With another predraft process drawing to a close, and the 2022 draft itself days away, we’re closing the book on this draft class and finalizing the Big Board. The NBA’s withdrawal deadline elapsed Monday, and with the complete player pool now in hand, these rankings are done (thankfully, for this writer’s sanity). There are some major changes in this final edition of the board, particularly in the middle part of the draft, which reflects mostly how my own opinions have shifted based on additional information that’s come to light over the course of the last month or so. But it’s also been a unique draft class to cover from start to finish, with opinions varying widely around the league, and in my opinion, not all that much separation in talent once you get into the teens and work down. I generally don’t rely heavily on the concept of tiers when I go through this process—it’s a handy thought exercise, but at the end of the day, teams have to pick somebody—but ranking pretty much everything after roughly 20 players really felt like splitting hairs. So just keep in mind that the actual difference between a late first-rounder and a second-rounder in this class is generally not as drastic as a 20-spot difference would suggest.
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