Sports Illustrated

With top college teams in the thick of non-conference play and NBA executives canvassing the country to check up on prospects, it’s time for the first official mock draft of the season. If you haven’t been paying much attention yet, the early headliners in this year’s draft are Duke’s Paolo Banchero (SI’s projected top pick) and Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, with Auburn’s Jabari Smith already playing his way into the top-three conversation. It’ll be a while before we have a great feel for the actual depth of the class, but there’s genuine excitement around the league surrounding all three players right now, particularly Banchero and Smith, who have had impressive moments early in the season. This year’s draft process in particular is going to require some collective evaluatory patience, particularly with college freshmen, given the ways in which COVID-19 has impacted game schedules and player development over the past 18 months or so. Per usual, this exercise aims to project what might happen if the draft took place on a given day, and serves as a gauge of how the NBA broadly views prospects in the present moment.