Yahoo Sports’ latest mock draft continued an ongoing trend in recent weeks of LaMelo Ball landing in the midwest. Rob Dauster of Yahoo Sports joined the Pro Basketball Talk’s with Kurt Helin on a podcast to do a full first-round mock draft.
In the mock draft, Ball slipped to the No. 5 pick, landing with the Detroit Pistons. The Warriors selected James Wiseman first overall, Anthony Edwards went to the Cavaliers with the second pick, Obi Toppin was selected third to the Timberwolves and Isaac Okoro landed fourth to the Atlanta Hawks.
Jeremy Woo’s latest mock draft for Sports Illustrated also projected Ball to the Pistons, though that was with the No. 3 pick. The Timberwolves, Hawks and Pistons were separated by just six thousandths of a point in win percentage for the third, fourth and fifth spots in the draft lottery.
Each of the top eight teams has their position in the draft lottery locked in as the NBA season will be finished with only the top 22 teams in the standings, a move the league finalized last week. Currently, the draft lottery is slated for Aug. 25 with the draft to take place on Oct. 15.
