The NCAA basketball season is in full swing and despite a pair of strong outings for Anthony Edwards and Cole Anthony, LaMelo Ball’s draft stock hasn’t moved down the draft boards. In fact, in ESPN’s latest 2020 NBA mock draft has Ball going ahead of Edwards, Anthony and, well, everyone.
That’s right, ESPN NBA draft analysts Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz came together and agreed that if the draft were today, they would take Ball with the No. 1 overall selection. The irony is that while Ball has moved up two slots since the last mock draft Givony and Schmitz did in November, he’s still projected to go to the New York Knicks, who hold the worst record in the NBA with four wins and 17 losses.
The NBA recently changed the draft lottery format so that the worst team in the league isn’t rewarded with the best odds for the No. 1 pick, but at the rate the Knicks are losing right now, they have as good of a shot as anyone to land the 18-year-old guard. And if there’s anything the Knicks need, it’s a playmaking guard to feed the flurry of forwards they have on their roster.
If the season ended today, the Golden State Warriors and Atlanta Hawks would also have a 14% chance of winning the NBA Draft lottery and drafting Ball with the No. 1 overall pick. However, because they already have their franchise point guards in Stephen Curry and Trae Young, respectively, it’s likely they’d try to trade down.
It might early in the season for draft talk, but with bad the Hawks, Warriors and Knicks are playing, we could be talking about the same teams when the draft rolls around in June.
