While many big boards and mock drafts have slowly moved LaMelo Ball further and further up as the 2020 NBA Draft closes in, Sporting News’ recent big board went in a different direction.
Bucking the trend, Jaylon Thompson’s latest big board slots Ball in the No. 4 spot. Even more surprising than Ball being No. 4 is that the No. 1 spot belonged to Obi Toppin of Dayton with Anthony Edwards coming in second and James Wiseman third.
Here’s what Thompson had to say about Ball:
“(Ball) has elite vision as a passer, possibly in the category of Jason Kidd, Penny Hardaway or Steve Nash. But can we judge that when he so rarely has been part of a real team for more than a few weeks? His long-range accuracy is poor; his mechanics are worse. Ball might be the most vexing NBA prospect ever. So much promise, so many concerns.”
Sporting News’ latest mock draft came in late August from Jordan Greer and featured Ball going No. 3 to the Hornets.
Having Ball as the lowest of the top three prospects isn’t a particularly outlier opinion, but having Toppin at the top of the draft is. Though he had the best season of any college basketball player. very few analysts consider him the top prospect in the upcoming draft.
