The NBA Draft Lottery has come and gone, and now draft season can really start. Detroit, Cleveland, and Toronto were all big winners last Tuesday, as they all moved up to secure a top four pick. Houston did not end up with the first pick despite having the league’s worst record, but avoided disaster by not falling out of the top four and giving their pick to Oklahoma City. The Thunder could have had two picks in the top five, but ended up with the sixth selection to go along with the 16th and 18th picks. Orlando also fell out of the top three, but they were able to retain their pick from the Bulls without it jumping into the top four.
This draft class has largely been perceived to have a set top five players, but is starting to shift toward a top four with Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Jalen Green, and Jalen Suggs separating themselves from Jonathan Kuminga. Outside of the top five, the rest of the lottery is still full of talent, but most of this pool is filled with either international talent that NBA teams haven’t been able to watch in person as much as they’d like or college players with one-dimensional traits that could limit their ceilings.
As always, there probably will an future All-Star taken outside of the top five and lottery, but who it ends up being will depend heavily on the situation and development. In a class where many see a similar talent level from picks 10-32, we may see more trades in the middle of round than we typically do.