With the Los Angeles Lakers capturing the 2020 NBA title over the Miami Heat on Sunday, the NBA officially entered the off-season and the countdown to the 2020 NBA Draft has begun. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie produced his first off-season mock draft and LaMelo Ball remained the top pick, though with some uncertainty.
Here’s a brief of Vecenie’s explanation for the pick:
“For now, I’m sticking with Ball at No. 1. But I do so with little confidence. This pick comes with a larger degree of uncertainty than any No. 1 overall pick since the 2013 NBA Draft when the Cavaliers shocked the world and took Anthony Bennett at the top.
“…None of the three players who most executives consider to have the highest upside in this class particularly fit with the Wolves. Edwards and Ball are ball-dominant and poor defenders, skills that don’t particularly fit next to Towns and D’Angelo Russell.”
Vecenie also talks of how the president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas will explore trade possibilities, which falls in line with a recent report from Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman. That report suggested that the Wolves were leaning toward trading down from the No. 1 pick versus drafting Ball or Anthony Edwards.
Vecenie has been high on Ball, perhaps higher than any analyst. He’s long had Ball as the No. 1 prospect in his big board and recently moved Ball to the No. 1 spot in his mock draft.
