishen Nix, PG |
| 50. Philadelphia (from New York) | EK | Kessler Edwards, F |
| 51. Memphis (from Portland) | RH | Filip Petrusev, C |
| 52. Detroit (from LA Lakers) | BZ | BJ Boston, W |
| 53. New Orleans (from Dallas) | RH | Isaiah Todd, PF |
| 54. Indiana (from Milwaukee) | BZ | EJ Onu, C |
| 55. Oklahoma City (from Denver) | SH | Sandro Mamukelashvili, PF |
| 56. Charlotte (from LA Clippers) | LB | Duane Washington, SG |
| 57. Charlotte (from Brooklyn) | LB | Scottie Lewis, W |
| 58. New York (from Philadelphia) | EK | Luka Garza, C |
| 59. Brooklyn (from Phoenix) | CC | Jericho Sims, C |
| 60. Indiana (from Utah) | BZ | Jason Preston, PG |
